chefpeon

Patrick, you just made me do that "ROFLMAO" thing. Thanks for the belly laugh! Now everytime I use my torch I'm going to think of that!

Why do you coat cheesecake pans?

Remove wallpaper? Isn't that kind of a dangerous way to do it? Knowing me I'd burn my house down. Not that I'm accident prone or anything <ahem> hey, that's a new one for me......great idea! I used to ice up brownies with ganache. After a couple of days, the ganache would look a little dullish, so I used to wave the torch quicky over the top to give it that nice shiny glaze again. I also like to use my torch to keep those unruly co-workers outta my space!

I think I'll clarify a bit......I would use Plugra in a shortbread, for sure. Since it's a butter-heavy cookie and the high butterfat would contribute to the shortness and tenderness of it....heck yeah, Plugra all the way. But in something like a Chocolate Chip Cookie, or a Snickerdoodle for instance......nah.

Actually, I guess I gotta put my two cents in here and say that I prefer to save my Plugra for stuff it really makes a difference in, like puff doughs, danish, croissant, and the like. Plugra is pricey, and I don't believe the cost really justifies using it in a cookie, where the taste and texture, really, are barely discernable. I've done side by side taste tests with co-workers and family, and no one could tell the difference between a Plugra cookie and a regular butter cookie. Not even me. Because of the higher butterfat/lower moisture content of Plugra, it's perfectly suited for making superior laminated doughs (and pie crusts!). I can see and taste the difference, so then I believe the cost is justified. Just my two Plugra cents worth......

Do you care how the small pieces look? If you don't require straight edges or any kind of uniformity, just doing a cut on the grid with your standard chef's knife should do the trick. Slowly ease the knife into the block where you want to make your cut, and rock your knife back and forth to create a straight deep cut......that would work best I think. Also, if your block is a bit on the warm-room temperature side, you'll have a much easier time of it. The cooler the block, the more jagged your pieces will be. So I must ask, you want to do this because.........?

Confounded pink boxes! I love pink, but I don't like that shade particularly. That's all I see around here (West Coast Pink). Frankly, I don't care WHAT color they are, they just need to be sturdier!!!

Anyone know the name of the baker at Cafe Besalu?

I don't think you HAVE to refrigerate leaf lard, but it will last a lot longer if you do. Besides I prefer it to be cold for most of the applications I use it in anyway. Shipping prices are usually determined by weight. The more you order at once, the higher your shipping price will be. Then of course there's the type of shipping the establishment chooses, and how much they choose to charge you for "handling".

You can mail order leaf lard from D'Angelo Bros. . Although the website doesn't mention fat, according to Saveur Magazine, it is available from them for $2.49 per pound with a 2 lb minimum order. You can also buy it from Dietrich's Meats....a one lb tub is $1.00. Their number is 610-756-6344. I can attest to the superiority of leaf lard.....now I will use nothing else in my pie dough....besides butter of course!

I guess the sad part about the method I described is that it doesn't work quite as well unless you have a substantial bar to work with in the first place. Since my original post I tried to chop up a 6 lb bar of Scharffenberger, and without that bulk, I just didn't have the leverage. I was back to the ol' "chopping at the corners" bit. Sigh!

I think the amount of water is key. Neil had mentioned in a previous thread that about only 1/8 to 1/4 inch water is needed, and I tried it. I used to always fill up my pan until the water was halfway up the sides of the ramekins...everybody says to do it that way. When I tried Neil's method, I found that my custards set faster and more evenly. I think too much water can actually prevent the custard from setting.....that's my theory anyway, based on my above experiment!

