John DePaula

My French Professional Pastry series says "a minimum of 3 minutes" but at least 5 minutes if it's a large batch (which I don't think I get anywhere near). FWIW, my pastry instructor told us to boil for 2 minutes, so that's what I do... ETA: I think it really depends on your equipment and how high your flame/heat source is and your recipe, yada yada.

my recipe is exactly like yours, only i use 4 eggs or 6 yolks (depending on how rich wan t it to be. i generally cook mine until the first two bubbles pop the surface, and then i strain it into a bowl, whisk in my butter and cool it over a ice bath. if i use it the next day, i make sure to whisk it for a minute or two and it should be good as new. i know some people that throw it in the blender or food processor too. good luck. ← one should really bring the pastry cream up to a full boil for at least a few seconds to both activate the corn starch and to cook out the raw starch taste. if whisking rigorously when it comes up, you shouldn't need to strain (which just makes more dishes). ← I always boil mine for at least 2 minutes, whisking all the time. And I don't strain it either.

Wow! That's a lot, alright. Might be good for patching potholes; delicate French pastries? Not so much.

Well, I assume/hope that you refrigerated the pastry cream after covering it. It's going to get thicker as it cools so that's not usually a problem. What you'll want to do when you're ready to use it is to beat it with a whisk to give it a better consistency, adding a bit of cream and/or alcohol if desired. I don't have the Bouchon cookbook, but I assume it has the correct ratios for milk, eggs, thickening agent. Could you have added too much cornstarch/flour? Were you stirring all the time? Did you temper the eggs? Could the heat have been too high?

Hi, The recipe says to "combine the pectin with the sugar" so what I did was pour both into a container and stir. I didn't heat or melt it. Then I heated the water to 40C and dumped the container in. I wasn't stiring rappidly while I did this because I didn't think it'd be an issue. I checked on my creation this morning and it's still liquid, albeit a slow moving thick mass. I assume this is a flop? ← I always add the pectin to a small portion of Baker's Sugar (ultrafine granulated sugar) and mix well. Then I add that to the heated puree and stir like crazy for 2-3 minutes while it combines. I proceed normally adding regular granulated sugar (in 3-4 additions so that the temperature of the molten puree/sugar doesn't get too low which would cause the pectin to setup prematurely) and then glucose, etc.

I don't have Andrew's book and do not have experience with the g-pectin; however, for the Boiron purees and recipes, the amount of pectin varies with the type of fruit and some fruits require the addition of other basis purees e.g. passionfruit requires the addition of apricot.

Well I say "Bravo" to you, Sir! I think it's wonderful that you're out there making chocolates and having fun!

I think there's a formula but I don't remember what it is... However, there is often a conversion table in the back of confectioner books e.g. Chocolates and Confections by Grewling. Also, online conversion is possible: Online Brix / Baume Conversion

Beautiful, Mette! I love that satiny sheen on "those flat things with nuts," also known as "mendiants." Everything looks really pretty. How do you like Greweling's dulce de leche coffee truffles?

I second the dacquois idea. I made some Hazelnut Dacquoise (based on a Pierre Hermé recipe) that won a holiday cookie contest in my neighborhood. I think the texture is actually improved if they are frozen first and then carefully thawed before serving. You can also freeze them in ice cube trays for easy use later. 1 egg white ~= 30g.

You could try a mole or some type of savory cooking perhaps.

There are a variety of them available on Ebay

I'm talking about the class where tempered chocolate is added to to Robot Coupe along with the boiling cream, then the vacuum applied and the blade started. My cheap version would do the same thing, just have a smaller blade. But then I'm not sure you need to blend in a vacuum anyway. If you use an immersion blender so as not to add any air in the blending process and apply a vacuum after the blending you should be able to draw any existing air out fairly cheaply. I know that relatively thick silicone rubber is treated this way for mold making and that is as thick or thicker than any ganache. I spotted a webpage detailing the use of a pump with ridgid Rival vacuum food containers for just such a project. That would be a relatively cheap way to try extending your shelf life. ← I have no direct experience with vacuum mixing of ganaches, but FWIW I hear that it makes for a very dry ganache.

You use a long flat pallet knife, dragged at an angle, lengthwise.

