And Pesto! It's Delicious

The last day on rye went nice and smoothly. My group turned out beautiful whole wheat loaves. The best yet, according to the Chef. :)

Deep cuts creates contrast

Creative scoring

We also used up the last of the spinach to make a spinach, Parmesan and bacon rye sourdough. Each loaf was chocked full of goodies.

Rye dough

The doughnut group made these wonderful brie doughnuts with a raspberry and cranberry compote. That was some good brie. A and I couldn't help ourselves; we simply had to keep nipping slices off that giant wheel of creamy buttery goodness.

It's brie, how can you go wrong?

While the class was busy, the Chef made crab bread! (No, it doesn't contain crab meat, unforunately.)

Mr. Krab

Today was my group's first day on the white bread station. As always with first days, we were a little overwhelmed with the timing of when to do what. Tension was running a bit high, but it eased off as we realized time-wise, we were doing well.

A and M threw together some killer pesto. We had no pine nuts (too expensive), so they substituted with walnuts, almonds, and pistachios. And since A roasted a huge batch of garlic yesterday, some of that went in as well. Simply amazing stuff. Green foods are good for you, right?

Green goodness

The green goodness got mixed in with our cheese loaves along with some parmesan.

Then A had the genius idea to try rolling some into the baguettes. To show off the swirl of pesto and cheese, Chef showed us how to cut the bread to resemble a wheat stalk.

The wheat stalk shape is very easy to do but it looks great and makes it very easy to rip off small bun-sized pieces - ideal for dinner parties.

Also part of the white bread station are buns. Tons of buns. Daily, we shape and roll about 216 buns. By the end of these three days, we'll either be bun rounding masters, or have carpel tunnel. :P

Setup for making fancy buns

On another note, the Chef made us breakfast today! He fried up some crepes and filled them with apricot jam. Then the rye table jumped in and scrambled some eggs, fried some bacon, and added garnishes for the sweet crepes. Getting a chance to break and eat something other than disaster doughnuts was very much needed.

Sweet and savoury

My group didn't plan what flavours we would do tomorrow, but there's a few pieces of roasted garlic left in the fridge and I'm excited to get into them. Unless, of course, the class devours it first. Many people were eyeing our leftovers. "What shall we do today? What shall we do today? What shall we do today? What shall we doooo?"

From Down to Up

You know those days? The ones where everything just goes wrong? Well Thursday was one of those days.

Thursday was my group's first day on the new rye and whole wheat bread station. First days are almost always filled with some confusion as we try to figure out how to organize ourselves and familiarize ourselves with the new products we are supposed to make. But normally they're not this bad, haha. I really should have taken some pictures to show you what you don't want bread to look like, but I was so frustrated I really couldn't think of anything else. In the end, none of the breads were so bad we had to throw them out, so that was good. Apparently all the other groups were having issues as well. One group forgot the yeast!

On the total flip side, Friday was awesome. Everyone was in the groove turning out amazing product after amazing product and we all finished much earlier than we had before.

Whole wheat bread is pretty good, but isn't it a bit boring? We spiced it up and mixed in spinach, sundried tomatoes, and feta. The finished loaves looked rather Christmas-y.

The sourdough rye got a kick of parmesan, thyme, rosemary, chives, onions, and mushrooms - my favourite out of our batch of loaves.

Rye sourdough about to head to the proofer

Rye sourdough flipped out, scored, and ready for the oven

All prettied up and cooling down

Ready for tasting!

This station has a bit more time than the other stations so during a lull in action, I tried out a recipe for Korean mochi balls. I mixed in some mozzarella and parsley flakes for flavour. To bake them, I put them first into a deck oven because our deck ovens can shoot a blast of steam. Then I transferred them to the cooler rotating oven to finish baking. The final mochi balls looked a little closer to the original than my previous attempt, but they still seemed too dense. 

Mochi ball attempt #2

The white bread group made these cheese buns topped with bruschetta. Absolutely amazing! The Chef looked at the last few buns and said "If everyone keeps eating them, we'll have none left to send to the Marketplace" as he reached for another one to eat. I think this is the tastiest thing the class has produced thus far. Bravo white bread group. Make more, please!

