GaryK

I am interested in trying some sous vide techniques in the pastry kitchen. The question I have is there are certain tropical fruits, pineapple, papaya, passion fruit, kiwi, guava, mango, and fig, that need to be cooked before using with gelatin. If used without cooking, an protease enzyme will dissolve the gelatin.The specific enzyme varies between the fruits. Does anyone know if these enzymes can be activated with sous vide-type tempertures? Thanks.

You were thinking in terms of water, but you were dealing with sugar. Sugar behaves differently depending on how hot it gets. That is seen in the various stages of sugar heating e.g. soft ball, hard crack, etc. It makes no sense to lower temperatures since you were trying to break sugar down by heat.

http://www.essentialdepot.com/servlet/the-Sodium-dsh-Hydroxide-dsh-Lye-dsh-Food-dsh-Grade/Categories

You may have not heated the sugar high enough. Sugar decomposes as it is heated into over 100 different compounds. Underheating it likely left it decomposed less than needed to achieve the desired effect. High altitude has nothing to do with this process. You can see this effect in the difference of structure in heating sugar to 240F (soft ball) and 255F (hard ball).

The culinary program at Schoolcraft College offers a continuing ed "Pastry Boot Camp". This is a 4 consecutive evenings course taught by a certified master pastry chef. Great facilities. They're in Livonia, outside of Detroit.

Really, really nice work.

While learning to pipe, I have been freehanding my cake inscriptions. I would like to try something more elaborate. Looking for a more upscale typeface to use. Any thoughts? Thanks.

They do have an online store (sort of). http://www.sfbi.com/baking_supplies.html

Just to add my 2 cents. I very new to this and tried pate choux as one of my first pastry doughs. Had exactly the same problem you did. I second the recommendation to bake them longer. The water is not necessary and will make them soggy (as you have found out). I can't tell if puncturing them (with tip of paring knife) made any difference. You can freeze them, but if you refrigerate them, they get soggy. Also once filled, you have only a few hours at most before they get soggy. Other than that, they're easy : )

A question from a new kid. Is there a term for the fillings in a truffle (other than ganache)? Where do I find recipes for fillings? Thanks.