This stuff is fun. I actually enjoyed preparing the yeast breads this week in class. Likely because most of my favorite baked goods are derived from yeast doughs. These include the great French baguette, crusty Italian bread, NYC bagels, pizza dough, and the wide variety of artisan loaves. Yum!
I have tried in the past to [...]
Archive for May, 2008
Yeast Breads
Posted in Culinary School, tagged baking bread, kneading bread, Yeast breads on May 28, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Bagels
Posted in Culinary School, tagged bagel nutrition, Bagels, baking bagels, NYC bagels on May 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Everyone in NY knows that New York City bagels are the best around. We have all heard a theory it is the water in NY that make them good. I can now confirm this possibility. Water, since it is a component of the dough and they are poached in water briefly, contributes to flavor in the bagels. And [...]
Puff Pastry
Posted in Culinary School, tagged Puff Pastry on May 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Wow – what can’t you do with this stuff? Today in class we made a variety of treats – sweet and savory – with puff pastry dough. Everything was very delicious. But how can you go wrong with a dough made from equal parts butter and flour? I gathered from my earlier culinary classes that the French are masters [...]
Meatloaf
Posted in Home Cooking, tagged Cooking, Meatloaf on May 14, 2008 | 3 Comments »
When most people hear this word their first instinct is to utter some sort of guttural sound like “ugh” and follow it with a repeat of the initial word with a sound of disbelief – “Meatloaf?!?!?” I used to feel the same way. The word induced a flashback to a mound of meat, wet and glossy from the [...]
Tarts
Posted in Culinary School, tagged Fruit Tarts, Pastry Baking on May 13, 2008 | 1 Comment »
These past two days in school we have been preparing pie shells, pastry shells, pastry cream, frangipane, and various fruits. This is hard stuff! There are so many little tricks to know about the dough. Proper handling, resting, mixing, docking, blind baking, and more. Ingredients for the creams and frangipanes have to be mixed in just the [...]
