pastrygirl

Are you using tempered chocolate to glue your bars together? Should set up quickly enough. Have you tried silpat instead of parchment? Not sure if tape would stick better or worse, but I do appreciate the non-wrinkling nature of silpat. I haven't done layered slabs in a while, but I think I used tempered chocolate and silpat. Can you tape the bars to each other instead of to the paper? Then you only need to glue down the first set of bars.

Those Sicilian almond cookies sound good, I might have to play with them. Sounds a bit fussy, but I like anything with a long shelf life! For now I'm going with the pillow/butter mints. No cooking or baking required. I've done 2 batches mixed up in the kitchen aid with the paddle then smushed into a ganache frame (parchment under and over and use a rolling pin to level it out). I let it crust over a bit then cut it on the guitar (anything that can be cut on the guitar is a plus!), just need to work out how long to let it crust and see whether both sides need to firm up before cutting or just the bottom. We'll see how the feedback is, but for now I'm loving these! Thanks, Minas! I made another batch of nougat last weekend, cooked it a little less firm and used rice krispies coated with cocoa butter as my inclusions - good, easier but still a pain to cut and neither batch held their shape very well. Too much a labor of love for something that doesn't hold up. I will have to try pulling hard candies one day when I have time. I should have some citrus oils somewhere, and I have peppermint oil. It would be fun to be able to add that to my repertoire. Thanks for all your ideas!

How much did you add to what volume of custard base? It shouldn't be sticky. Dosage is 0.5% Honestly I'm not sure if that is supposed to be by weight or volume, maybe it says on the canister? If you have a gallon of custard, that is 3.78 liters, or 3780 ml. Half a percent of 3780 is about 18.9, which would be a little less than 4 teaspoons, assuming a 5ml teaspoon By weight, lets say that gallon is 9 lbs (a gallon of milk alone is 8, so lets be generous when considering dissolved sugar). 9 lbs is 4090g, half a percent of which is about 20 grams. If I recall correctly, a tablespoon of Cremodan weighs around 12 grams, so either by weight or volume you're looking at between 4 and 5 teaspoons of stabilizer per gallon of base. You can try less than that but I doubt you'd want to use more.

Thanks for all the ideas. Humidity is somewhat of an issue - this is Seattle and it has been warm and muggy the last few days - but the greater one is it being upper 90'sF in the kitchen during dinner service. It's better in the dining room, but still warm. Definitely not caramels! I already have some on the menu, and there is no way I am going to individually wrap 700+ a week! I did some R&D today... I made a nougat from Chocolates & Confections with almonds, pistachios, sour cherries, and figs. Turned our great, but a little firm and a major pain to cut into squares. I may try a softer batch. Is it better to let it sit, or can you cut it as soon as it's cool? My lemon cookies seem like a good option for now. I made a brown butter Russian tea cake type cookie with some lemon zest and juice, patted the dough into a ganache frame, chilled, cut on the guitar, baked, and rolled in powdered sugar. Easy enough, tasty, pretty, and should keep for a few days. Less successful were the lemon drops and the agar jellies. Recipes from Greweling. I have zero experience with hard candy so I didn't pull it, just deposited it into small hemisphere fleximolds. What types of flavoring is used for hard candy? Can you use liqueurs? Is there a way to use a confectionery funnel to portion them without having to spend considerable time later trying to remove a cone of hard-crack sugar from said funnel? Agar jellies didn't seem to set up very well, were flaccid and sticky. I re-formed them with more agar, we'll see tomorrow how that worked. Marshmallow would be fine if I didn't hate marshmallow. I make it every now and then, but usually end up throwing it away in disgust. Nougat is good because it's chewier and has lots of stuff in it. And s'mores and rice krispie treats are fine, just not plain cold marshmallow. How about nougat rice krispie treats?