Uh...wait a minute, ... did you say "the vast majority is done" and "Except for the packaging..." ??? I beg to differ!

Torres says that he makes the Pithivier, freezes it solid, throws it into his backpack (still wrapped for the freezer, of course) and cycles off to a party. Once there, he pops it in the oven to cook. Don't know if this would work for you, though.

I did this once with a softer ganache and didn't notice any problems. I would think you could make one batch per day and turn the molds a few times without a problem. That way you could keep it at working temperature for a while. It would probably even hold overnight in the fridge, though as John says it might not pay time wise. Rather it might be better to premeasure ingredients for each batch so you can put it together in just a couple minutes as the shells are setting up. ← Yeah, I tried this once before when I knew I had a LOT to do. I did all my prep and measuring the day before. The following day, I zippped through about 10 or 12 ganaches in record time. Be careful that you don't turn the trays too quickly. I think I read that you want them to be in the tray at least 2 hours but preferably 8; otherwise, the finish could be adversely affected.

Tammy, I've considered the same question. I'm sure others will want to weigh-in, too, but here's what I think: If you make a ganache ahead of time and refrigerate (or freeze), you still need to warm it up to get it back to pipe-able consistency, as you said. To me, the time savings is negligible. Meaning that it takes me almost as long to prep the chilled ganache as it does to just make a new one. That said, there are a couple of fillings I make that are ok to make ahead e.g. Bananas Foster (doesn't need to be reheated) and Caramel Fleur de sel (reheats quickly and easily). (ETA: These are both non-ganache fillings.) Still, I like to make only the amount that I need for the days work. I've finally got my recipes balanced for my tray sizes so I have very very little left-over ganache to store. I should probably start saving these little amounts to make that caramel of Wybauw's that has you add all the little left over bits...

Yes, you can reuse the structure sheets. Packing and shipping takes up an obscene amount of time. Just be sure you charge for it because after all, it's a value-add to the product and you should be compensated.

Wow, great find Randy!

exactly

And you can use Nitrile gloves - better than latex as they are hypoallergenic (I think) ← Don't know if they are hypoallergenic, but not a lot of people are allergic to nitrile, lots are to latex. ← Yes, I was probably using that term incorrectly - my bad. I was trying to say that lots of folks are allergic to latex. Thanks for the correction! I noticed that when we were at the chocolate class in Chicago, they were using Nitrile gloves. You can buy them at Uline.

And it would help if you were actually aiming for the right temperature. He said to heat the chocolate to between 94 and 98 degrees F. I don't know of any chocolate that would be tempered at those temperature! ← I think his method attempts to melt chocolate while keeping it IN temper, elininating the need to bring it up to a certain temperature, then back down, etc. I have no clue if that is really possible or not. at what temp does typical chocoalte lose it's temper? is it ANY temp that causes it to change to a liquid state? Still, it's something interesting to think about. ← Yes, it's possible to keep it in temper. If I have a short job and a small amount of chocolate needs to be in temper, I just microwave it on very low at 2mn intervals, stirring in between times, until about 2/3 of the mass is melted. Then I continue to stir occasionally until the remaining is melted. (If you've guessed incorrectly about when to stop nuking, you can add a small amount of finely grated chocolate and stir). In this method, I'm using part of the initial unmelted mass to seed the melted portion. I never use a thermometer with this method, but the final temperature should be around 31-33C (88F - 91F).

I just finished watching this episode off of my TiVo. Really, not nearly as complicated as I thought it would be. Of course, I haven't read through this thread to learn about other techniques, but his looked pretty good. And the suggestion to make Moon Pies? Oh yeah... I gotta try that! (and really, I want to try his melt the chocolate with a heating pad and keep in temper method) ← Hmmm... did you notice that his chocolate was totally NOT in temper? I'm not saying that you can't do it with the heating pad, but you'd have to keep a pretty good eye on it, though. ← Honestly, no.. I didn't really pay close enough attention. Then again, I bet it would be tough for an amateur like me to tell just via a quick shot on a TV show. ← I didn't mean to be snarky... Actually, I enjoyed the episode and learned a great tip or two from the show.

And you can use Nitrile gloves - better than latex as they are hypoallergenic (I think)