Sorry for the Long Wait

Hey everyone,

Sorry for not posting lately this quarter of labs have been super crazy, but I am loving it. As all of you know I am ENGAGED!!! ( more about that later) Life in Charlotte is much different than being back in South Ga. Nothing to me beats looking at the stars every night when I go out side, but here you do not get much of that. I hear a lot of sirens all day and all night here. I am excited to be graduating in 18 days, this is my little girl dreams finally coming true. So lets play a little CATCH UP on my Culinary Adventure while I have been at school.

So my first class I had this term was speciality cakes with one of my favorite chef, Chef Duke. She makes the most amazing cakes and makes it look effortless.

This is a picture of one of the mini cakes we got to make during her class. This was a fun way to express our creativity which I think by sophomore labs are great. During all these days in this lab we learned how to create gum paste roses and other flowers. I love how gum paste looks. If it is airbrushed and have amazing details they could look just like real flower. Here is my rose spree that I created during this class. 

Also on Day 9 we get to decorate a speciality cake any way we would like. So on day 9 I produced the cake to follow. I got this idea off of where else pinterest. Pinterest is the "WORST" place for a chef to be I am so unproductive when i am on there I get lost for hours. 

I loved this cake. I wish I would have been able to have more time to detail the butterflies more so they looked cleaner. I was excited to learn that after I made my cake one of the chefs thought so much of it that he took it to a friend's baby's First birthday. And Everyone loved it. 

Sugar Artistry 

This class was very fun, well minus working with molten lava sugar and burning your hands. 

This is straw sugar circle  with sugar flowers. This was fun because I learned how to make flowers out of sugar and they looked really cool. 

This swan is made out of pastiage which is a type of sugar dough that is dried for several days after it has been cut. I then added sugar ribbon and a sugar flower.

Here is a super cool under the sea Sugar sculpture that we had tot create for our practical exam. YES all of that is SUGAR!! All used in different ways. 

Well I am sorry for such a long post I will have more to come soon. Thank you for all the support. 

Until the next Culinary Adventure, 

Marti 

Chick-Fila Copy Cat

Ok, everyone knows that I LOVE Chick-fila cookies. I have never had a cookie that was so good and YES! it is a fast food cookie but it is amazing!! I have been looking up recipes that were close to what I thought would be and I found one that contain oats and everything else. Well the girl was trying to do the same thing I was, trying to recreate the Chick-fila cookie. Well here comes the science of baking. She said that her cookie was flat and little more chew than she wanted. So I took her recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe adapted from Baking Illustrated
makes 20 cookies

1 cup plus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 cup milk chocolate chunks
1 1/2 cups oats

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, oats, soda, and salt together in a bowl. Mix melted butter and sugars together and then add egg and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients until thoroughly combined, then stir in chocolate chips. Bake 11-13 minutes and allow to cool on sheet for 5 minutes.

 and changed it some. and one the first try it was OK just a little cakey because I added an extra egg and then just adding baking powder. So I am one my next venture for the perfect cookie.


I just made another batch and I think it is very close to Chick-fila cookie.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chunks
1 1/2 cups oats

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together flour, oats, soda, and salt together in a bowl. cream butter and sugars together and then add egg and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients until thoroughly combined, then stir in chocolate chips. Bake 11-13 minutes or until brown  and allow to cool on sheet for 5 minutes.

Please try it and give me your response I would love to know what you think so I can change it and make it PERFECT!!!!

Fundamentals

Well everyone sorry I have not been posting anything lately!!! MY computer has died once again!!! Thankfully I have my iPad. Well I have a great Thanksgiving spending time with James and Addison while they were home for the week also. I ended up making 12 pound cakes, 1 caramel cake, 1 chocolate cake for Addison and then 2 German Chocolate cakes. So I did not stay out of the kitchen one bit

Well I have started Fundamentals Skills and Techniques, which is a lot of basic things that are needed for all culinary students. We have made pastry cream, poached pears, written in chocolate, french fries and made Riker's Island Carrot Cake

Ricker's Island Carrot Cake ( this makes a FULL sheet cake)

Sugar 1lb 5.75 oz
Oil 1lb 4.25 oz
Cake Flour 11.00 oz
Bread Flour 11.00 oz
Salt .25 oz
Baking Powder .75oz
Baking Soda .50oz
Nutmeg .25oz
allspice .25oz
Clove .25oz
ginger .25oz
cinnamon .50oz
carrots 1lb 5.75oz
eggs 1lb 5.75oz
walnuts 7.00oz
raisins 1lb 1.50oz
vanilla .50oz

Add all the dry and all liquids and mix then add carrots, walnuts and raisins. Mix until combine. This fits in a FULL sheet pan but you could put into different pans. Bake at 350

We used a Cream cheese Icing on top
which was
Cream cheese 6 lbs
Butter 1lb
Fondant* 2 lb
Vanilla 2 oz

Cream butter until smooth; add cream cheese and fondant and mix until completely smooth; add vanilla at the end.

