The Completion of Chapter SAIT, The Start of Chapter Kiwi!

School's out for summer! *cue song*

Finally finally finally, I have officially graduated from SAIT's two year Baking and Pastry Arts program. Certainly, while you're in the thick of it, time seems to move slowly, but as you near the end, time flies by in a flash. The last day was a mix of emotions - relief of being done, sadness from leaving good friends and teachers, and excitement at what's to come. But trust me, life will only get more and more interesting.

The last two things we made this past week:

Caramel pear cake

Passionfruit curd, white chocolate mousse,
chocolate hazelnut crunchy crust

Chef set up a display of everything we made in this class. I think we were supposed to help ourselves and eat some of it but no one touched it. Too pretty!

Was this program worth it? Is it worth going to school for baking when you can learn it at home? Yes and yes! It is very important in this day and age to be properly educated in this industry before heading out. One of the main reasons is that few places will hire someone with no industry experience or training. Home baking is COMPLETELY different from commercial baking, despite how the Food Network makes it look like. But let's start with the first question.

Attending SAIT was the best move for me for several reasons. First, it was affordable. Specialized baking schools can be extraordinarily expensive, reaching over $10,000 cad per semester! A famous and more expensive school may help snag you more prestigious placements, but in the end, you will receive a similar education and how far it takes you depends on the individual. Second, it was relatively close. I looked into moving to Ontario, even France, but I didn't feel the difference in education was worth the cost. Third, I chose the two year program over the one year because the two year program is more comprehensive. If you have the time, I recommend the longer program because the time will allow classes to go into more depth on each topic. Two years is still very short but it's double the one year program!

The Chefs at SAIT are all extremely knowledgeable and dedicated to passing it on. The teaching staff is really the treasure of the program. All the Chefs came from the industry and thus have real world working know-how. It makes for great stories and even better lessons - tips, tricks, and things to watch out for.

Now, home-educated baking vs school-educated baking, which is better? Unless you are a hardcore home baker bordering on pro, school-educated all the way. Why? Isn't it enough to know how to bake cookies and ice a cake? Maybe, if you only want to work at a cupcake store or a coffee shop. But if you want to go further, a program like SAIT's is one of the best ways to do it. A school program gives students the chance to experience a variety of things, like sugar and chocolate, that can be difficult and expensive to do on your own. Also, internships give you the real experience of being in the industry. Is this really for you? The baking and pastry industry isn't easy. It more often than not involves standing continuously for 8 or more hours  (sometimes with no breaks), lifting heavy equipment and ingredients (20kg bags of flour), working in crazy hot kitchens, and a host of other conditions.

That's not to say there aren't easier jobs in the industry and that home education is useless. On the contrary, almost all bakers start at home. I am just an advocate for formal education as it can help to cover gaps in knowledge, introduce you to a variety of niches, and open many more opportunities than may be available otherwise.

Rant over. :p

So now that I can close that chapter of my life, I am super excited for the next. I'm leaving Canada behind! Can you guess where I'm going? It's a place filled with lots of "kiwis" - all three kinds!

One last look at SAIT

Sensational Desserts

One more week! One more weeeeeeeek!! Can I scream that any louder? Probably, but I live in an apartment and I try not to scare my neighbors with random outbursts. :)

For the last two weeks of my two year program, I am in a class called Sensational Desserts. It's a class filled with a mish-mash of things that didn't fit in any other class.

This week was filled with trifles, sweet confections, and an ice cream party.

Cherries, chocolate mousse, citrus cream,
cherry and brandy foam

Orange and basil gelee, strawberry compote, coconut granola
and black tea foam

Pomegranate and cotton candy lollipops

For the ice cream bar, we got to play with ice and some power tools!

Popsicle stand out of a block of ice

Passionfruit and white wine granite in an ice shot glass

Souffle glacee

Salted caramel ice cream

Making ice balloons

We got to make ice balloons. Fill a balloon with water and freeze for about 4 hours. Then take off the rubber and blow torch a hole into the side. The middle will still be liquid so pour out the water and you get an ice cup!

Peeling an apple using a power drill. :)

Happy Easter!

Capstone

*huge sigh of relief* Capstone is long over and I can catch up on some much needed sleep.

Capstone is a week long bake-a-thon! Well, not really, but it feels like it! About two months before, we are given a list of what we will be expected to make. This year it was: one chocolate occasion cake with chocolate flower, piping, and a chocolate "Happy Birthday" plaque on the side, 12 individual lemon wine mousses with chocolate garnishes, 12 brioche buns, 12 slices of opera cake with chocolate piping, a chocolate box with a white chocolate flower and 14 salted caramel bonbons, and a plated dessert consisting of a french toast apple charlotte, a tuile, a cream caramel, and orange sections.

I didn't have anytime to take pictures during capstone, but luckily my chef was willing to share the pictures he took.

