Anti-Atkins Class

Well, one full week of Bake Shop is in the bag and I know my fate: not a pastry chef. This stuff is sooooo tedious. Of course, the bread is delicious, but getting all the stuff together at the beginning of class is insane. Everything must be weighed out to the tenth of an ounce. One bread used three different flours for crying out loud! All that being said, I've already used what I've learned in school, at home. I made focaccia bread on Sunday night to go with herb roasted chicken minestrone. Good stuff. And now, for the photographic evidence of my baking prowess:

Pain Au Lait










These were some tasty rolls. They were pretty easy to make too: milk and yeast mixed in a mixing bowl with malt syrup, sugar, and a beaten egg. Then the flour goes in and the KitchenAid dough hook does its magic. Some salt. Then butter a little bit at a time. Once it's all combined, the dough goes into a sprayed bowl and into the proof box (a climate controlled box that is quite warm and humid) which aids in the fermentation process. Over the next 30-45 minutes, the dough will double in size. Then we punch it down, separate it into 2oz portions, ball it up, and sort of shape it into oblong shapes. We let it sit for about 10 minutes, then roll it out to 8" ropes and shape it into different shapes. Then it goes into a steam deck oven at 350º until GBD. See? Easy! For brevity, I won't go through the process of making each of these breads because most of them were the same method, just with different ingredients.

Multigrain Bread














How gorgeous is this bread? It's got walnuts, honey, brown sugar, buttermilk, oats, rye, and wheat bran. Once out of the oven, we brushed it with simple syrup to give it that oh so tasty-looking sheen. You'll all probably be getting this for Christmas.

Olive Sourdough Bread













I am not an olive fan. I absolutely hated this bread. We nailed it on the grade. In fact "gorgeous" was the word used by the chef. The vultures outside the kitchen lab seemed to think it was quite tasty ast well.

Margherita Pizza













Pizza. How could this not be excellent? That's all. It was just great.

Pretzels













Killer, killer, pretzels. I liked these a lot because they didn't require a second fermentation or a steam deck oven, so I could easily make these at home.

Hollaaaaa! (Challah)













Challah is a traditional Jewish celebration bread. It's made for Passover and other Jewish holidays. The dough is made and proofed and rolled out to several ropes. Those ropes are then braided. Those braided ropes are then eggwashed and proofed again. Then eggwashed again and baked. And then it gets eaten. Real tasty stuff.

Brioche Cinnamon Rolls













We made brioche breads - tetes, parisienne loaves, and then we had extra. What to do with extra brioche? How bout make some cinnamon rolls? YAYUUUHHHH!!!!!!!!

We're making crescents and danishes tomorrow morning. Then cakes next week. I'm going to get so fat in this class.