Ok, so I finally got around to playing with my "brick". Decided to do the basic thing first, and make beggars purses. I made savory ones, because I also needed to cook dinner. The filling is sort of a doctored up duxelles (mushrooms, garlic, thyme, pepper, salt, butter....also threw some spinach in there), then topped with salmon lox and brie. I blanched some green onion stems and tied the purses up with that. Brushed them with melted butter and baked at 350 til golden. Then I plated them up with a tomato rose and dijon mustard spread with my trusty cake comb. Oh yeah, then I stuck a sprig of fresh thyme in the purse. My observations about the brick: *Mine came in rounds, about 9 inches in diameter, separated by tissues. They do look like very thin, Kleenex-y, porous crepes. The really great thing? You don't really have to worry about tearing them like you would fillo dough. I could be fairly rough with them with no worries. *I wasn't sure how many layers of brick to use per purse, so I experimented. First, I tried three. Brushed each one with butter, like you would with fillo. After my three layers were together, I plopped the filling in the middle, gathered up the sides, and tied it into the purse shape with the green onion. Interesting note: The brick won't stick to itself very well. When I gathered up the sides and crimped it at the top, it wouldn't stay together. I definitely had to tie it with something. If I didn't have the blanched green onion, I would have had to use string. *I soon found three layers per purse was a bit too much, because it made for a lot of pastry at the top. I then tried two. Much better. Then I tried one, and that seemed the best. But after I baked them, I think two is best. The brick is rather porous, and my filling really made the bottom kind of soggy, since it leaked through it a bit. After they cooled, the purses made with one layer practically came apart when I lifted up on them, the ones made with two stayed together better, but I still had to lift them off the baking sheet with a spatula. *At work, I baked a few of them flat, brushed with butter and cinnamon sugar. As soon as they came out of the oven I cut them into wedges and we ate them. Yum! I can see great dessert garnishing possibilities there! *Next, I'm going to try some kind of dessert filling in them. Not sure what yet. I definitely know that when my fig tree gives me fruit this year, I'll be doing something with that and mascarpone cheese. Or goat cheese. Hmmmmm.. *The package of brick had some great (I think) recipes on it. But it's all in French! I may have the local French teacher here translate it for me. Si vous plait.

Can you post the link to the PCB website? I can't find it through the usual sources. Thanks.....!

Do you deserve to eat Criollo's jewels? I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy! Congrats Mel!

So is a parm wheel cutter one of those two handled knives?

Aidensnd Tell us what the stick thingy is! I'll add a suggestion here......when y'all post pics, describe your components! I plan on adding something here soon. I've had a cool idea for a plated dessert and this is the perfect excuse to do it.

From your original post, I knew that you direct your advice to the home baker. Of course there are differences in how one bakes at home vs. a professional situation......I know, since I do both quite a bit. My response however, was neither directed specifically to the home baker or the professional pastry chef. It was written as general information that is equally important to the home baker and the PC. Really, I was only trying to point out that since most cookies are fat laden and not made with high protein flours, that scooping vs. pinching has no adverse effect on cookie dough regarding toughness and dryness, as your original post alluded to. Whether one chooses to pinch or scoop is their own preference. I just disagreed about the part that scooping would make a dryer tougher cookie than pinching. It doesn't. Actually my comment about scooping bread dough was kind of a joke. I did artisan bread for quite a while, and even though I got a feel for what 2 lbs felt like, I still had to scale it and either pinch off or add an ounce or two. I felt this slowed me up (when you do hundreds of loaves a night, a couple seconds adds an eternity to your night), and I always hated scaling. If it were possible to scoop bread dough, I'd have done it. If I, or my cookie scoopin' people were scooping out level scoops of cookie dough, I wouldn't require them to weigh the dough, nor would I require them to weigh every 12th one or whatever, either. I've had many helpers scoop dough for me, and I've never had issues where the cookies greatly varied in size. In order to make a level scoop, you have to pack the dough in, so there's very little room for variation in the size of the scoop of dough that comes out. When one is speaking about cookie doughs, of course you want to address the fact that overhandling them is a bad thing. But cookie doughs are more forgiving than say, pie doughs, scone doughs, muffin batters, and biscuit doughs. With those, you want the least bit of handling. A couple of overkneads on a pie dough result in the difference of flaky vs. tough. With cookie dough, one does not need to be quite as careful. A couple extra rotations of the mixer paddle, or pinching vs. scooping will not affect it adversely. To overhandle a cookie dough, you REALLY have to overhandle it......which was my basic point. Whether one is a pro or a home baker makes no difference. This info is valuable to both.

Oh yeah.....that reminds me...... I worked in a shop once where the chef climbed on top of the walk-in (we had a lot of storage up there, and it was also pretty high off the ground.) He put the chocolate bar in a big plastic bag and dropped it on the floor. Works pretty well, but the first time he did that he didn't warn me and it scared the bejesus outta me! It was LOUD! Hey, if I could figure out the mind meld thing, I wouldn't charge you at all! I learn quite a bit from you too.....as a matter of fact, on the sugar flower thread I learned that you can set the color by steaming the flowers. Shee......I've never done that. But, my color has never "fallen off" either. Actually, what I'd like to learn is that Vulcan Neck Pinch. I could really use that on some annoying people in my life!!!

