chefpeon

Croissants do better in proof boxes; if you have one, use it. If you don't, then investing in a good plastic rack cover is a good way to go. Croissants are properly proofed when they've increased in size significantly, about 2-3x, and you can begin to see the layering of the dough at the edges. Then give them a quick egg wash, and stick them in a well heated oven (375-400 F).

What kind of pastry are you talking about? I found a recipe here, for snails in choux puffs. Are you talking about a pie dough type pastry or puff pastry? Or is this it?

I think the thing you have to realize is that you can't compare a gluten free cake to a cake that has regular wheat flour in it. It's just never going to be as good or the same. It's kind of an apples to oranges kind of thing. Perhaps you should try making a flourless chocolate cake? They are excellent tasting and easy to make.

Uh how about pastry cream?

How did you find that? I spent a half hour searching last night and came up empty handed. But then I ignored all the spanish written links, since I couldn't read them. The google translation isn't bad on that particular recipe. I had to laugh when it translated the title, "Orange Mattresses".

That looks awesome.....I have to make it. If it doesn't look caramely enough when it comes out of the oven, then I will pour some caramel over the top (the sugar/water kind). If you look really closely at the picture, it looks like something was poured over the top after it came out of the oven. Or the sliced almonds were really doused in the egg white/sugar solution?

At my funeral I'm going to request decorated coffin cookies. Just because I have a sick sense of humor and I'm a professional baker.

Ha ha! Well, my Google search only told me that "colchones" is the spanish word for mattress. I couldn't find a recipe to save my life. However, I know the executive chef at Las Chicas Locas in NY, and I put the question to him if he knows what they are......he's an expert in Mexican food. If he replies to me with some valuable info on them, I'll pass it along!

I'm seriously thinking that the food cost of the Drivert in a buttercream would offset any small advantage it would have over 10x. Besides, the stability of a buttercream depends more on the fat you use rather than the sugar that's in it.

I just looked up Thermomix on Google, and now that I sort of know what it is, my question is, is this thread just for Thermomix recipes or any recipe in general? If the latter, that's what RecipeGullet is for............

All it is, is the amount of sugar you add to the egg whites. The more sugar you add, the thicker and creamier the egg whites are. The less sugar you add, the foamier the meringue. To get the thick and creamy kind, just use a ratio of 2:1, meaning for every lb of whites, add 2 lbs of sugar. You can do it using the swiss meringue method....that's the easiest. Another example: 8 oz whites to 1 lb of sugar, etc. If you don't know, the swiss meringue method is to put your whites and sugar in a metal bowl, and put that bowl in a simmering pan of water. Heat the sugar and whites til very hot, whisking occasionally. Then beat until stiff peaks form.

Um, you know you really didn't have to make this a personal attack. I am a real pro, but I don't live in France. No employer of mine has ever furnished me with a continuous (or any, for that matter) tempering machine. Does that make me not a pro? Gee, I'm sorry. I still don't see the scientific point of tempering chocolate, only to pour hot cream over it, and bring it right out of temper. I've used ganache for 18 years, a LOT of it, and I've never tempered the chocolate or seen the need to. Don't accuse me of not being a pro because I don't temper my chocolate for ganache. Everyone has their own way of doing things and I don't begrudge them that. If you want to temper your chocolate you go right ahead....if you think it makes a better ganache than not tempering, great. If you want to debate the scientific and logical points of tempering vs. not tempering, I'm all for it. Just don't make it personal. Edited to add: Every place I've worked had me make ganache using chocolate chips, and of course you cannot temper chocolate chips, since they aren't pure chocolate. *GASP* I know, it's so very American.

As Tri said, you don't NEED gelatine or mycryo for chocolate mousse. The chocolate itself is what makes a chocolate mousse stable. I make chocolate mousse cakes all the time. They are frozen in rings then I de-ring the cake and decorate it. From that point on it's refrigerated. It's very stable and slices like a dream. No drooping.

Ok, when I think ganache, I just think "cream/chocolate". I forgot about the butter kind. I suppose the chocolate is tempered for the butter kind, so it won't melt the butter down, right? I don't imagine the tempering would be for stability purposes.......... When you're in a commercial setting and you go through 10 lbs of ganache in a day, if someone told me I had to temper my chocolate first I'd slap 'em in the face.

Ditto what Tri said. I've never heard of, or made, unstable ganache. Besides, how would you temper chocolate for ganache anyway? Sure, melt and temper the chocolate, then add boiling cream and zing, your chocolate is out of temper. So I'd say it's pointless. For mousse, if I tempered the chocolate, it would be too cool for me to fold it in to the other ingredients fast enough and I'd end up with grainy bits of chocolate. Tempering would just be pointless for both applications. Besides, just having chocolate in a mousse makes it very stable, whether it's tempered or not.

Don't do that; the warm oven will just retard the drying. Put them out at room temp for a day, then store. If you omit the corn syrup, the glaze will be crunchier and dry faster.

I sort of disagree. Cocoa is not a bad thing. Almost all great brownie recipes I have used over the years as a professional pastry chef have used cocoa. Cocoa solids are the most concentrated form of chocolate there is. With cocoa you have a greater chance of adding chocolate flavor to your recipe without adding additional fat to throw your recipe off balance. I would agree with you in the sense that whole chocolate has cocoa butter as it's fat, so there is a heightened cocoa enhancement.

Weigh the sugar? I just baked the King Arthur Flour Brownies and OMG. It's my new "go-to"!

Wait. You mean you're going to split, fill and cover the cakes with fondant, and let them sit out at room temp for 5-7 days before the event. Why? I've never heard about that. Fill me in.

Do you know from personal experience that this works? Do you have a recipe to post?

Is this really true? Why do they include a dough hook when you buy a new mixer? How can they expect a bakery not to mix the occasional yeast dough once in a while. What a rip off. Don't buy a belt drive mixer! I had a Blakeslee belt drive once and that thing couldn't even carry a load of cake batter. Always make sure you get a gear drive mixer. Other than Hobart, I've had fairly good luck with the Thunderbird brand. But face it, there is no mixer out there that will last as long as a Hobart.

There are just some things you can't substitute. Sugar in angel food cake is one of them.

I can't imagine how an angel food cake will work with just Splenda. MAYBE the 50/50 will work but I seriously have my doubts. Here is a recipe using the 50/50 blend.

Watermelon cheesecake? Anyway, do you want to bake these "seeds" into the cheesecake, or just use them as a decoration? If you want to use "seeds" as a decoration, why not just pipe chocolate teardrops on top of the cake? You could tint the cheesecake pink if it isn't pink already and it will look like a giant watermelon slice. Or you could forego the seeds altogether and just call it seedless watermelon cheesecake.

Yeah Mycryo is just sprayed and powdered cocoa butter so just plain cocoa butter would work too...