alanamoana
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Posts posted by alanamoana
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ahhh sorry, just re-read your recipe...dry glucose!
you can also check with dairyland. they're up in the bronx but i think they let you pick stuff up if you're not ordering via a restaurant?! i'm pretty sure they have dextrose and stuff...but probably only in bulk. you're right with l'epicerie you can get small amounts of things.
my old boss actually had holes drilled in his paco jets (at a previous restaurant) so he wouldn't have to deal with holding in the blue valve. we just used the corner of a thick business card which did the trick.
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you can probably get glucose from ny cake and baking down on 22nd(?)
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plastic foil is just acetate sheets. sometimes called guitar sheets. it can be bought in different textures and thicknesses. remember that chocolate takes on the shine of whatever it touches, so very shiny acetate will give you very shiny chocolate...however, with the thicker acetate, when the chocolate sets up, it contracts so sometimes you get some artifact lines where the chocolate lifts away from the acetate. when you're making small chocolates like the palet d'or, you can always cut the plastic into small squares and put individual plastic on each bonbon. you can also re-use the plastic that transfer sheets were on (if they're nice and clean).
regarding the gold leaf...it should stick (static cling). PCB actually makes little gold transfers specifically for palet d'or. they aren't real gold leaf though, so they don't look as good as the real thing.
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Here's a link to one of the threads that discusses method:
Prime Rib - Cooking Method and Pictorial
I learned a lot from this thread.
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Bryan, there are sometimes issues with texture when spinning (shaving?!) custard bases. If, during your experimentation you notice any 'moussiness' (too much overrun), just hold in the blue air valve during the spinning process. You can use the corner of a business card or heavy piece of paper to keep the valve in.
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just curious to see if these taro dumplings on the top right would count as croquettes?
they are one of my favorite dim sum dishes...mashed taro with meat and mushroom filling with this crazy lacy exterior.
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Just a simple gingerbread house I made for my husband's office. I made the mistake of making one on a whim last year (my first time making a gingerbread house) and they asked for one this year...darn it. I'm also very lazy, so I didn't do too much detail work. Maybe next year I'll do better.
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I used foil lightly over the batch, however I will individually put foil over the next batch as I found the tops that were closer to the very loose edges of foil in my hot-spots in the gas oven started to bubble (although the texture underneath was perfect).
Do you mean that you will individually wrap each ramekin? I think you'd be better served making sure you have a tight seal over the entire pan. The purpose of the water bath is to control the temperature and moist environment around your brulees. I think that covering each ramekin would defeat the purpose. But, hey, I've been wrong before!
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I have a friend who's policy is to only buy foods from non publicly traded companies. His assertion is that quality and cost can't be bed partners.
In thinking about baking, if I were selling my desserts and using only fresh ingredients without chemicals, wouldn't that significantly decrease shelf life, and then wouldn't that make baking as a business impossible?
If you're running the type of business that sells out of product every day and produces fresh product every evening/morning, then it shouldn't stop you from making money or running a business.
If you're baking product that has to sit on a shelf for a week, then I probably wouldn't buy anything you made
There are other ways to increase shelf life or adjust to a production schedule - things like freezing components, etc. that don't compromise freshness or quality of raw ingredients.
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I don't deny that (thus "safer" being in quotes to indicate relativity to certain conditions). I guess what I'm referring to is more along the lines of what Lindacakes mentions above (and what Eileen stated...which was in my original post). If you have either read the book or watched the "Guns, Germs and Steel" mini-series, you'll see that some stuff which might have been considered bad, actually helped some societies become dominant. Our fear of dirt might end up being our downfall as we inadvertently produce super-bacteria and the like while simultaneously weakening our own systems' ability to defend against said bacteria.
But, to get back on topic...a little bit of crap or hair isn't going to kill us
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i dont get it, pardon me. you want to open a brewery, yet you dont want to encourage people to come around because your said customers are 'a pain in the ass'? further more you wouldnt want people to linger about and instead have a beer, buy something and go?
i dont understand this sales approach. at all.
sarcasm and gum chewing are both illegal in singapore?!