On Friday my group really came together and just cranked everything out. I hope this groove thang we've got going on continues. If so, the rest of yeast fundamentals is going to be a breeze. :)

It was really interesting to see the whole class rebound after disaster Thursday, but mess ups are to be expected. It's a fundamentals course, after all! I sometimes have to remind myself that I am here to learn and this is the best time to make mistakes, experiment, and grow. This is one reason, actually, that I take advantage of the freedom we have over our flavours. What other time am I going to get the chance to make peanut butter and bacon doughnuts? Or rosemary mushroom muffins? The frustrations of Thursday really made me re-realize that sometimes you have to risk something to learn. Better to mess up a few loaves here than to botch a $300 order in the real world. :P

Perhaps a Little Too Crazy?

Our current Chef definitely encourages creativity but I can tell he is worried about the flavour ideas that comes out of my head and A's.

Let's start with the more everyday stuff then ramp up to the strange and the wonderful, shall we?

Although our current station is called the doughnut station, we are also responsible for baking no-time breads. A bread is called no-time when at least a portion of the ingredients come from a pre-made mix. The pre-made mix often has something added to it to speed up the relaxation of the gluten, allowing the mixed dough to be shaped sooner than traditional bread. We made an ancient grain loaf. I love grainy loaves and luckily, so do my team mates.

Shaping the dough

Dark, crusty, and chuck full of grainy goodness!

Next up for interesting flavours is our version of a savoury fritter. Fritters are normally sweet so our Chef was surprised when I asked for cheese and ham. These fritters turned out fantastically! We filled them with emmental, chunks of prosciutto, and basil. It tasted a lot like a pizza in doughnut form!

This mess turns into fritter heaven

It looks like a chicken cutlet, but it's delicious, honest

A huge hit with our class was A's orange creamsicle doughnut - a flavour that most people knew as a child turned into a doughnut. Filled with a creamy orange whipped cream kissed with rum and sprinkled with white chocolate shavings. Little mandarin sections helped to cut through the creaminess.

Almost half the tray was eaten before the end of class!

Now onto the more adventurous doughnuts - salty peanut butter and candied maple bacon and chocolate and strawberry pop rock!

I searched online and it seemed like peanut butter and bacon was a surprisingly popular flavour pair! I took it a step further by candying the bacon in maple syrup and salting the peanut butter, flipping the traditional flavours of each. It's a flavour most people wouldn't dare think of, but it works quite well!

It took a few tries, but I finally got pop rocks to stay poppy in buttercream icing. The trick is to coat the pop rocks in some sort of oil. In my case I used cashew butter. The other tip is to minimize the pop rock's contact with liquid. I didn't add any cream to my simple buttercream, opting to just whip it lots until it was light and fluffy. I felt that a chocolate buttercream would pair better (and be more appealing) with strawberry pop rocks so I added a lot of melted dark chocolate.

Ignore that terrible glazing job...

The recipe still needs tweaking. I hadn't thought of it at the time, but I realized that to eat the doughnut, one would chew the doughnut. As a result, most of the pop rocks would be crushed and not have the chance to pop. Oh, you'll still get some pop and crackles in the back of your mouth, but nothing like the surprise and delight I was aiming for. Either way, it was a small success towards the final goal. I am not going to give up on this one.

There was an attempt at blackmail in class yesterday. For some reason, the school scheduled for us to have 5 hours of lab work, 1 hour of theory, an hour break, and then another 2 hours of theory after that. After the first 5 hours, we're all pretty tired so we tend to be less than enthusiastic about more school time. Who did this? I'll never tell. :P

Chef's most favourite tool

Tomorrow will be the start of rye breads and whole wheat breads for me and my group. It doesn't seem like a heavy load, thankfully, as I am exhausted. My brain is ka-put. So tired, in fact, I have no creative ideas for flavours tomorrow! 