What to make when it's sweltering? Trying to think of heat-proof confections for the summer. Every week I make 7-800 little bite sized treats that we give with the bill at the restaurant. Truffles were great for the winter, but it's getting too warm in both the kitchen and the dining room to produce and hold truffles. Last summer I made pate de fruits, which hold up well, but which I'm pretty sure gave me a splatter burn every single time I made it. Too much pain. Ive been working on some gelatin gummies that I like and that don't hurt, but they seem to get droopy in the heat as well. I've been adding agar to help the texture, maybe more agar and/or cook the syrup to a hotter temperature? How do hard candies hold up? Nougat? Humidity can be an issue but I'm more concerned about heat. Cookies are an option, especially easy to pipe or slice and bake. Amaretti? Has anyone tried cutting shortbread with the guitar? Candied nuts seem a little too simple - what else besides chocolate would make them special? What are your favorite treats that stand up to heat?

Scooping ketchup. For when salsa just isn't sweet enough? Why would you need to scoop your ketchup? Are they intending it as a dip, or for easier measuring? Scooping mayonnaise also available. http://sirkensingtons.com/theproducts.html

You don't use a lot of cremodan, something like 0.5% by weight, and I don't believe it is meant as a substitute for eggs or a balanced recipe, more as insurance that the texture will stay good over time. I use about a tablespoon of cremodan and 400 grams egg yolks per gallon of ice cream base. Works for me, but if I'm doing it wrong, I hope someone will enlighten me!

Totally an intern job! I rarely make more than 3 batches in a day, I just throw a ladle in the bowl and give it a few good stirs in the first few minutes then a few more later. I rather enjoy ice cream day

Agree with Minas that ganache is by definition chocolate. Are you opposed to white chocolate? It does add a lot of sweetness, but otherwise doesn't interfere too much. Or maybe you could thicken up some coconut cream with pure cocoa butter. Do you want it smooth or chunky? What do you plan on using it for? I was looking at Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flour in the store today, never tried it, but it looks very fine and could be used as a thickener. Maybe some combination of coconut cream/milk, coconut flour or coconut cream powder (two totally different products as far as I know, but things I would try if I was on your quest), and cocoa butter? I love coconut, so please report back on your experiments.

What do you consider to be a big batch? And what is the capacity of your ice cream machine? I always make a gallon of custard at a time, but my machine only fits half at a time. I don't find ice baths particularly tedious at that scale, just part of the process. I have done a 1-1/2 gallon batch a few times, but larger isn't practical for me mostly because of the equipment I have to work with - not enough big bowls. Plus, the larger volume of dairy I scald, the more likely it seems to scorch.

I find two additions of each wet and dry is usually "little by little" enough - half the dry, then half the wet, then the rest of the dry and the rest of the wet. If you add all of the flour first it will get too thick and be over-mixed by the time you beat all the liquid in to loosen it up. If you add all the liquid first, it won't emulsify well into the creamed mixture and will separate and look curdled. How did your cake come out?

Doubtful. Last weekend, having in my possession some sheets of frozen croissant dough and plenty of canola oil, I decided I had to fry some up and try them. I thawed a croissant sheet, cut it into doughnut shapes, proofed the doughnuts, then fried them at 350F until nice and brown. Of course I tested a few holes first, and tossed them in powdered sugar. I liked the crispiness once the holes cooled. As for the cronuts, some got a lemon curd filling and lemon glaze, some got a hazelnut filling and white chocolate glaze, and a special few got a bacon fat-sriracha glaze and plenty of crumbled bacon (it was essentially a dare). Don't get me wrong, they were good. They were rich, with the flakiness of laminated dough, and everyone who tried them seemed to both marvel at the concept and enjoy them. But wait in line for hours or pay a scalper? No. I suppose there is appeal in the novelty and the over-the-top-ness, and they were fun to make once, but either a croissant or a doughnut makes me feel kind of gross afterwards, I really don't need to try deep fried croissants again any time soon.

I agree with Lisa. Aside from a few things I bake on Silpat, I very rarely bake in silicone. I do have some flexipans which I use to mold mousses that can be frozen, and I have some small silicone molds that I find useful for candy. Other than that, silicone is overrated.

