pastrygirl

Something cocktail related? Bitters or a tincture you were lacking?

One chocolatier not using a lot of color is Milla in LA: https://www.instagram.com/millachocolates/ Looks like they use a lot of gold dust and the occasional bit of black CB but otherwise minimal decoration. I appreciate their bucking the trend

I agree the "pills" are rather cringe-y. If it's a party for a doctor, nurse, or pharmacist, fine. Alice in Wonderland, maybe. Making light of necessary or oft-abused medications, not so much.

I agree with that ethos too, but have been making exceptions for CB colors. Like those restaurants who say ‘we buy organic when possible’ ... I use fair trade chocolate, no corn syrup in anything, and grind my own hazelnut paste instead of buying the ones with hydrogenated oils. But colorful Easter eggs and multicolor bonbons get so many positive reactions. They are fun to do and I accept mortality so don't personally worry about a few micrograms of titanium dioxide. My problem with adding colorants to labeling is that there’s never enough space! I appreciate this discussion because maybe there is a better way. Last winter I made sure to order the approved-as edible luster dust. Will I now throw out all my chef rubber colors? Probably not, but OP has a good point. edited to add: also, the colored pieces are a small minority of what I sell so that's another reason why I don't worry more about being 100% pure and natural. Cocoa-dusted truffles and solid bars are my main products, colorful stuff is only at big holidays.

You know, 10 or so years ago when I first started making molded bonbons I thought brown was just fine and I scoffed at colored CB. Then I got some colors and everything had to have at least one, now everyone's doing 3 colors with tape and airbrush. Maybe there's something to be said for keeping it simple, but restraint can be hard. Once I get out the box of finger-paints I want to use all the colors!

I totally agree, but OP is in CA, where they've determined that pretty much everything may cause cancer - aren't they putting warning labels on coffee now? Also, this is where Valrhona's Inspirations could come in handy. (Or similar concoctions of CB and freeze dried fruit powder.) Between white, blond, passion fruit, and strawberry, you could get a decently colorful box. Even throw in Callebaut's Ruby if you must have pink 😂

I've done the blanket statement thing. Does this inspector work for the FDA, CA dept of Ag, or just in the packaging industry? I suppose you don't have to list each color separately but could consolidate as "colored cacao butter (cacao butter, red 40, blue 1, blue 2, yellow 6, and/or titanium dioxide)"

I've never been that into bread so hopefully someone more familiar with hydration % will have more info on how that affects things. I've made plenty, just have more love for the sweeter things. I'd think the main issue would be the softer dough sticking to the rollers, otherwise I don't see why your dough shouldn't get as thin as you want it. If you didn't have the sheeter, you'd use a rolling pin, right? If a dough keeps shrinking back and refusing to roll thin, it usually just needs to rest before you attack it again. A freshly mixed dough will be "tight" and spring back when you poke it, if you're going to roll it thin the gluten needs to relax, no matter what tool you're using. What's your plan for service? Will you bake all the bread earlier in the day or bake to order? If you make and portion the dough early in the day and let it chill in the fridge for several hours, it will be a little firmer but well rested for easy rolling. I've had to make pizza dough for a few restaurant jobs, the dough balls were good for 2 days. To save cost, you can recycle old dough and mix a little into the new batch as a sort of 'starter' if you like that extra flavor.

So sad. I tried babi guling twice in Bali and it was amazing, so many flavors in a multitude of porky samples and accompaniments. But of course the pig is ready when the pig is ready, so your driver may have been right. Next time!

The new dough might have needed a longer rest before sheeting. If a dough resists rolling or shaping, a 15+ minute rest to allow the gluten to relax often helps.

There are “Artisan” chicharronnes out there, I recently tried 4505 brand, they were light and crispy but I haven’t tried the less expensive ones so I can’t compare.

The Felchlin grand crus are up there with Valrhona but they have some non-grand crus that are more reasonable. Blends, I guess. I like their Sao Palme 60%, which does have soy if we're still concerned. For white, I like Callebaut Zephyr. Again, it has soy, but is moderately priced and not achingly sweet.

Oh I'm totally the same way, would start out all enthusiastic but then get lazy and skip some.

Felchlin has a few formulations without soy, the Arriba 72% is one that I use. Price-wise, they have a range; I believe the ones without soy are also the ones with a very long conch time and tend to be more expensive, closer to Valrhona pricing. I get the soy question occasionally, somewhere between the number of people looking for sugar free and the number looking for vegan. I don't think the soy lecithin in chocolate is enough to trigger an allergy, people may be more concerned about GMO soy or something else that may or may not be pseudoscience woo. So it's one concern, but personally not high on my list. You can't please everyone all the time!

It's possible it's something else, but it looks SO much more liquid than couverture.

With all the tools and tricks we try, it's sort of refreshing to see this low-tech technique: but damn, that uses a lot of CB! I can't help but wonder if that layer of black CB is all that delicious in the mouth.

my sister just sent me this article about butteries - roadkill croissants 😂😂 https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/jul/05/buttery-rowies-traditional-scottish-pastry-scotland-aberdeen-aberdeenshire

Just trying to help Anna out

@Kerry Beal remember that you're cleaning out the condo after this trip and don't have room in the van.

I mostly follow chocolatiers and cake artists from around the world, not so much local restaurants unless I know the chef personally. Which now that I think about it seems odd to not keep up with my local restaurant scene, hmm. And Nacho Flay, because he's beautiful.

I'll start the wild guesses - it could be a sort of cute way to for a coffee bar to hold sugar packets (though not very many, they'd have to be the long skinny euro style) in the extension, and stir sticks in the main vessel. Or if there was an insert, toothpicks. Or you put a sugar cube or rock candy in the basket and pour hot tea out over it.

It's going to be hard work drinking everything in the liquor cabinet so you don't have to pack it up 😉

What is the pink color, heavy luster dust? Amazing work, as usual!

Are you working alone or under a pastry chef? Is this your first pastry job or have you worked in a few places already? It does take a couple of weeks to learn your way around any new kitchen. I've been in pastry for 20 years but still feel slow and incompetent in an unfamiliar kitchen, so some of the issues should work themselves out once you know where everything is and build muscle memory for that space. For efficiency, focus on mise en place and planning the day's production. Think about what takes longest to bake or what needs to cool/set before another step can be done and do those first. Consider the oven and group things with the same baking temp. Multi-tasking can be over-rated. It's better to do one thing right than two things with mistakes. That said, you don't need to be standing around watching chocolate melt or continuously stirring lemon curd. While one thing is hanging out over a bain marie and another is in the oven, move on to scaling another recipe or icing the cupcakes, etc. And clean in between. Try not to make a mess and you won't have to clean it up. Don't put a batter-y spatula down on a clean table, balance it on the bowl or lay down parchment. I don't think memorizing recipes is a high priority. I'd rather you look at the recipe no matter how many times you've made it, especially if you're just starting out and still a bit overwhelmed. Do your best, show up on time, accept criticism, and taste everything.

I'm aware of it, and indeed may have played them all near to my ear. But since I use podcasts as a sleep aid, I've really only listened to the first several minutes of each episode before falling asleep, and retained nothing 😊