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To be honest, while I can see some benefit to using these methods...ultimately, if you're running your own small business, you're going to be filling piping bags and doing things with your hands which might negate the small benefit of making the ganaches under vacuum...correct?
Why not just stick to small batches with low water activity and call it a day? Might these other techniques come in handy when dealing with an industrial volume environment?
Not that I'm saying one shouldn't learn about them and understand the benefits, etc. Just my 2 cents.
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Eileen, I think your sig line says it all!
I don't necessarily think we are "safer" than any other point in history, mainly because of points made by Eileen...too many antibiotics, too many chemical compounds being created.
An aside, but somewhat related, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom wants to add a surcharge to beverages (sodas) that contain high fructose corn syrup. He claims consumption of these beverages puts a burden on the medical system. He drinks diet. Right, because artificial sweeteners are so much better for you.
I'm a moderation girl. Even trans fats. If Crisco makes the cookie better, then use a little Crisco...just don't eat twenty cookies.
It isn't that we're eating and drinking this stuff, it is that we can't stop at a reasonable amount.
edited for spelling
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Yes of course. However if the amount of slabbed ganache is wider than the palet knife? Do you see what I mean?
practice, practice, practice.
you can always buy/make a piece of plastic or sqeegie (rubber scraper) type of device that is as wide or wider than your caramel rulers and use that to drag across your ganache. regardless of what you use, you still need some practice in spreading it nicely. due to the dragging there is almost always one side that sinks a little below the bars (from being pulled away).
honestly, though, i don't see anything wrong with your method. if you can just put a piece of guitar plastic (acetate sheet) on top of your ganache and weight it down with a pan and it comes out flat, then i wouldn't worry about it!
you could even get custom cut acrylic sheets to lay on top of the ganache and weight those down.
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Yeah, I actually could've saved a bit of money with natural almonds-- maybe even skinned them myself-- but at the time, I didn't know how to blanch almonds, I don't know if raw almonds would work with the recipe either and I couldn't risk a flop for my party but if it's just me and my family, yeah, rustic works! Thanks for the compliments alanamoana!
most almond meal is not toasted (the nuts are raw when ground), so you can always replace blanched with natural. blanching and peeling is such a pain...i never bother. i think the only time i use blanched almond meal is when i'm working in a restaurant and they're paying for it!
your baking is just getting better and better from what i can see!
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Mark, your opera looks great! I wouldn't worry about the glacage! Also, if you can't find blanched almonds, why worry (or if they cost too much)? I actually like the look of natural almond meal. And, unlike other nuts, the skin doesn't really affect the flavor too much. Obviously, you're getting a more refined look with blanched, but that's not always a concern!
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David, do those bags work with a Tilia food saver? I assume you need the hose attachment...looks interesting!
Doesn't it take quite a bit of time to set the chocolates out in that nicely spaced manner? I'm just wondering if it is justifiable (the amount of time spent).
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Heh, I had a little disaster when I tried to swap powdered pectin for liquid pectin in a pomegranate jelly recipe. It clumped up and I ended up having to strain it out
. Apparently I'm not a very good jelly maker!anytime you use powdered pectin, you have to whisk it with the sugar that gets added to the recipe before adding it to the liquid ingredients (fruit, puree, whatever)...otherwise it will lump up. sort of like when you make pastry cream and you whisk the corn starch with the sugar before adding the eggs and tempering in the liquid.
edited to add: sorry a bit off topic!
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Okay - I'm a bit lost here. What are we talking about, or more precisely, what do you want to use it for? Is this to puree your chestnuts or are you trying to make chestnut vermicelli (whatever that might be).
Rob, if I'm not mistaken, xdrixn is looking for something that will turn chestnut puree into "noodles"...this is a traditional garnish on the top of a "mont blanc" dessert.
like in the picture.
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what does everybody store their chocolates in? right now I'm using 6 inch full size lexans which is obviously excessive.
adrian: don't know if you can get them where you work, but there are plastic 'fish boxes' that we used to get at the restaurant for tuiles, etc. that are perfect for chocolates. they look a lot like the tupperware above, but are a bit bigger. they can probably handle a double layer of bonbons...probably something like 10"x18" (i'm not sure of the dimensions...but something like that).
i'll try to see if i can find the source for them.
