gfron1

Okay, let me back up. I made a lump of dough that included active yeast. It was the size of a baseball. I dropped it in a bowl of warm water (the instructions said do not exceed 100F). It sunk like a rock as per the instructions. After about 5 minutes it rose - it rose indeed! After about 10 more minutes it started to become light and porous. By the 20 minutes it was very light, but still handle-able. I then picked it up in my and, drained the water, and pinched it off into the other dough that was in my mixer. I followed the recipe exactly. So, now I'm wondering if Amernick is using the term Levain accurately.

Interesting. This was yeast out of the jar. Not wild. It definitely gave me the flaky croissant texture.

A typical recipe for me is: 1. make dough (flour, sugar, yeast, etc) 2. incorporate butter 3. chill overnight This recipe: 1. make dough (flour, sugar milk, NO yeast) 30 min of mixing 2. make starter (flour, yeast, milk, sugar) 3. Levain technique described above 20 min of "soaking" 4. Strain levain mixture and incorporate into dough pinch by pinch 5. incorporate butter T by T 6. beat until pretty 7. chill overnight

This is one of those moments that I highlight my inexperience. I just made a brioche using the levain method. I'm not even sure if I'm using the term correctly. It was in Amernick's book. The idea is to take a yeast starter and drop it in warm water, let it sit and it will float and lighten, then add the glop to the dough. I have never made a brioche using that technique, but that was the best, lightest, flakiest brioche I've ever had. The baked dough pulled apart almost like a croissant . Anyone want to tell me more about what I just did and what impact it had on my brioche? What's the CW on why you use a levain?

HERE'S a topic on baking with silicone which includes discussion of sticking - might be helpful.

I use them all the time. I never ever spray it with Pam, but often times will coat with butter (most recently I've taken to brushing melted butter the chilling before filling). I've used many shapes and sizes and have never had an issue. I regularly freeze and pop out for best results, but not always. I also don't cool completely - but just to room temp before popping out. On a related note, when I use them I always use them on air baking sheets to get a more even baking. Now, just to clarify, I think we're talking different beasts. I'm talking about the silicone muffin pans not the individual silicone muffin liners.

Congratulations are in order. One of Kerry's pupils (the one who made the mouse above) won the overall best chocolate at this past weekend's Chocolate Fantasia! She did the same mouse, but vastly improved it - so just one more thanks to Kerry for the inspiration and knowledge. Another students who was filling his chocolates with chutney did very well also, but I don't think he won an award.

Thanks Alicia. The candy was candied cilantro leaves courtesy of Patrick A from the forusm. The recipe was my can't miss sweet cheesecake (Craig Claiborne) with a cilantro punch. Amazingly no one ratted me out. However, yesterday it was the talk of the town. I relish my faux celebrity And while the suits were a joke to add to the experience, they became necessary as the day went along. Both of my assistants air masks were coated in the chocolate air which I'm glad didn't end up in their lungs.

I finally had the truffles last night and didn't really care for any of them. Its funny because he kept saying "only the highest quality chocolate," but I've tasted a lot of highest quality and didn't recognize his. On the contrary, Todos Santos uses Valrhona and it shows. But I want to re-emphasize that I completely loved his drinks. They were worth every cent.

I normally offer the same advice as most you above (community college, workshops, staging, etc.), but here's a chance of a lifetime - he's on the GI Bill! I say that I would lean toward bang for the buck - look at restrictions on the GI Bill and if that means the CIA - cool. If it means a community college with some high end workshops - cool too. Normally "money is not an object" is not tossed around in this discussion when we're talking up to $30-50K.

Beautiful! Welcome to the world of posting - great website btw. And...don't we all need to work on our neatness

Here is a previous Rose Water topic that has good source info. I use Cortas as well. There is a new product out as of last year - rose nectar that is marketing toward cocktails, but was very nice when I sampled it at a Fancy Food Show. Here's the blurb from their sales site:

Nothing will be thrown away - that's what brownies are for.

