alanamoana
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Posts posted by alanamoana
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pie-et foyay (like foyer without the 'r') teen...but i could be wrong about the first word.
mmmmmm, love me some feuilletine. but i'm too lazy right now (should be packing!) to give you good ideas. will come back to this for sure.
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chocoera, you might find it helpful to look through the Pastry and Baking forum index as there are already many topics which would probably answer your questions...
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you've linked to michael laiskonis on your underbelly site, why don't you check out his newer site which is food based: mlaiskonis.typepad.com
i think he talks a bit about hydrocolloids. also, in the non-pastry food forum here on eG, there's extensive discussion of these additives and their properties that might help you. one member even posted a collection of recipes (both savory and sweet) using hydrocolloids for informational purposes.
other than that, i can't help much.
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with chiffon cakes like this, i tend to change the sugar measurements around to make a more stable meringue. in other words, with this recipe, i'd take some of the sugar from the dry ingredients and move it to the meringue section (maybe 40 or 50 grams).
when making the meringue, start with room temp whites and whisk until the whites are very foamy and are already starting to froth and become opaque. then, add the sugar gradually, allowing each addition to be absorbed/dissolved before adding the next. with this small amount, i'd probably add in three increments. you want something the consistency of a nice thick shaving cream.
i'd also up the temperature a little bit. if my conversion is correct, 338F is a little low for a chiffon, i'd go up to 350F at least. if it takes too long for the egg proteins to set up, they might have a chance to explode during their expansion and then collapse before the cake is finished baking. also, make sure that your oven is calibrated and running correctly.
the chocolate chiffon i've made uses cocoa powder which is a drying ingredient, so i usually add a touch more water. i'm a little at a loss with this one since it uses melted chocolate...maybe add another egg yolk?
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DesertCulinary! Those sweets look great. Just what I want when the weather is cold and rainy like it has been here lately.
What recipe did you use for the grahams?
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If you don't want to alter the components too much, you could dice the quince, center a small island of it in a shallow bowl, cut the cake with a round cutter and center a piece on top of the quince, whip the mascarpone with a bit of cream to lighten it and place a quenelle on the cake and pour a little sauce in the bowl around the quince. Then you can sprinkle your pistachio over the mascarpone for a little color and crunch.
If I were doing it, I'd probably thicken the sauce a bit. I would probably do an ice cream with the mascarpone and make a pistachio brittle or neutral caramel tuile topped with chopped pistachios. But most of that is just for textural and temperature contrasts.
i like this idea and you can have all the components ready to go ahead of time (even the day before). so plating should be easy if your mise en place is taken care of. i really like the idea of pistachio brittle or toffee that can be chopped and sprinkled or even a traditional tuile that is sprinkled with pistachio before baking and then shaped to place on top of the dessert to give it some height.
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ICE used to be known as Peter Kump's cooking school. He was very well known back in the day. They do have nice demos and classes.
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i always toast it first to bring out the coconut and use it in a lot of things including what people mention above:
financiers (instead of almond meal)
short dough cookies (to replace some of the flour)
to infuse cream/milk to make custards (ice cream, creme brulee, etc)
etc., etc.
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Going along with this line of questioning, John and Kiras make ladybugs and bees with a molded chocolate http://www.johnandkiras.com/SHOP/Spring-Gifts
Anyone have any ideas how they create this effect, especially in a production run?
edited to delete stupid answer and to say that in their website it states that they are painted by hand.
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I wondered if they meant cider too. That's what I think of as unpasturized juice - ferments quite nicely in the fridge if you don't drink it right away. Wonder where I'd get some this time of year?
go to a new york greenmarket! that's all they have in winter
...that and pretzels! -
My other beef with the Magazine is the hodge-podge of imperial and metric weights as well as volume measurements for recipies. Perhaps this has changed for the newer editions, I hope so, for it makes my blood boil to see a "professional" magazine give the measurements for a recipie in volume.
i don't think there is a huge staff for these types of magazines due to cost. i can imagine that they get the recipes from the chefs and probably don't bother to edit them much. yes, it is something to hold people to a higher standard, but i understand why they might not.