Agreed on the catering, especially if they can do minis and wedding cakes. Or how about a partnership with a coffee shop or wine bar? In general, you want to consider shelf life, portability, and ease of use. Do you want to deliver to your accounts every day? Twice a week? Does the product need refrigeration? Would you offer other components like sauces, or what do you mean by semi-finished?

Johhny Iuzzini has a recipe for a warm chocolate doughnut that involves calcium chloride, sodium alginate, and a ganache thickened with methocel. They are breaded and fried, but possibly his method could inspire a baked application. You may also want to adjust baking time and temperature. I'm sure most restaurants producing molten cakes over the last 15 years haven't had combi ovens.

Exactly. Sugar draws water out of the custard and melts. Sometimes if you try to unmold a flan too soon you find an undissolved disc of sugar. I find it best to let them sit overnight to make sure the caramel has completely liquified.

What are you using to grind your nuts now? I make hazelnut praline paste for pastry use, which is 2 parts by weight toasted hazelnuts and 1 part powdered sugar. I process it all in the robot coupe for a long time. It gets pretty hot and releases a lot of oil, turning out runny enough to pass through a chinoise. It takes a little effort but it's not that bad. I don't know how the sugar affects viscosity, I've never made it without. How hot the nuts get during grinding may also affect viscosity, not sure, but I figure they are toasted anyway and are not getting hotter than that.

Definitely reef-y! That coral looks like the right shade to me, and a nice compliment to the blue. Did she give you color swatches?

You could strain it.

I like the sound of this... and it led me to wonder about doing the same thing with pretzels. I don't have a gadget that's going to get things as smooth as what you're doing but I'm tempted to do some playing around just to check out the flavors and I'll worry about the texture once I decide if I like the result.I've been making milk chocolate bars filled with a mix of milk chocolate, pretzels, and browned butter for fat. Since I don't have a Sumeet (yet!), I process the pretzels and butter in the Robot Coupe for a long while. It does not get perfectly smooth but I don't mind the bits of texture. I'd like to try potato chips at some point too, shouldn't even need to add fat in that case.

Yes, I want to know. Of course I prefer positive feedback, but I do want to know if something can be improved and if I am delivering on the expectations that the menu creates. One person complaining won't necessarily make me change a dish, sometimes I will re-taste it and decide it is the way I want it and the guest just has different taste. Sometimes I will adjust the recipe or re-word the menu for clarity. There is only one dessert that I remember getting multiple instances of negative feedback on, it was a bay leaf flan. I liked it, but at least a few people didn't, so I ended up taking it off the menu.

How big a batch do you need to make at once? I use a square false-bottomed cake pan lined with parchment, fine for the occasional small batch, and the sides are perpendicular, unlike a sheet pan.

Haven't reverse engineered anything lately, but thanks for reminding me that I want a wet grinder.

I wonder if natto would be sticky enough to bind. Of course, you would have to like natto.

I have not tried aerated chocolate in the isi whipper, but I have tried doing it in the kitchenaid, and did not get anything approaching a foam. I had wanted to try the isi, but both of mine were full at the moment. Neither the whip nor the paddle with the KA got tempered dark chocolate remotely mousse-y. I imagine it would be difficult to achieve precision control with the isi, but it seems like it should not be a problem to over-fill and level the molds off with your scraper. Not sure if you would even need to bottom them, since the aerated chocolate would be solid and stable. As for clarified butter, yes, cook gently until all of the water has simmered away and the milk solids fall to the bottom and start to turn golden. Then you are adding only fat and not any water which could seize your chocolate. Depending on how much flavor you wanted to add, you could cook the butter a little longer and brown it, or use coconut oil or another oil. The right olive oil could be interesting. I make two filled bars, one is milk chocolate with a filling of crushed pretzels, browned butter, and milk chocolate - sort of a pretzel gianduja, the other is dark with a filling of white chocolate, coconut, and coconut oil. Both the butter and the coconut oil make their respective fillings softer.