Actually, that's a partial lie. I have something I want to try, but it is not a flavour for rye or whole wheat breads. I stumbled upon a youtube video of Yuna Kim (the 2010 Olympic Korean figure skater) baking something called mochi bread. If you have ever had mochi before, imagine the crispy crust of a bun with the chewiness of mochi inside. It's not as chewy as a piece of mochi, but it retains the same reminiscent texture. If you have never tried mochi before I really recommend heading to your nearest Asian market and scoping out a box. Mass produced mochi like that isn't going to be spectacular, but you'll get the wonderful chewy sweet idea. Fresh mochi has more of a melt-in-your-mouth chewiness.

Mochi bread from: Yochana's Cake Delight

The recipe for mochi bread is much coveted. Ideas have been thrown back and forth in the online community but no one has really gotten it down. All, in the end, resort to hunting down the boxed mix as the only means to satisfying their craving. The youtube video I am using as reference is entirely in Korean. I more or less figured out certain ingredients, resting times, baking times, and temperatures, but there are two ingredients that remain a mystery. It is two of the first three flours. The first (38g) is bread flour. The second I am assuming is mochiko or glutinous rice flour because mochi balls are, well, made of mochi flour (mochiko). The last flour (30g) shares a very similar name to that of the previous but I have no idea what it is.

Here is a link to the video. If you can tell me what those two flour ingredients are that would be awesome!

Mochi Bread

Are you an adventurous eater? Do you like to walk on the wild side and challenge your tastebuds, or do you like the safe side, tastes you know you're going to like and not regret? I am definitely an adventurous eater. I'll try almost anything at least once. To me, trying something before judging is part of the "spice of life". :)

Fry'n Them 'Nuts

Friday was my last day on the quick breads station. A and I were already thinking about flavours for our next station, doughnuts, so we hadn't thought of any flavours for the scones and muffins ahead of time. We simply looked at what we had and threw everything together.

A used up the last of the mushroom cream in the scones along with some green onions, rosemary and parmesan.

I saw boxes of fresh herbs in the fridge so I grabbed a bunch, mixed it with goat cheese, sugared some walnuts and tossed it all into the muffin batter.

A dollop of herbed goat cheese, fresh thyme, and a toasted walnut

Today we started doughnuts! Who can resist a freshly fried cake doughnut tossed in cinnamon sugar? :) Of course, we didn't just do cinnamon sugar. A and I thought that that old and tired bowl of cinnamon sugar needed something spicy. Cayenne pepper it is! It didn't punch you in the face. Instead, it was a really nice warmth in the back of your mouth.

Reject doughnuts that were "tastefully" disposed of :)

Beautiful yeast doughnuts waiting to be fried to golden perfection

Now for the yeast doughnuts. That's where we got more creative. A tossed some bananas with pecans, honey, and brown sugar and carmelized the whole batch in the oven. I made up some caramel, flavoured with cinnamon and rum, and whipped up some vanilla rum whipped cream. Can you guess what our theme was?

Banana fosters!

The whipped cream was a bit boozy, but it balanced well with the sweetness of the caramel, bananas, and nuts.

Of course, I can't forget the San Francisco sourdough we made.

Actually, I did forget these in the oven...

What flavours should we do tomorrow? I really have the urge to make something with peanut butter. Peanut butter and raspberry jam? A classic combination. Peanut butter and banana cream? Perhaps too creamy? Oh! How about peanut butter and candied bacon? I like the sounds of that. And here's a hint to what flavour might also be coming out tomorrow or the day after.

I'll leave you tonight with a little fun tidbit. Did you know it only takes 50 jumps, just up and down, to stimulate bone growth, which in turn can help in the prevention of osteoporosis?

Jump on, my friends, jump on. 

Try the Mushroom Muffin, Really!

It is exciting to be back in baking mode. It's why I'm here afterall.

