pastrygirl

The bomb indeed. They go all the way down to this little 5 qt size. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hobart-mixer-N50A-model-commercial-mixer-/322866559615 I'd like one in the 10-20 qt range. Small enough to be table-top but large enough for a really big batch of cookies or several loaves of brioche. And yes, the 2-minute dishwasher. Probably actually the best part of commercial kitchens. As for Gallo Hearty Burgundy, that brings to mind my cousin once-removed's 2nd or 3rd husband bringing his own gallon to a holiday dinner at Grandma's house, must have been Thanksgiving or Christmas. Now, we're wine drinkers, my dad was Italian and I helped make wine as a kid, but that this guy kept his jug on the floor behind his chair and drank most of it over the evening was a bit scandalous.

Yes! I very rarely go to Starbucks, emergencies only, but the new Reserve Roastery is just down the hill from the kitchen I use, so I'll try to remember to stop and check it out next time I'm going past it. This may or may not change. They obviously can't add a bakery to every store; if they decide the one bakery can deliver to other stores, now everything has to be baked several hours earlier so it can be packed and delivered in the wee hours before stores open and your 3pm coffee break features pastry made last night at 8pm & getting pretty close to day-old. Frozen product baked off throughout the day has all the potential to be good. Recruitment might not be as hard for SBUX as for other restaurants since they can offer benefits, but I don't think moving baking in-house will necessarily make things larger or less expensive. Minimum wage for a large employer is $15/hr. We do have lots of good bakeries here, so talent is available but not cheap.

Yep, see you there, bring anything but snow

I read that too fast and thought you were saying how boring Seattle will be - I'm sorry, we just can't compete with Paris! It's supposed to warm up next weekend, but we've been having some wacky weather - two days of snow flurries this early is highly unusual! Bring layers, anything might happen.

Ahhhh, so that's why you don't put chocolate molds in the dishwasher!

Here's a chocolate fail for you - how on earth do molds end up like this? I went to a cooking school liquidation sale this morning, was expecting used equipment but not quite so abused! I did pick through and found several that looked in good shape. They can toss this one in the recycle bin!

Foie gras on an airplane? I wanna be like you when I grow up!

So, candy foils ... I’ve been using the really thin confectioners foils to wrap bars, and they have some drawbacks- so thin and fragile and show every wrinkle. Does anyone here use either paper-backed or waxed foil for chocolate? I can’t really picture waxed foil - is it stiff? As waxy as waxed paper or different? thanks!

The robot coupe for it size and power.

I think shelled edamame have a bit of artichoke heart-ish flavor. If you agree, then there you go.

Are they though, or are they just instagram-ing one mold at a time? Even Melissa Coppel admitted that a lot of her stuff isn't practical for retail production because you'd have to charge way too much to cover the labor. OTOH, stagiaires & interns, if they can be trusted to do it right

Tomric and chocolat-chocolat each have a few options. What size are your bars?

After the re-pasteurization, they'd be looking for best practices on cooling and storage. Cool to 40F within a few hours, store below 40F and make sure other contaminants don't enter. A dry ingredient isn't going to offer the growth potential, so they are more concerned with storage and handling - are (graham crackers, pretzels, cereal) kept airtight where mice can't get in and not touched with bare hands or cross contaminated with peanut butter?

Bhutanese shakam ezay! It's dried beef bits fried with chile, doubtful you'd be able to source that. On a more realistic note, if you're looking for unique small producers around the US that have limited distribution, check out Bear's Breath Ketchup for the Bold, a more savory ketchup alternative. I had a booth next to the guy at a show earlier this year, it was tasty and unique. More local PNW companies are Grimm Bros hot sauces and Mustard & Co. Grimm's Fire Potion is thicker than tabasco, tomato and vinegar based with scotch bonnet, cayenne, and ghost pepper. I'm not sure who else is making condiment-type things, but you could check through the Seattle Made website and the roster for the Gobble Up event. I participate in both. My friend Melissa at The Kitchen Imp make spice blends and flavored salts and Peek's Pantry are other friends making Thai food and condiments. http://bearsbreath.com/ http://www.peekspantry.com/products.html https://www.thekitchenimp.com/ https://www.seattlemade.org/manufacturers/

It turned out ok, was a little thick, could have used a pinch of salt. I think puff pastry is best when baked well done or at least golden brown all the way through. Funnily enough, I've been working on a cookie dough chocolate, but it's not a ganache. It's brown sugar, brown butter, white chocolate and vanilla bean. I could put actual cookies in it, but I think this is easier and plus keeps it wheat-free. Apparently edible "raw" cookie dough is a thing now. It is kept refrigerated, but they do note using cooked flour for safety. https://www.cookiedonyc.com/faqs/

can you show us a picture?