* This is the fondant used for petits fours

we did not place icing on the sides but this should be enough to ice the sides

Josh and I 3rd Anniversary in Charlotte

I always talk about food on here so I was going to share a little about my weekend with Josh in Charlotte.


 It all started with flowers being on my door step  Josh surprised me the day after our 3rd anniversary.
I was so excited!! Then on Tuesday I get a phone call from Josh saying he is on his way. I was thrilled and not only did he come but he brought me a Brian's Subs. If you have been to Dublin, GA and need some where to eat look up Brian's Sub!!! Get the #10 it is amazing. fresh bread and great cold cuts.

For our anniversary Josh got me a PINK chef's jacket and if you know me you know I LOVE IT!!!

 So for our anniversary and Josh's Birthday we went to Ruth Chris they have great steaks that are put on a plate that is 500 degrees to keep the steak warm while you eat. Since it was Josh's Birthday they surprised him and brought him a dessert platter that we shared

Like always Josh and I have no luck with valet they lost his truck for 30 minutes which now all we can do is laugh about it . We had a great time together just did not last long enough.





I cant wait to spend even more anniversaries with him







Until my Next Culinary Adventure ,
                                                          Marti

Chocolate Chocolate

O wow at the chocolate I have tried.

On day one we started by trying different chocolates. We started with coverture chocolates which have 33% or more cocoa butter inside. we started with white chocolate, then milk chocolate and then dark chocolate. He then gave us a piece of Hershey's chocolate and O WOW!!! I think I will never Hershey's chocolate again. It tasted like it was 5 years old after having coverture chocolate.

We started making truffles, then covered them in chocolate.

Next we created these cute little mice these were very cute but a little complicated. they have a truffle filling and almond ears.

 
 

 
 
We also started to make Bonbons. We made these with a gingerbread spice, mocha and peanut butter crisp filling, then covered with chocolate.


I am also super excited about a chocolate box we are making for our homework project. I am putting a chocolate shoe on top of my box. Also I am excited to be coming home for Thanksgiving break. I will get to spend quality time with Addison (my Niece and mini me) and my brother James and the rest of my family. Addison has scheduled us time to bake and make goodies for everyone.


Till my  Next culinary Adventure,
Marti

Viennoiserie

Hey y'all sorry for such a long post,  Plus as everyone knows my computer CRASHED
 

 I have been super busy with school and having a surprise visit from Josh , which was great!!! 

Today we finished making croissants, we started on day 1 with making the dough and today we laminated and shaped the croissants. My croissants had a crunchy outside with a soft and flaky inside.  These croissants had a   buttery flavor with a little bit of salt that balanced the butter well. My product looks neat being able to display the layers of the laminated dough. When making the laminated dough the most critical point of making the product is making sure that the dough is cooler than the butter that helps make the layers of the dough more distinct.  I had some problems with uniformity from the different pressure to one side of the dough to the other.  My product was made correctly with little flaws some of the inside of my croissant were a little doughy because of the pressing between the layers being pressed to tight together.

Day 3

 

On this day we produced a muffin with our choice of flavorings and sweet Danishes. I chose to make a caramel walnut and apple muffin with a streusel topping and flat icing. In this product has a very nice outside color with a crumble from the streusel. The flavor of the apple was not as strong as hopped it had more of a cinnamon flavor that over powered the apples. The walnuts were inside and also in the streusel giving a nice crunch to contrast with the fluffy muffin insides. If I was to make this again I would make sure to add more apples and to cook it down for a longer time to bring out more of the apple flavor. Next we made the Danish; this process of laminating the dough was a little different than the croissants because on the Danish you can see the different layers of dough. These were filled with pastry cream, cream cheese filling and different fruits. Danishes were very flaky crust and a smooth filling. The crust would melt in your mouth from the lamination of the butter. I feel these turned out well I learned how to create different shapes and which holds fillings better.  When making the Danish a critical step during lamination is to make sure that your dough is not too warm because it would make the butter begin to melt making the layers not so uniformed. This would not ruin your product but it would not look the best.  