Once again we are working in rotations, meaning one tables makes all the rye breads, another tables makes all wheat breads, and so on. I am currently on the quick breads station. We are responsible for producing clover buns, cinnamon knots, muffins, scones, and soda bread. Those items alone are not the most exciting things to bake. But do you know what makes this class so much fun? Freedom! Our Chef gives us a lot of creative reign over what flavours we make the muffins and scones or if we want to add some orange flavour to the soda bread. Of course, we have to work within certain parameters. For example, I really wanted to make a "Blue" muffin. It would be flavoured with blueberries and blue cheese. If some people like honey and blue cheese, why not do a sweet berry with the cheese and then glaze the muffin with honey? Genius, right? Luckily for the masses of The Marketplace, the Chef reigns us in when we get a little too creative and experimental. :P

Mixing by hand, literally

My original flavour plan for Wednesday's muffins was jalapeno cheese. Nothing too far out there. But then I found out another table was using the exact same flavours for their buns. I refused to do the same thing. As such, when my blue muffin idea was shot down, I just threw various fruits into a muffin, glazed it, and topped it with fresh berries. The final flavour was candied ginger, lemon, orange, and blueberry. A safe option. Not terribly creative, but not a complete bore either.

Shiny

My awesome partner, who is part cook, sweated some onions, wilted some spinach, and threw everything together with spices and feta cheese into the scones. Absolutely wonderful!

My table mate made some lovely looking chocolate chip muffins. The Chef got her some chocolate cups that she cut up. M is definitely a cake girl and it shows in the elegance of her products.

The doughnut group got really fancy. Aren't those the fanciest doughnuts you have ever seen? They remind me of eclairs. The only downside is that you smell like fry grease afterwards.

Mini boston creams

The first day back to baking was fun, but I was determined to make a savoury muffin. Something different! While I thought about it, the image of roast beef popped into my mind. This led to mashed potatoes, which led to gravy, which finally led to mushrooms. That's it! I wanted to make a mushroom muffin! When I asked the Chef for ingredients, he thought I was crazy but decided to let me try it anyway. My awesome cook partner helped me pick out good mushrooms to use and how we could use them. This morning, when we came into the baking lab, Chef handed us a box of white mushrooms, a bag of portabellas, and a giant bag of dried mixed mushrooms. Awesome! We were pumped!

Mushroomy goodness!

We rehydrated a big handful of mushrooms in the milk being used for the muffins along with a sprig of fresh rosemary.

Infuse the goodness

The mushrooms in the milk got blended together and I also sauteed some more mushrooms to mix into the batter. We flavoured the mix with rosemary, thyme, garlic, and black pepper.

To top our muffins, we decided to rehydrate some more mushrooms in whipping cream, blend it together and whip it all up. This might sound weird but just think of mushroom soup. I added a bit of salt to the mushroom cream to make it extra savoury.

I spooned the cream on and finished it with a sprig of rosemary and a mushroom. They turned out absolutely amazing! So mushroomy and hearty. If you like mushroom soup, this is the muffin for you. And that cream just takes it to a whole new level! Chef was impressed and very eager to get his face into one. :)

While I was doing all sorts of cooking, my partner banged out more delectable scones. We saw a bag of mini marshmallows in the dry storage and were inspired to make something based on s'mores.

Chocolate and marshmallows

Oh so good

We also found a giant bucket of leftover candy. It had smarties, gummies, gum balls, and other random tid bits. We had originally wanted to make a candy scone, but the Chef squinted his eyes and said "Let's not". Haha. But across the table, M took the smarties and threw them into her muffin batter. Chocolate chip and smarties muffin, not too bad. Her decorative abilities are top notch though!

Smartie flowers

Another group broke out the blue cheese! Blue cheese and candied walnut buns. So good!

Chef is always trying to get us to use the blue cheese. He was really happy with these.

Today's mushroom success got my mind buzzing with all sorts of ideas! How about a dark chocolate and chili muffin? Or a mushroom and spinach scone with an egg cracked in the middle of it, like eggs in a basket? How about a doughnut version of bananas foster with a caramelized banana drizzled with cinnamon rum caramel? I have one ingredient in mind that I have always wanted to make work in a baked item. What is it? Well, you'll have to wait and see, and you'll know it when you see it! Or should I say, when it pops in your mouth! Creative freedom is dangerous. :P