Practice. And you can always make the hole in the piping bag bigger (start small) Do you know that trick of putting warm fillings in a piping bag and mushing it around on the cool table? You get more surface area so it cools quickly. Works with ganache, could help with marshmallow too. Yeah, I can't really think of a cookie that would mold. I'd avoid moister cake and brownie layers, but shortbread, sable, graham crackers etc should be safe for a long time. For layers like these, I temper the chocolate and pipe the mix in while still liquid. Yes, you have to temper one more thing, but you avoid some of the other issues. Harder to get a super thin layer, though. I just posted a raspberry pie bonbon over on confections! what did we make?. The pie dough layer was puff pastry scraps, baked until golden brown and mixed with white chocolate and browned butter.

A butter or brandy warmer? Though most of the ones on eBay have a pouring spout ...

Raspberry pie bonbons. Raspberry flavor came out really well - some raspberry white chocolate I had made with freeze dried fruit ganache-ified with raspberry puree. Pie dough layer involves puff pastry scraps, brown butter, and white chocolate.

Is there water too or just chocolate and cookie butter? You should be able to add up to an equal amount of fat-based substance (nut butter for example) to chocolate and still have it firm up when tempered. Too much fat isn’t really a problem unless you add water and need it all to emulsify. OP might also want to explore using cocoa butter or milk or white Chocolate to firm up the filling. Plus, it should end up less sweet than adding copious powdered sugar.

You don't get that kind of shine applying color to a finished piece. The few perfectly round dots of black make me think the mold was taped with the stripe in the middle, sprayed black but not full coverage, then the tape removed and sprayed gold.

I’m happy to report success - no tears, not too much panic, and I didn’t even have to cut it! Seemed to cut cleanly enough so that was good, people got actual slices. Several layers of Trader Joe’s all-butter puff (docked and baked between sheet pans to keep it flat) and whipped white chocolate ganache with vanilla and lemon. Toasted almonds and fresh raspberries to garnish. The bride was happy.

Definitely trying to avoid tears and panic I’ll bring a serrated knife and only do two tiers - usually I can just drop cakes off and run, I should be prepared for them to make me cut this thing! Maybe whipped ganache would be a firmer/less slippery filling ...

Thanks, I'll use supports and try resist the urge to buttercream it. We decided a chocolate groom's cake would offer appropriate excess, between that and the puff pastry there'll be plenty of richness. Though maybe instead of sprinkling with sugar before baking to caramelize, I'll brush the puff with white chocolate after to keep it crispy. It'll probably be a nightmare to cut no matter what!

Old topic but the classics never die ... A friend is getting married this weekend, and she has a vague recollection of some fabulous flaky, creamy cake she had in Italy once that we decided was probably mille foglie or mille feuille. I haven't eaten one in forever, much less made one so I thought I'd run this by you here. I'm thinking caramelized puff pastry with layers of chiboust or panna cotta - make the filling the day ahead and mold it in round cake pans lined with plastic wrap then stack that morning. I want to have 2 or 3 tiers - is it better to try to shove supports through the puff pastry, or just try to make the filling solid enough to support it all? Or really thin layers of filling so there's not much to squish out anyway? I got a box of Trader Joe's all-butter puff which is tasty but pretty thin, maybe 4 layers of puff and 3 filling per tier? I guess I could make regular pastry cream. I used to have an aversion to it but I forget why - the gloppiness and my tendency to scorch it, IIRC. Or how about white chocolate ganache? And what about icing - I could do naked with just powdered sugar. Would butter cream be too much? Too much is not necessarily bad, and icing adds another flavor ... What do you think? Thanks!