Day 4

 

On day four we began the day with making whole wheat Danish with a savory filling. The savory filling is different than the sweet because of the shapes you can create because we want to pack as much filling as possible. Most of our filling contained a meat with cheese. These Danishes looked great with the dark brown crust with still having the middle creamy with the cheese and different sauces. Also on day four we made orange cranberry muffin. This had a nice balance of flavors. The orange brought out some sweetness in the dried cranberries but also allowed the tang of citrus to come out. I feel like today went well I was able to have time to produce my products with great flavors. If I was to produce the whole wheat Danish for a large scale I would change the way the Danishes were cut by maybe using a sharp cutter or maybe a cookie cutter. I would also use one or two different techniques of shaping then adding different ingredients.  

Day 5

 

Doughnut day! On day 5 we produced yeast, and cake doughnuts while also making other fried breads. The cake doughnuts were very tight with the crumb texture. They had a very nice crunchy exterior. Yeast raised doughnuts are my favorite and these were no exception. These doughnuts were light and fluffy inside with a brown exterior. With the same dough we made jelly doughnut, this had a warm outside and a cool inside filling. We filled these with pastry cream, raspberry and blue berry fillings. This day was a little crazy with all the different products being fried and having to then be decorated. If we were able to redo this day I would make sure everything is more organized and maybe set up in stations to make sure that everything was done in an orderly fashion. 

Day 6

 

Day six was all about cinnamon buns, sticky buns and coffee cake. Sticky buns have a very good flavor of cinnamon and sweetness. The thing that makes a sticky bun is the smear that is put on the bottom of the pan that allows the moistness to it and the “stickiness” aspect. I like having the pecans on top giving it the different texture with a slight salty aspect to contracts from the bread and then the sweet of the caramel sauce. Our next recipe was our coffee cake. This is a great and simple quick bread. It gives you a sweet taste with the slight spice of cinnamon and by adding the streusel on top gives you a little crunch. When producing the sticky bun I would have allowed it to cool off a little more before flipping it over so that we do not lose all the smear that ends up running on the sheet pan when you flip it over when it come straight from the oven. Another critical point of the cinnamon/ sticky bun is when baking them. They may not be done in the middle but cooked in the outside. This could mess up your whole production because of serving undercooked dough is unacceptable.

Day 7

 

On day seven we made Gugelhopf and a banana challenge that was given at the beginning of the day. The Gugelhof we made was savory bread made with ham, onion, garlic, cheese and fresh herbs. The taste of the ham and fresh herbs gave a little saltiness from the ham and freshness from the herbs. It was also balanced very well with the onion and garlic mixture. This would be a good afternoon snack because of the protein and savory flavors. Our banana challenge was a Banana and Peanut Butter nondairy ice cream served on top of a funnel cake with bruleed banana and a caramel sauce. I thought that the peanut butter over powered the bananas. I liked how the funnel cake and bruleed bananas gave a crunch aspect while the ice cream gives you a cool smooth texture. Today I would have changed that ratio of peanut butter to banana and try to bring out more of the banana flavor. I also would try to add a better crunch aspect than the funnel cake to make it easier to eat. The critical point in the ice cream was to make sure it was going to be able to have time to freeze and the plating time is crucial so that it does not melt.

Day 8

 

On day eight we started working on our practical. We had to make Brioche and three different ways of using the brioche . I produced savory brioche that was filled with tomato sauce and different toppings. I enjoyed the savory brioche that contained sauteed onions and mushrooms. This gave a balance of sweetness from the onions and then the mushrooms give a soft woodned flavor. Our next brioche was couches this is the brioche with a topping of sugar flour and primex, then stamped . Next was our entrameys , these had a great contrast in texture between crumb for the struesel and the smoothness of filling. Also because of the flavor combonation of sweetness of the Rasberry jam with the tartness of the cream cheese filling. I feel like the only change I would make during the day was on the entrameys I should have made my layers more defined.

                              Yeasted Yelly Doughnuts

Recipe:                    Yield: 2.5 lb total dough  (20 – 25 doughnuts)         

 Dough:

            Milk, 70*F                  500 gr.            

            Egg                                80 gr.

            Egg yolk                        80 gr.            

            Sugar                           120gr. 

            All-Purpose flour        1,000gr.                      

            Fresh yeast                    60 gr.            

            Salt, Kosher                  17 gr.            

            Butter                          120gr. 

  Make a sponge out of flour, milk and yeast.
Rest for about 30 minute
Add  all other ingredients and develop the gluten structure until the dough comes away from the sides of the mixing bowl.
The dough should have a temperature of 78*F.
Rest  for 20 minutes and divide into 50 gr pieces and shape into round dough balls and place on flour dusted sheet pans of wooden boards.
  Proof for 45-60 minutes at 80*F in the proof box.
  Fry at 375*F for about 3 minutes.
  Fill with jelly and coat with sugar or glace.
  If there is no sufficient time to make a sponge, dough conditioner could be added and all ingredients can be mixed together in a straight dough mixing method.