This is such a large question that it is difficult to answer. I think season of the year matters, customer taste, what else is being served etc. But, I don't want to let you down, so I'll give it a go. Also, check out THIS topic on flavor profiles that are more general to desserts, not just cakes. Irish cream, white chocolate, marscapone butter rum, caramel and pecans pistachio, pomegranate, vanilla apricot and black currant pear and chestnut

Rip off away - My rip in the shower was the inspiration - one we've all had I dare think, so I humbly offer the concept for you to do with ass you wish

There were so many elements to this dessert. First, I had to elevate the humidity level in the space since our climate is so dry. I recent described it as walking through the woods after a rain (I actually said farting in a shower, but the same idea) where your sense of smell is heightened. Then I had to find the right smell to infuse into the air. Amoretti did that for me with their hot chocolate edible perfume. I felt obliged with all the samples they have sent me to use them - and it was perfect - very intense, but then mellowed/rounded once it entered the humidty stream. The other fun part was (and this is getting to your question about responses) that we entered them in the front and spit them out the back of our store - going for the birthing effect/time travel effect. So I didn't see too many responses. I did see everyone walking away licking their fingers and lips which was a good sign. A few of my friends came around to whisper to me (keeping the secret) and they couldn't believe it was cilantro. I used 4 tablespoons of cilantro extract and 4 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro in each normal size cheesecake recipe so it was VERY intense - plust the candied cilantro leaf on top. Once they read that it was cilantro, they all recognized the taste immediately and seemed to like it even more since their mind didn't have a chance to tell them it would be gross.

Kat - you're probably going to think the quanitities of chocolate are too large in THIS topic, but you might be surprised.

If you haven't already checked it out, HERE'S the Pastry & Baking Index section on schools and staging.

A bit more wrap-up. Here is my creation for the Chocolate Fantasia event that Kerry was brought in to do the workshop for. Cilantro Cheesecake with Chocolate Air. Two of her students had crowd favorites: The refined version of the mice above, and curry filled molded chocolates - they were absolutely perfect!

Cilantro Cheesecake with Chocolate Air as described in the unusual cheesecake flavor topic.

Today was our town's big Chocolate Fantasia fundraiser event. Each year I take my entry and make it bigger and more absurd. In fact, my reputation has grown and it led to a write-up in New Mexico magazine, and I always have lines out to the street by start-up. I say that with all the modesty I can muster since in fact I've never once made a chocolate for this event. I've been stewing over a certain flavor combination for almost an entire year and finally pulled it off this past week. I'll walk you through it just like my guests did... They were greeted at the door by one of my able assistants. Everyone thought the hazmat suits were a joke, but they really did need them. They were then ushered one at a time into a plastic tarp hallway with no lights. I added a sound machine to drown out any noise. This is me heading in with my dessert in hand. I'm very tired at this point - its been a long few weeks culiminating in today, and I'm ready to fall over and sleep for a week. At this point, the guest has no idea what is going on. They step into a 3 foot square room made out of the tarps. They're handed a cone of food and are told to eat it. The room has just prior been misted with Amoretti hot chocolate edible perfume infused through a humidifier to heighten the aroma. We give them a second to enjoy what they now know is a cheesecake that tastes like chocolate, and then are asked to step out and read the signs on their way... That's right - cilantro cheesecake with chocolate air. The cilantro cheesecake stood on its own, but excelled with the chocolate air. Everyone thought they were eating a chocolate cheesecake, but there was no chocolate in the cheesecake.

