SweetSide
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Posts posted by SweetSide
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Welcome to the wonderful world of pastry.
I graduated in January this year from my local culinary school, at the age of 42 -- midlife career change for me. I was the oldest in the class, and older than the instructors.
Don't worry about the "kids". Everyone is focused on the food -- use that as your common bond. I never felt out of place. I learned from the "kids" about being young still. I also rolled my eyes on some occasions about how little they really knew about the world. But, it was never a competition. We all learned from each other as well as from the teacher, and I loved every minute of going. You won't be "surviving" -- you'll be following a passion.
And, long ago, when I was in college, there was this older (50's? 60's?) woman in my classes. We all thought it was cool that she was doing what she had always wanted to do but didn't get a chance when she was younger. That's how I thought the younger ones in my school treated the older ones.
For the first time in a long time, going to work is now fun. I'm now a pastry chef (by title -- I am well aware how much I still need to learn) in a small bakery in an upscale town.
The only thing I had a hard time with was when it was time for externships. While they were young and free, I had a pre-teen daughter and a breadwinning husband to consider, so I couldn't search far and wide for the dream position. Oh, my husband said I could, but it was also during the Christmas season, and I don't think I could have mentally survived that time far away.
Best of luck to you, and by all means post again and let everyone know how it is going!
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I posted a very similar comment on another forum a few weeks ago and got a variety of different opinions. Specifically, I noted that I've always viewed "sifted flour" and "flour, sifted" to mean two different things.
"1 cup of sifted flour" to me means to sift the flour, then measure it; "1 cup of flour, sifted" means to measure the flour, then sift it. I assume recipe writers mean what they say and say what they mean, although I suspect I give most too much credit.
In any case, this thread got me off my duff and I did a little experiment just now. I measured out a cup of Gold Medal Flour that had been opened and added to the canister about two weeks ago, so it was fresh and pretty fluffy. I used a metal measuring cup, spooned the flour into it without packing it, and leveled it with a knife. I then weighed the flour on a digital scale (without the measuring cup).
I then sifted that cup of flour using a standard kitchen sifter that has 3 or 4 screens, spooned it into the same measuring cup and leveled it with a knife. I had about 3 Tablespoons of sifted flour left over. I then weighed that cup of flour, again without the cup.
Here are the results:
1 Cup Unsifted Flour = 4 5/8 ounces
1 Cup Sifted Flour = 3 3/4 ounces
That's a difference of .875 ounces of about 23.3 percent (by weight, not volume), enough to cause a significant change in the texture of many baked goods.
Perhaps the best solution is to weigh flour and other dry ingredients rather than measure them by volume, which I've been told is standard practice in commercial bakeries, but unfortunately few home recipes in the U.S. are written in that format.
I'd be interested in hearing from others who try this experiment.
We did a similar experiment at work, but without sifting. Depending on who made a certain cake it kept coming out different. The result -- one person just scooped the flour out of the bin. The other (me) fluffed it and quickly spooned it into the cup. The third fluffed and fluffed, then gently spooned into the cup. All of us leveled. The recipe was not YET in weights.
Scooper - 1cup = 5 oz
Fluff & Spoon - 1 cup = 4.5 oz
Fluff, Fluff, & spoon - 1 cup = 4 oz
The recipe called for 15 cups of flour. Still wonder why it came out different? When you multiply that one cup difference over 15 cups we were off by 1/2 to 1 POUND of flour.
I weigh EVERYTHING and then sift depending on what I'm making and how lumpy my flour/sugar/cocoa is. As for "sift to combine", I'll give it a quick whisk in the bowl.
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You can leave an instant read digital in the sugar simply by using a "bulldog" clip that snaps onto the side of your pot and has holes in the handle the let you slide the probe through. Places like Staples will have them in the paper clip section.
And once your sugar is dissolved you don't need to stir it any more.
Cheers,
Steve
a.k.a. binder clip
Thanks for that translation!
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On the convection part -- it isn't actually getting "blown" to one side. As you noted in a post above, your highest side was facing the fan. That side is getting blasted with the heat, so is cooking faster. I don't have a solution for you other than, when I do cakes I put them on the highest and lowest shelves if possible so they don't get direct fan. Other problems there, I know, but I rotate. I can't shut my fan off, and I don't have access to a conventional oven.
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Two is use lemon juice in your cream cheese stuff.
Spice cakes
.I prefer orange in the icing - orange and spice together is wonderful.
Ditto -- same for with a carrot cake. A little zest, a little juice. Mmmm...