Brioche - some of my heads fell over!

Chocolate occasion cake

Opera slice

Lemon wine mousse

Chocolate box and salted caramels

On Thursday, the last day of capstone, each of us were assigned a time at which we had to present our plated desserts.

Plated desserts with an extra cup of sauce on the side

Along with the baking, we each had to prepare a time table of all our tasks for the week. This was meant to reflect the reality of the baking industry wherein being efficient and timely lies in proper planning beforehand. Our Chef would check on how closely we stayed within our estimated times per task.

There was also a mandatory break built into our schedules. We had to make sure to set aside time to clean our stations and properly store all our products and ingredients before the break started. Anyone caught still working after the break started would be docked points.

My station during a break - it's organized even
though it doesn't look it from this angle

How was capstone overall? Well, honestly, it was more stressful than I thought it was going to be. After writing up my time table, I saw that I would end up with a lot of time on my hands on the last day. But once capstone started, I hit some snags which really slowed me down. I really struggled with making those chocolate swirls that top the lemon wine mousse. I lost count of how many times I redid them! It got to the point where I just had to put the least crappy ones I had on because they needed to be handed in now!

I also ended up remaking my chocolate bonbons because half of my chocolate wasn't tempered. Attempting to make chocolate garnishes and bonbons on the hottest day of the week (Tuesday) wasn't the best idea. 

In the end I came out with a pretty good score, but the whole week threw into my face, repeatedly, my biggest issue: speed. I'm not terribly slow, but I could be so much faster.  Of course, I feel it so much more because my entire class is fast!

With battles fought and lessons learned, I can finally sleep again! I stress dream way too easily and it was a brutal week of very little sleep. The upside was that because I got up so early (5:30 or 6am), I could go for runs while it was still quiet out. :)

What about you? Do you like the hustle and bustle of high tension work or do you prefer tasks that are more mellow and at your own pace? And do you stress out easily too?

Flambe, Chous Paste, and Party Panda

Thursday marked the last day of Classical Desserts. It's not my last class, but it's pretty close!

We got to burn things!

Actually, we got to flambe bananas foster, cherries jubilee, crepes suzette, and baked alaska. Banana fosters is a dish of carmelized bananas, banana liquor, and ice cream. Cherries jubilee is a dish of crepes flambeed with kirsch, a cherry liquor, and boozy soaked cherries. Crepes folded into a sauce of carmelized sugar and orange liquer makes crepe suzette. And a baked alaska is a layer of cake and ice cream all covered in meringue and then baked in the oven. Since almost everyone wanted to try flambee-ing, we used a lot of alcohol. And of course, we got to eat it all after. :)

It was a boozy day

Lighting the baked alaska

The aftermath (it got a little burnt)

Following, we finished up some more classic cakes - the Fraisier (a strawberry cake) and the Charlotte Russe (ladyfingers, bavarian cream, and lots of fresh berries). For some extra flavour and variety, we added a cherry gelee to the middle of the Charlotte. It's a lot of cream, but I liked them both. Light and tasty. A good choice if you're looking for something creamy but light at the same time.

Fraisier - an inspiration for cake style strawberry shortcake?

I really liked the Gateau Basque. It is a tart filled with pastry cream. Very simple, but good! The tart shell is like a cross between a cookie and a cake.

Deceptively plain looking

In the last week, we concentrated on choux paste. We made a few different kinds. By far, my favourite were the gougeres, which are savoury puffs with gruyere cheese folded in. So good! I ate way too many. Pretty sure I ate more than we ended up packaging for sale.

Delicious cheesy morsels!

With the rest of the paste we made mini Saint-Honores and a croquembouche. A Saint Honore is a cake like pastry made with a base of puff pastry and a ring of pastry cream filled choux paste. The middle is filled with whipped cream and then small caramel-dipped cream puffs are lined along the edge. The mini ones are the same thing except a cookie is baked on top of the cream puffs to make them crunchy without the caramel. This dessert is really popular in France and it comes in many different flavours.

The baby and its mama

And finally, the croquembouche! A croquembouche is a tower of caramel-dipped cream puffs in the shape of a cone. While traditionally they are a type of French wedding cake, I've seen them as birthday cakes or center pieces at events. What better way to have fun with the last project in a class than to make it into a panda! And not just any panda, but a Party Panda!

Building the panda

PANDA!

Instead of using only caramel, we dipped the choux puffs into rock sugar for the white and cocoa nibs for the dark. The face, ears, bamboo, and pompom were made out of fondant. The blue ovals are blue colored almond dragees (almonds covered in sugar). Making this little guy was a lot of fun. You can't see it here, but he's actually leaning back a bit so it's like he has a big belly. I guess anyone would if they partied as much as Party Panda did. :)

The class' croquembouches

Next week is finally Capstone - our exam week. I'm not so much nervous as I am excited and ready to get started! Bring it on!