alanamoana

you can also get it from 'dairyland' a purveyor located in oakland. they bought out van rex and are from out east but just started out here. if you need a contact, let me know. edited to add: check this mini dehumidifier out. but it might take up too much space...good idea though for a bigger space maybe. edited again (i should just google first and post later ) to add: this link which is interesting because i've never heard of this stuff being dangerous. obviously you don't want it touching food... ←

there's this great dessicant that changes color when it absorbs moisture. i think that it would indicate how much you need by how quickly it changes color. it is a bit expensive, but it is reusable so it might be worth it. it is in bead form and goes from dark blue to pink when it absorbs moisture. you can use limestone (for a cheap replacement), but you never know if it is inactive until it is too late...like if you ruin a batch of chocolate.

Peggy, I think they're barely overbaked. Maybe by one or two minutes at the most. They don't look bad considering your lack of experience. There's good layering inside and you can see the flakiness. I think you might have proofed them a bit warm as I can see the inside layers are a bit stuck together or there is a small bit of raw dough - that would indicate that the outside was proofed but the inside stayed cold and didn't proof along with the outside. There are no hard and fast rules regarding baking and proofing. It becomes a "it feels right" kind of thing. I never worry about times and temps with these things and just rely on look, feel and smell. The croissants should about double in size and when you touch them they should be soft without deflating. You still want them to have some oven spring when they hit the heat. If it works for you, you can start the oven off a little higher to get your oven spring and then turn it down to brown the croissants more evenly. Always make sure to rotate the trays front to back and top to bottom about halfway or two thirds of the way through baking as there is no such thing as a perfect oven.

who actually eats fondant anyway? isn't it just there like a wrapper to be peeled off the cake?

tupac17616, with the squid (next time) you might try using a piping bag if the puree/filling isn't too chunky. might save you some time

AmritaBala, as you're living in Singapore, I would think that humidity and warmth (climate) would have an effect on your chocolate tempering. If you're storing in the fridge and you're losing texture when it comes to room temp, then the chocolate might not have been in proper temper in the first place (or maybe wrapped incorrectly). The professionals do vacuum seal and store in the freezer. In order to defrost properly and avoid condensation (and sugar bloom), the chocolates are moved from the freezer to the fridge on the first day and then out to room temp the second day. The packaging is not removed until the chocolates have reached ambient temp.

i don't know the ingredients, but have used different brands (carma is one of them) of 'masa ticino' (rolling fondant) with ease and success... i tried to look up the ingredients (didn't look too hard) but was unsuccessful. you might try calling a purveyor to find out.

Rob, when you pre-ordered, was the 'search inside' feature available? I definitely find this a useful tool when ordering books. I also tend to wait until they have the book at the library and check it out before investing money (this is a new habit, as I'm a bit cheaper than I was when I was younger!). I'm also a bit of a snob and won't order books if I don't know who the author is. Especially in a specialty category like baking and pastry. Thanks for letting us know what you think though, this is another way to sift out the duds from the good books. edited to add: after looking at the table of contents, I would recommend Paula Figoni's "How Baking Works" or even the Alton Brown book on baking for good information. The Figoni book is all about the ingredients and how they work individually and together (food science). Brown makes everything accessible...and with pictures!

this sounds like something perfect for using meyer lemons. if you up the amount of juice (since meyers are a bit milder than regular lemons)...i'll have to take a look at the recipe. merlicky, they look great, by the way

if you keep your ovens on all the time, you should have a warm enough space near them to proof your pastries. often, a proof box is too extreme for danish and croissants (too moist and too warm, even on low settings). just keep them lightly covered so that they don't get a skin, or egg wash before proofing and egg wash again right before going into the oven.