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most of the acetate bands i've used don't really bend too well. you can easily fold/crease them, but that might be more work than you want to deal with. if you're covering the sides of a larger cake, then i'd cut two pieces and fold them each in half (measured for the two sides of the cake you're covering). for smaller pieces, it might be too much of a pain.
i think luis uses cellophane when he's working with chocolate and it might be thinner and more flexible, but you'd probably have to cut the strips yourself from sheets or a roll. again, more work than you're looking for probably.
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kopykake also makes acetate cake strips.
you can get them pre-cut to size or just rolls and cut your own.
i'm pretty sure you can get them in different heights (widths) as well.
edited to add: yeah, i just love being redundant...the earlier link shows what i just said...
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Years ago, I went to a restaurant that served souffles with ice cream inside. I don't think it was perfect, but if I remember correctly, it was pretty good.
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That's a really high amount of sugar relative to egg white. So, there are a couple of things that could have happened:
too hot an oven causing the egg whites to expand too much and then burst in the middle causing the cavity
or
too much sugar causing unstable meringue which then causes the air bubbles to burst when in the oven making a hole in the middle
or
a combination of the two
Egg whites can really only take their own weight in sugar when whipping to meringue. After that, the syrup becomes too heavy for the whites and it just doesn't work that well (for certain applications). So, what I would have done with that recipe is: whip the whites with half/two thirds of the sugar and then sift the remaining sugar with the corn starch and fold it into the meringue after full volume is achieved (and whatever other ingredients you're adding).
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I'd like to invite anybody who would like to meet Johnny Iuzzini to stop by our showroom on January 12th.
He will be chatting and signing copies of his book.
That's JB Prince at 36 E. 31st Street in Manhattan between 3:00 & 5:00 on Monday, January 12th.
Thanks. Hope to see you there.
That's on the 11th Fl., by the way (we're kind of tucked away, but that's part of the charm. All the top chefs and line cooks know where to find us).
We haven't done many things like this before, but I am hoping this will be successful and become a regular event. I would love for JB Prince to become a place where chefs can come and personally connect with readers of their books.
In the cookbook arena we can't compete with the mass sellers like Amazon and its ilk on price, but if this is works well (nothing breeds success like success) then this is an area where we should be able to excel.
thanks for posting the information! i would be there in a flash if i still lived in nyc. i love going to jbprince even just to look around. and i love looking for friends and colleagues on the wall of business cards in the elevator "lobby", if that's still there!
edited to add: i think this is a great idea for jbprince and don't know why it wasn't thought of earlier. too bad you don't have a space for small cooking demos using some of the more unique equipment that you sell. i'm sure that would bring an audience/money to the business as well.
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do you think the upper cone was completely pure styrofoam without covering.. i believe the lower cakelike part is inedible made out of plaster or something.... does anyone know if laduree takes the bases back from the customer after they have been used, to reuse them again ??
cheers and thanks
t.
looks to me like it just might be a custom white (hollow) box-like thing (you know, with shiny paper) at the base (like a cake base for a wedding cake or something) and then the styrofoam cone on top. i wouldn't think they'd do anything as heavy as plaster or anything that would cost too much to make. but i don't know, i'm just guessing.
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Bread question:
If I shape my loaf for the 2nd rising and accidentially let it over-rise, can I punch the dough back down, re-shape and let it rise again with no loss of quality?? Will the 2nd second rsing happen faster?
Thanks!
Although I see your question was posted on December 1st and I'm sure you've fixed the problem by now, I guess I'll just answer for posterity's sake.
Yes, if your bread overproofs, punch it down, re-shape, and re-proof. As far as the time it takes to re-proof, it will most likely be about the same time as the failed proof. Once you do your first bulk fermentation (in the big bowl/container, etc.) and punch it down to let the gas out, it also serves to redistribute the live yeast through the dough. Additional risings/proofings won't get you a significant increase in proofing time.
In other words, if I do first fermentation / second fermentation / shape & proof, it would probably go something like: 60 minutes / 35-40 minutes / 25-30 minutes. Of course, it also depends on how hot and how humid your kitchen is.
Thanks! I haven't had a chance to make more bread so your answer is still very timely for me. Being able to over proof the dough sometimes, on purpose, actually may help me. My DH works late alot and I could now make the dough earlier in the evening, let it rise willy-nilly, and then punch, re-shape, rise again and bake in the time it takes him to call me he's leaving work and him being ready to eat dinner at home (it's an hour drive). Perfect!
while i agree, for the most part, with tino's answer, i will add a couple of considerations:
it might depend on what kind of bread you're making, the amount of yeast might affect the number of possible risings. you could easily exhaust your yeast the first time and not get a significant rise the second time, thus ending up with a dense bread.