Clumps are cool.....gives you a more homemade looking cookie....but....if you want a cookie that is more uniform and round, as jgm was after, nothin' beats a scoop. I disagree with part of this somewhat. I find that I handle the dough no more with a scoop than I would if I were pinching it off and readjusting the amount of dough on a scale. In fact, I do believe I handle it LESS with a scoop. Not only that, but with a scoop, you're not only portioning it, but shaping it at the same time. When you mix or handle moistened wheat flour extensively you DEVELOP gluten...you don't create it. The gluten is already there....the more you mix it the longer the gluten strands become. However, a lot of fat (butter, shortening, margarine) inhibits gluten development by "lubrication" for lack of a better word. Since most cookie doughs are laden with fat, the simple action of packing a cookie scoop with cookie dough is not going to create a tough dry cookie. About the only way you'll achieve that is to leave the dough on the mixer, turn it to high speed, and walk away to watch Oprah for a while. That'll give ya some gluten strand action, I'll tell ya. Also, I fail to see how overhandling a dough would reduce its flavor? Change the texture, yes, but reduce the flavor? No doubt that weighing is the most accurate! But I must say, I've only portioned out bread dough on a scale because it's darn hard to scoop it.

Having had to chop a lot 'o chocolate in my life, I can honestly say, I hate chopping chocolate!!! My first piece of advice is, if you can buy "chunks", buy the chunks. Even if it costs extra.....in my book, it's worth it! Especially if you do big volume stuff like me. Other thoughts...... If the bar of chocolate is a bit warmer, it's easier to chunk up with a knife. Too warm of course, then it's worse. There are chocolate chopping forks to make it easier. An interesting technique someone taught me: I was working with 11 pound bars of Callebaut, and frustratingly chopping away, with the bar flat on the table......I'm hacking at it with my chef's knife, and my chef comes up to me and says "Check this out". He stands the bar up on edge (the long side is on the table and the short edge is vertical to the table), and cradles it between his body and his arm, then takes the chef's knife handle in one hand and holds the tip of the blade in his other hand, and shaves down the vertical edge. The chocolate comes off in almost uniform chunks with little or no effort! It's almost like the chocolate has a hidden "grain", and if you cut with the "grain", it works like magic! I love showing this trick to people who don't know about it. They are as amazed as I was. Hope I described it well enough.......it's easier to show than tell....... Oh yeah, and be aware.......chopping chocolate involves deadly slips of the knife even if you're super careful. Another reason to buy those chunks!

Gosh, for the longest time I thought I couldn't run lustre dust through an airbrush....I thought for sure it would clog, but a friend of mine told me it was ok. I was very excited as I ran some gold lustre mixed with vodka through the cheapo airbrush at work. It was great.....worked like a charm....no clogging. Yay! So later, I'm trying to run some lustre through a superfancilicious airbrush of my own (higher quality than at work), and I can't get the dust to run through it to save my life. I was majorly bummed out. I'm not sure what's wrong. Anyone have an idea? An interesting note.....here in the state of Washington (not DC), we can't get Everclear. Stupid liquor laws! Every time I have friends going out of town and they ask if they can bring back anything for me, I always tell them "Everclear". They sure look at me funny.

Thanks for everyone's replies so far! I really didn't want to tell my friend he might have to resort to using a percentage of shortening in his buttercream, although that is an option. I just can't bear to use shortening myself, although sometimes you do have to compromise. I had heard from another friend of mine who decorated a lot of cakes in Massachusetts, that fondant was a problem for her also. The humidity turned her fondant to goo. Now, as to why some folks have problems with it, and others don't......could it be the brand or formula of fondant used? This thread raises as many questions as it answers!

It all depends on the type of cookie you're doing. Cut out cookies, are, of course, easy to keep uniform, since they are cut with a cookie cutter. Regarding drop cookies, yes, use a scoop. When you bring the dough off the mixer, use whichever size scoop you wish and scoop out all your cookie dough into individual balls and refrigerate for a half hour or so. Then pre-heat your oven, place your cookie dough balls on the cookie sheet, and press down lightly so they are little disks. Then bake. They should look lovely and uniform. Some people roll drop cookie dough into logs, then refrigerate or freeze. Then they slice off little disks from the log and bake. I've done both ways, and I like scooping better.

Hello everyone...... As I've said many time in previous posts, I'm lucky to live in the Pacific NW.......it makes so many things easy as far as pastry and cakes go......I don't really have to worry much about humidity and heat. One of my cake decorating friends recently moved to Hawaii, and is starting his own cake biz there. He's already noticing problems regarding stability in his buttercream, and he wrote me and asked for my advice. Gosh. If there's anything I don't know a whole lot about, it's doing cakes in harsh environments. I know there's a lot of you who work in environments much harsher than mine.....like the South or East or Midwest...not to mention Hawaii. I ask you, what are your tips and solutions for warm weather buttercream? It's all much appreciated!!!