mark, good thing you mentioned the acid...you'll need something to react with the baking soda in the recipe if it calls for any. if you make homemade mayo without any acid, you'll likely have an out of balance chemical reaction with the leavener...unless of course the cocoa powder you use is natural (not dutch process)

right, but doesn't adding salt change this as salt retards yeast action...might it keep the yeast from 'starting' the starter? autolyse, i understand, but for more than an hour or so would seem to be excessive (in the manner described by the op)

a 'soaker' in most books i've read is more like whole grains and stuff that you have to soften and moisten before adding to doughs. i think what you're talking about is a sponge. in any case, if you just let flour and water and salt sit around for a week (without the benefit of the living organisms found in yeast)...even refrigerated, you're going to get a gray/green mess. just look at any pie dough that you mix and let sit in the fridge for a couple of days. i don't know about gluten development in a mixture like that either. by products of yeast: carbon dioxide and alcohol, no?

Thanks for that clarification alana. I make tons of sucree as well, and the mixer is fine for that. ← I've noticed people use pate sucrée to mean different things. Sometimes they mean a pate brisée that's sweetened (in which case Chef Peon's advice applies). Other times they mean a sugar cookie-like dough that's thoroughly mixed (which I think is what alanamoana means). ← I find that there are a lot of definitions for different doughs. From what I understand, brisee is a dough that is meant to be mealy or short and is usually unsweetened. This is NOT meant to be a flaky dough. Unfortunately, it seems that people use the terms (brisee and flaky pie dough) interchangeably. Where I find that people are confused is determining what is flaky and what is mealy/short. If you're looking to make a flaky dough, then do it by hand. If you're looking to make a mealy dough, then a mixer is fine.

for sucree (a.k.a. short dough), using a mixer with a paddle attachment is fine. in this case, you aren't adding enough liquid to develop any gluten in the flour and all the flour should be coated in fat (butter) anyway. just don't over mix. with flaky dough (a.k.a. pie dough), i make pretty big batches by hand, but i'm not doing this on a regular basis for production purposes. when i used to have to make larger batches in a restaurant, we'd use the mixer with the paddle. as chefpeon says, everything cold and pulse only.

i'm a little pissed, but amazon has this book on special right now for USD$62.37. it isn't in stock yet, but if you pre-order, you're guaranteed the special price. damn. if only i had a little patience! edited to add: they also have a 5% pre-order special...so you can get the book for $59.25 i hope someone takes advantage of this offer...

Very good information! Thanks for pointing it out to us.

Well, according to... ← sounds good to me! learn something new every day...

is aromatize really a word? ...don't we mean 'infuse'? but aside from that, you can also make a gianduja that is piping consistency by just paddling in a mixer and applying heat with a torch or heat gun. you can then add butter and i'm thinking any other flavor that you'd like. edited to add: i'd probably take instant coffee and add just a little bit of water and make it into a paste to add to the above mixture

great review ejw50, thank you. i was wondering whether to get 'patisserie' or 'ph10' and while i'm still undecided, your review gave me a lot to base my future decision on.

just now saw this post (a little late)...usually coloring isomalt is done with powdered colors. this way, you don't cause crystallization of the product (even isomalt can crystallize) and it doesn't affect the water content after cooking which would happen if adding a liquid color.

also available at JB Prince a little bit cheaper while not focused entirely on chocolate, the Duby's of Canada also have a book which is a sort of savory/sweet fusion type book (Wild Sweets II, I think)

insipid usually has a negative connotation, but i think in this case it just means neutral flavored or bland. p.s. and once i looked it up on bartleby.com, that is exactly what it means.

maybe with something like a genoise, but with the madeleines, you should be fine. i have a mini madeleine pan and don't have to reformulate the recipe to use it. it's all good...

you shouldn't have to alter your recipe, just the baking time. to be honest, even if you think you made the recipe correctly, it is very likely you mis-measured something. it happens to the best of us and it sounds more like there is something out of whack with the ingredients rather than a baking issue. i often have students assure me and 'cross their heart, hope to die', etc. that they measured something correctly and when i have them do it again, they say 'oops' as they realize they doubled something and halved something else.