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i've seen this type of instruction in several gingerbread recipes. it could be because the baking soda is being used for browning rather than leavening (to get that dark gingerbread coloring). so, it is activated ahead of time rather than being allowed to react with any acid in the recipe (molasses, brown sugar, etc.)
Hi Emmalish, The only other time I'd seen the instruction to stir the leavening in at the end is for red velvet cake (Jaymes's version to be exact). I actually still don't really know the explanation but I did it as indicated anyway. However, for this cookie dough in particular, the possible explanation I'm thinking of is that it prevents bitterness/soapiness from uneven distribution of soda into a thick batter (such as gingerbread). However, I make my gingerbread the usual way and it turns out fine. I'd probably even go so far as to cream my butter with it (thanks, eGullet!) since it doesn't matter at what point you add it (as it is a resting dough).I just made these cookies from an old issue of Martha Stewart. For the most part the recipe reads as I would expect a cookie recipe to read, but after creaming the butter and sugars, and whisking together all the dry ingredients (except for the baking soda), the recipe says:In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture.Why would the baking soda be activated prior to adding it to the recipe? It didn't make sense to me, so I skipped this step and whisked the baking soda in with the rest of the dry ingredients. The cookies turned out fine, as far as I'm concerned. Would they have been better had I followed this step?
Has anyone ever seen similar instruction before? Is there a reason for it?
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in school we made fondant in the kitchen aid using the paddle. i can't remember exactly whether we slabbed it first or just let it cool a bit before beginning agitation.
doing it by hand is a bit exhausting, for sure. and i can't imagine attempting a larger sized batch.
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even boiling water is only 212F (100C) so there's still almost a 100 degree difference in the caramel, so it will spatter and bubble and steam a lot. i think the trick is to whisk the liquid into the caramel a little at a time. regardless of temperature, that can help prevent lumps/seizing of the caramel.
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And they're not one bit cheaper here in France. I was going to get some, but the price was too daunting. I asked the kitchen store guy about the silicon ones and he said something like "you can make something with them, but it won't be a cannelé." So I've never made any, alas.
when the euro was a little more competitive, i ordered them from e. dehillerin. that was the cheapest i could find them anywhere. plus shipping and everything, it actually wasn't too bad. i think i only bought 12. i've never used them...
i think i'm too much of a gadget wh*re! must...have...cannele...molds!i'll try them out sometime soon (when i can get some beeswax?!) and then post again
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grind it up and incorporate it into a streusel or a cinnamon bun topping? with the cinnamon/sticky buns, you can grind up your toffee and put it into the bottom of the pan and then the dough on top...bake and it will all melt and the butter will absorb into the dough...i think that takes care of both of the problems with the batch and it will still taste good.
Vanilla custard for ice cream
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
I just read your original post about this in the chocolate ice cream thread...you gave the bit of information that you are missing in this query: you were cooking your custard and it separated. The separation didn't happen after the custard had set up, correct?
If this is the case, you (very likely) overcooked your custard and made scrambled eggs. So, while blending the mixture smoothed it out, it likely would not have had the same mouthfeel as custard which had been cooked to the proper consistency would have had. Egg proteins are pretty sensitive and when they are overcooked, they tighten up and squeeze liquid out, therefore looking separated. When a creme anglaise (or custard base) is cooked to the proper consistency, the egg proteins have expanded and have trapped liquid in their matrix, thus thickening the liquid. With ice cream bases, you can let them sit in the fridge overnight and you'll probably notice that it will be a little thicker after the aging. That's because the egg proteins continue to expand or absorb liquid for a little longer. That's one good reason to make an ice cream base ahead of when you need to freeze it. When making an anglaise it is also a good idea to have an ice bath as part of your mise en place, so you can cool your mixture down immediately after taking it off the heat. There's a fine line between done and overdone when working with custards. I usually strain through a chinois (very fine mesh strainer) directly into a clean container set into my ice bath) and stir frequently during the cooling process both to prevent a skin from forming (may happen with rich bases) and to help redistribute the heat during cooling. I never remember the actual temp, I go by feel and look, but it is somewhere around 170F. The sugar in the mixture allows the temp to go a little higher than you could with plain eggs.