 

9 Days of Carbs

Well y'all I am in to Artisan Bread class, which means I have been baking and eating A LOT of BREAD. If you know anything about me you know my LOVE for bread and my LOVE for BUTTER. Because Butter makes everything  Better.
 I have been saying this WAY BEFORE Paula Deen ever did. My artisan bread class is taught by a German Chef with is very smart and is alway teaching us not only about the bread but they ways to run a bakery, which is something I enjoy knowing.

On day one we have made Sunflower seed rolls which were very good. The first day of breads was a little scary I have alwayed loved making cakes but breads were a different story. I loved eating it but not making it. Now i can say that it is not as bad as I thought it would be.  Also we made a hard roll which we twisted into braids.




We also learned how to make many different Baguette doughs. This is a bread that everyone likes. The baguette was founded by the French. It is a very good bread for sandwiches and has a great crust

On Friday was one of my favorite days we made scones, buttermilk biscuits and whole wheat bread.
The buttermilk scones we were able to add flavoring of our choice and my group picked Chia Tea and coconut.

Buttermilk Scones

Yield: 4 # 3 oz.

1 # 4    oz.       Bread Flour

      6.5 oz.       Cake Flour

      5    oz.       Sugar, gran.

      1.3 oz.       Baking Powder

      0.3 oz.       Salt

      8    oz.       Butter

1 # 1.5 oz.       Buttermilk

      0.5 oz.       Vanilla Extract

      8    oz.       Coconut Flakes Toasted (optional)

      2 oz           Chia Spice ( below) (optional)

Sift together the bread flour, cake flour and baking powder.

Add the salt, sugar and the butter (in chunks) and rub together until the fat pieces are the size of small peas.

Add the buttermilk, vanilla and other flavors and spices. Mix only until all ingredients come together.

Add the currents or other additions.

Scale into 1 # pieces, round and let rest for about 15 minutes. Cover with plastic.

Flatten the dough to 5 inch rounds. Divide the disk into quarters using a metal scaper.

Place 4-6 pieces on a paper lined sheet pan and egg wash the top surface.

Sprinkle Course sugar on top (optional).

Bake at 420 degrees F. until golden brown and firm.

 Chia Spice

160 g. black pepper, finely ground,

125 g. ginger powder, finely ground

50 g. cinnamon powder, finely ground

50 g. ground cardamom, finely ground

5 g. alspice powder, finely ground

5 g. nutmeg powder, finely ground

 

Buttermilk Biscuits

Yield: 4 # 10 oz.

1 #   1.75 oz.   Bread Flour

1 #   1.75 oz.   Pastry Flour

        5.5   oz.   Sugar, gran.

        2.75 oz.   DMS

        0.5   oz.   Salt

       2      oz.   Baking Powder

        8      oz.   Butter (cold and in chunks)
      10.75 oz.   Buttermilk
        5.75 oz.   Water
        3.75 oz.   Whole Eggs
        0.5   oz.   Vanilla Extract
Mix all the dry ingredients.
Add the butter (in chunks) and rub together until the fat pieces are the size of small peas.
Blend together with the liquid ingredients - do not over mix!
Cover the dough and allow to rest for about 15 minutes.
Dust bread flour onto the table and roll out the dough to about 1 inch in thickness.
Stencil out rounds with a cookie cutter or any desired shape.
Place on a paper lined sheet pan, egg wash the top and bake at 400-420 degrees F. until golden brown.

 

 

 

 

100% Whole Wheat Bread

Yield: 9# (6 Breads - 24 oz. each)

 

4 # 12      oz.   Whole Wheat Flour

        3.5   oz.   Dough Conditioner

        1.5   oz.   Sugar, gran.

        1.5   oz.   Malt syrup

        2.5   oz.   DMS

        3      oz.   Butter, soft

        1.25 oz.   Salt

        2.5   oz.   Yeast, fresh

3 #   5.25 oz.   Water
Straight dough mixture:         2 minutes 1^st speed

                                                8 minutes 2^nd speed

 No fermentation.

If no dough conditioner is used, give the dough 90 minutes bulk fermentation.
Scale out 6 portions 24 oz. each. Round, let rest for 5 minutes, then shape and put into greased loaf pans.
Proof to 80%.
Bake at 400 degrees F.

 Please Try out the recipes and please go buy a Scale it will make your baking easier and you will probably want to cut these recipes in half or in fourths. Remember that there is 16 oz in a pound and that # means pound also.

 

Hope you enjoy

Until my Next Culinary Adventure,

Marti