Wake up! This topic has been dead for a long, long time. [info from Verjuice]Mark Miller was the original owner, but the restaurant no longer belongs to him. He was bought out by Chef Eric Destefano, formerly of Geronimo, and partners.[end of info] I dined there last night with Verjuice, my spouse and friends. I just visited the restaurant site and the menu is not up to date, so I'll rely on Verjuice to recall many of the details. We decided to start with some of their playful and delicious cocktails. I had an apricot drink that was very nice - a bit subtle. Verjuice had a pomegranate drink that she ultimately handed over to a friend to finish off. My spouse had the Ruby Red - a grapefruit and vodka drink. No one was complaining! In the second round of orders many of us moved toward a play on margarita which was topped with what appeared to be an Italian meringue, but in fact I think it was an agar gelled lime foam. Someone can correct me on that - but they were good. For food we stuck to appetizers. None of us really wanted a huge hunk of meat, and the appetizers were all very fun and unique. In no particular order we had a prawn dish where they were stacked between pancakes. The prawns were overcooked, but the overall taste was very powerful (in a good way). We then had a crabcake. It was dense on meat, and not overfilled with breading, so that was a nice treat. Caesar Salad. Everyone at the table raved about this, especially the dressing. I found it less than easy to eat, so it wasn't my favorite. We also enjoyed a scallop dish where the scallops were cooked at the table with poured hot oil. My pic didn't come out for that and a few others. The hit of the night was tartare with quail egg and served with pancakes. These pics won't do it justice - it was magnificent to the eye and mouth. Notice the egg set in a bed of wasabi. We finished the appetizers with the lightest, juiciest onion rings - if only there were more stomach at this point! Then it was off for desserts. We had three plates: Chocolate/Cinnamon, Lemon, and Almond. The Chocolate/Cinnamon was the least favorite - but we were all beyond stuffed at this point. Some chocolate cakes, flan and biscochittos (the best part of that plating). The Lemon was good but too much intensity for this point in the meal. A lemon sorbet with mint, a lemon curd and some ugly lemon glob. Finally my favorite - almond. A chocolate almond mousse, almond macaroons (that's right, they look like macarons, but make no mistake they were dry coconut almong macaroons, and a wonderful "terrine" of almond bavaroise. They didn't call it a bavaroise, but that's what I would call it. That was my favorite of all of the desserts. I don't have any history with Coyote Café so I could care less about the ownership changes and controversy. I will say that I really enjoyed this meal and would go back again in a heartbeat. It is also worth noting that Eric Destefano was present throughout almost the entire meal hands-on, which is nice to see in an Executive Chef.

No hesitation needed! That's very yummy looking. Thanks for posting it.

Café Pasqual for lunch. I had always assumed this was just a tourist trap, but it was really good. Not REALLY good, but really good. I had the molé enchilada with a hefeweizen, and then I saved room for dessert. We were then off on our chocolate excursion. First stop Todos Santos. It received lukewarm reviews by Verjuice on this shop but I never pass an opportunity for chocolate. It took a bit of duck and dodge to find the shop, but I'm very glad we did. First, I didn't realize I was amongst greatness. For such a posh name, Hayward was very down to earth and friendly. We chatted for quite some time (apparently long enough to get a discount). I haven't tasted his creations yet, but I will report on the Fine Chocolate topic when I do. His packaging is absolutely unique and gorgeous. I bought a truffle pack (mixed his creations and others), and his bean to bar. You can see that I also bought an Askinosie bar since I had never had them before. I was really wanting to eat, not just buy, chocolate, so we took a walk to Kakawa. On the way we learned that the Mi Corazon chocolate shop had closed after a very brief stint. Verjuice had given another lukewarm review of Kakawa based mostly on experiences when the owner was not present. I empathised since I'm sure our customers feel the same way when we're not around. But we were in luck - the owner, Mark Sciscenti who has at least local fame was around. He is a self-taught chocolate historian and lecturer and certainly is enthusiastic about his work. My only critique is Mark's use of "I only use the finest chocolates." That's a phrase best used in brief sales pitches, if at all. I wanted details - tell me about varietals, country of origin, where you found the recipes...all of which he was happy to share with us when he realized we weren't just shop and run customers. We enjoyed (and I do mean enjoyed) four tazas of chocolate: Chili (ancho, agave), 1644 Spanish (canela, nuts, rose and spice), 1900's Oaxacan (nutty, cinnamon, almond, orange and rose blossom), and 1692 French Lavender. I especially liked the Oaxacan. It was so wonderfully complex and interesting (in a good way). Almost all of his cups had chips, but I'll chalk that up to chocolate jitters. We then bought a foursome of his truffles for later consumption: Savory Rosemary, Savory Basil, Mezcal, and peach something. All were unrefined, but I think they'll be good - we'll see tonight when we meet up with Verjuice and friend.

Café Paris for breakfast We were heading to Pasquel and decided to try something less obvious, so we wandered down Burro St. and found Café Paris. They had a small but nice breakfast menu including omelets, crepes and pastries. I had the Omelet Lyonaisse with an Almond Croissant. Both were very good. The croissant made me particularly happy since it was appropriately baked - meaning done, not mushy. They serve Illy espresso for those who care. It was a good choice. Cost: about $12 per person.