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One of the best items to buy is a "digital" instant read thermometer. I got this tip from Cook's Illustrated and it is a life, or in this case, pastry saver. No need to try and make sure the tip is far enough down or no waiting for the bloody candy thermometer to give you a reading. It is great for when things come up to temp fast and you are hurried, like with meringue buttercreams.
I have this thermometer and just love it. Really can't say enough about it. And the best part is that it IS instant and there are no stupid wires to worry about!
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They actually have 2 darks -- regular bittersweet and extra bittersweet. The extra bitter is the best tasting that I have ever had at that % (72%). Smooth and creamy yet very dark. I would use it if I could. I liked their white very much also. Some whites give me a tingling in the back of my throat (I wish I knew what did that), but theirs doesn't. Melts beautifully as well.
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What an elegant photo!
I wasn't thinking elegant as much as evocative -- but great nonetheless! A rush of scents, flavors, and memories flew through my head reminding me how great simple foods can be! It captures the very essence of comfort food.
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FINALLY.....for those of you who are curious....
Biopsy results.....benign!!!!
Thank god for that. Now I can go back to worrying about crappy cookies.
FANTASTIC! Two out of three ain't bad -- tackling the crappy cookies will be a lot easier now!
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Going off tangent a little, I do have a recipe for a crust that uses all pretzels and another that uses pretzels and graham crackers. Both give you that salt kick that goes so well with creamy and sweet:
Pretzels only
1 1/2 c pretzels, crushed
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c melted butter
Blend of pretzels and graham
1/2 c pretzels, finely crushed
1/2 c graham crackers, finely crushed
1/4 c sugar
1/3 c butter, melted
Instructions for both are the standard melt, mix, and press.
And for my pans, I use the butter that I've measured for the crust (before melting) to lightly grease the pan, then melt the rest so it's not too moist.
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I have never tried to bake cakes with the hopes of getting the same results, using one 3 inch and one 2 inch pan. It would be really difficult to gauge how much batter to place in the 3 inch pan to equate the height of a two inch high pan because that is going to vary according to the recipe.
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Why wouldn't you be able to just divide the batter evenly between the two pans by weight (assuming that you would be using 2 2" pans if you had them rather than one being a 3" pan). When making 10 - 20 cake rounds, I just pour the batter into all the pans then double check that they are all the same based on weight, give or take a margin of error for that many pans.
Granted, if you have a batter that likes to climb the pan walls, given equal amounts of batter in both pans but not so much that the 2" is going to overflow, they may come out slightly different in height, but only if the batter in the 2" pan has run out of room to climb.
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Oh, the British just need to be difficult and one up us on the size of things....
UK measures are bigger than US measures (don't know the background of the difference), but the same holds true for cups, teaspoons, quarts, gallons, etc. I forgot about that when I used the quote...
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David,
I don't in any way want to put you off from asking questions here -- everyone is more than happy to answer -- it's how we all learn and share ideas. But I was just thinking that with your new found interest in baking, perhaps you would like to invest in a general baking, pastry, or bread baking book if you don't already have one.
There are several threads if you search on them, or you could start your own thread based on what you would like to do -- breads only, pastries, general desserts. They not only will provide you with a variety of things to try, but will give you instruction and understanding on things like glazes and scaling recipes (your other thread), speeding you along on your journey into baking and pastry. There are a lot of good ones out there, and if you are interested in becoming a pro, you can start with a book geared for that. If you are interested in just doing it for fun, you can start with a book geared for that.
In any event, KEEP asking questions and learning here and everywhere. This is a wonderful world -- the baking and pastry world! Welcome!
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Then there's a Bee Sting Cake and a Tarte Tropezienne. Both are basically a brioche baked in a 9 or 10" cake pan, torted, and filled with a pastry cream. Bee sting has honey and almonds on top.
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everyone at my house just seems to complain that there is so much bread...
If you live near Connecticut, everyone in my house complains there isn't enough bread....
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I've made this in her book Cupcakes! and the cake is good, but if you have a favorite chocolate cupcake, you can use that. I wouldn't rave about the cake itself. What is really good is the "hi top" part. Just the idea is fun. And, for a surprise, I colored the inside team colors instead of white when I did them for my daughters swim team.
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Quick question. I have a cupcake recipe that calls for using melted semi-sweet chocolate as a dip for a mound of creamy filling that is piled on top of the cupcake (think of those dipped cones at Dairy Queen). Can I use a bar of good dark chocolate instead of the semi sweet? What % is semi sweet anyway? How 'dark' is it? Thanks!