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or even a (very clean) garlic press for small quantities
or...a play-doh fun factory! hehehe
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I spread a little on a bit of parchment or just dip the tip of my small offset spatula in the chocolate, then watch over the next 5 to 10 minutes. Dark sets up fastest. I'm just looking to see if it hardens quickly and when it does firm up that it is glossy, not dusty looking or streaky in any way. It's not going to be shiny, just glossy. Shiny you only get when it sets against a smooth surface.
OK, I think that makes sense - especially the times. I used a combination of 60% and 70% to try to arrive at the flavor I was looking for and it set up quite quickly when a spoon was dipped in - maybe 5 minutes, tops. I just wasn't sure if "quickly" was supposed to mean more like 30 seconds, or more like 10 minutes. I suppose like anything it takes practice, and probably a few mistakes, to get a feel for what the correct consistency is. I'm sure my wife will be crushed to hear that I will have to make more chocolates
. Thanks for the advice.Also, you should take into consideration your environment. Working with chocolate in the winter in a cool and dry environment is usually easier than working in the summer when it is warm and humid. So, your tempered chocolate will set up more quickly now as opposed to eight months from now (in July or August).
Other than that, great work!
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while pistachios are great to munch on and as additions for texture to cookies, etc., i find them sorely lacking when attempting to infuse them into something like a custard or mousse. they just don't have a distinct or strong enough aroma/flavor to give something enough 'ooomph'.
another weird thing is that pistachio extracts/pastes/compounds always just are sort of one-off almond extracts in my opinion. i haven't tried amoretti brand flavoring, maybe that's better.
rob, it definitely sounds like you want to make something like a pastry cream or pudding base (which you could easily lighten with whipped cream and stabilize with gelatin if you wanted), but i really don't know if you want to waste your pistachios on something like that. the amount you'd need to use to infuse would be pretty big and the results (in my past experience) aren't overwhelmingly "pistachio-like" to make it worthwhile.
maybe just pistachio brittle? throw some in some nougat? toast, chop and put in shortbread?
oh well, that's just my opinion.
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As for turns, I use letter turns, 7 of them: so 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 2187 layers. Is that too much? If I do 4 doubles, that's only 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 = 256.
Is that right? I think my math is wrong, but 256 sounds like too few.
With regard to the layers...I always have problems with the math but it does depend on how you incorporate the butter block in the first place:
if you just make a square and enclose the butter, you've already got three layers to start. when you fold the dough into your first book fold (you omit counting the layers of dough touching dough because they won't separate when baked) that's already nine layers for your first turn. then do three more double turns:
puts you at over 500 layers
i'll take a look at some of my reference books to see what the average number of turns is/should be.
you can also get a very fair/decent rise using blitz or quick puff pastry. you'd be surprised at how easy it is to use and what a good result you can get with a lot less stress.
but again, i think you're off on a rip roaring adventure! i don't think that the pithivier is so much the challenge as working with puff pastry correctly is the actual challenge. i mean, consider that the pithivier is just good puff pastry with a frangipane filling
...two components giving one person a run for their money!edited to add:
"Baking with Julia", Dorie Greenspan - 6 x single turns
"Professional Pastry Chef", Bo Friberg - 4 x double turns
"Perfect Pastry", Nick Malgieri - 6 x single turns OR 4 x double turns
"Professional Baking", Wayne Gisslen - 4 x double turns OR 5 x single turns(if you incorporate your butter in thirds) and 6 x single turns (if you incorporate your butter in a single package)
While doing 7 x single turns might only be one more turn than these books recommend, you might be persuaded that the extra turn can cause unnecessary tearing of the layers during the final turn. Of course, this can depend on the condition of the dough as well. You are also tempting fate by encouraging further gluten development by performing an extra turn. Along with the number of turns, the percentage of fat relative to the dough can affect how well the layers separate. More fat will give you more reliable separation of layers when baked. Less fat can result in "sticky" layers that won't separate because the butter doesn't get rolled out as evenly. So, just more to think about.
Black Cake and Browning
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
Just a quick bump with an article from the New York Times today:
A Fruitcake Soaked in Tropical Sun