I know that cupcake! First ones gone at any place I take them -- and mine are BIG! No problem using a good dark bar.
I read some place that there is no official distinction between semisweet and bittersweet but that generally under 60% is semisweet. Let taste be your guide, especially since that "mound of creamy filling" is VERY sweet.
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The yeast we use comes wrapped in a plastic wrap, and is like a brick....I Think its fresh yeast but I could very well be wrong...
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Yep, that's fresh yeast. Active dry and instant are both more granules that you can "pour".
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... maybe I'll just say, "Professional and artistic differences", and Shel said, "Yeah, you could say, "I'm professional and artistic......and you're.....different."
Best of luck on all three counts -- leaving for greener pastures, having your cat turn up on your doorstep, and a negative biopsy.
This has been an interesting thread -- I'm new at this business, and this provides good insight. Let us know how it all turns out.
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Isn't that just beautiful -- even the name is pretty (at least to me, who speaks only English)!
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There is an old saying "A pint's a pound the world around". So a pint of water weighs a pound. There are 8 pints in a gallon, so a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. I haven't weighed a full gallon myself, so I think the extra .3 is because the EXACT weight of a gallon of water is 8.3 pounds.
Edited to add -- this works for water only. Because fat is less dense than water, a pint of cream, for example, does not weight a pound. Nor does a pint of honey, or vegetable oil, nor milk... you get the drift.
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I would break the recipe down as chefpeon states or convert to bakers percentages as Beanie states, but I wouldn't necessarily convert it over to cups. Weight is more accurate. For not a lot of money, you can invest in a home scale and keep on using the weight for accuracy, just not making that gigantic batch of dough....
But, if you still want to convert it, I use the site chefpeon mentioned, with great results.
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Best way to beat the grainy stuff is good emulsification, for one thing.
Try using an immersion blender ( like a Braun or a CuisineArt) after pouring your wet on top of the chocolate.
Let it sit for a few minutes (five) then buzz it, it will look like a great emulsion.
If no immersion blender ( which I can't recommend highly enough) add your hot mix slowly, in bits, using your spatula from the middle out to the edge, slowly, adding a bit more of the hot as you go until you get it all emulsified.
When I've had an assistant "break" my ganache (grainy, when it cools you see the white cocoa butter veined thruout) it was usually because they poured the boiling hot liquid on all at once, didn't emulsify it right or added the chocolate to the hot dairy, which will really screw everything up.
Oh, and burr mixing or stick blending a crap batch should fix it just fine.
Thanks! I'm saying I'll try all these because I seem to have lots of opportunity lately. The veins you mention are very prevalent. We do pour all directly on top of the chocolate. Another instructor said little at a time. The pastry chef I work with melts the chocolate, boils the cream and pours all the chocolate into the cream. That was actually the first and third batches. First was fine, third almost as bad as second.
How will that "screw everything up" -- not doubting, just looking for scientific explanations so I can perhaps find the part(s) that are doing me in.
I must have a crap stick blender, cuz that did nothing to the crap batch. Once I turned the blender off, you could actually see it start to break again. I haven't tried it yet to do the initial emulsion -- only to do the fixes.
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I usually make ganache with Guittard 4m chips, because they're there, and they're not bad. 5 lbs chips to 4 lbs 36% heavy cream. No problems, ever. Lately I've been trying to use up a box of Callebaut 55% discs just to get it off inventory. Again, no problems. When I went for the box today, it was a little light, and since I have two boxes of Amer Bitter 60% couverture, I used that, and it came out a little grainy, lumpy, not smooth. I whisked about a half pint of cold cream into and it came together. Too much fat, not enough liquid, I guess. Next time yours looks likes swill, try a little more cream, or even water.
To reheat, I pulse it in a microwave at 30-50% power depending on how much I'm trying to heat, for 4 to 6 minutes as needed.
Thanks -- tried the more cream, but it had been warmed. I'll try cold. I've also tried the water, and that helped until the ganache cooled and broke again on rewarming. Learned the water trick for the same reasons you state from one of my instructors in school.
Microwave is about what I've been doing as well. Double boiler with gentle heat seems too strong in my hot kitchen.
Cake Decorating: Tips & Techniques
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
As sketches go, that is going to be a beautiful cake.
I'll leave most of the decorating advice to the experts, but, I'm with chefpeon and the cake that Duff did on Ace of Cakes. He painted a lot of it, but there were black fondant accents on the cake.
I found a picture of it HERE
Please post yours when complete -- we'd love to see the finished product!