sugarseattle

Welcome, Will. I too did a switch from web design to pastry about 5 years ago, and finding my true passion has been the best thing I've ever done. There have been several other discussions/opinions regarding whether or not pastry school is or isn't necessary. For me, it was simply a timing issue, that I would have had to wait about 6 months to enter the program and about 2 years to finish the program. I wanted out of the corporate world within a year, so I decided it would be faster to learn on my own by buying a couple of books on baking chemistry and learning on my own by baking something nearly every night until I mastered the recipes/techniques I needed to start my dessert business. I also got a job at a catering company for a few months, and even though I was just scooping muffins, making up scones, and baking a few loaves, I learned quite a bit about the industry, how to save time, and such. So whether or not you choose to enter an "official" school, the most important thing is you immerse yourself in the world of baking. Try to get a job in the industry, even if it's non-paying or only a day or so a week. Plan bakery tours in your town, and travel to other towns and do the same. Try as many pastries as you can, and maybe take notes (either mentally or by writing down) on what you like or don't like. Go to the library and check out a stack of cookbooks. Just immerse yourself in the world of pastry. That would be my advice.

I still have a little bit of "ordinary" shortening left, but soon, this little ingredient will be outlawed, and I'll be switching to the zero trans fat version of shortening. I use about 1/3 shortening & 2/3 butter for my pie crusts, so I'm wanting to know what to expect during the "switch". The other thing, is that even though I like the way shortening makes my crusts nice and flakey, I am sort of considering omitting it altogether, because I'm afraid of what "they" might be doing to the shortening to make it so it doesn't have trans fat. You know, I don't want in 20 years down the road to find out that this new shortening is causing other health problems. Anybody have any info on this?

awesome! thanks

i can't seem to find the spec on how far you can open the door (90 degrees or 180 degrees) on most blodgett ovens. I'm looking at sho-g 2 and can't find the spec on that and it's saturday and nobody is open to call. thanks

i think it's probably a certain temperature and not time that will "denature" corn starch, but I think cornstarch it has a much higher temperature tolerance, hence why it's such a widely used thickener whereas other thickeners like arrowroot are easily overcooked and then fail. I never trust "cook for 2 minutes" because say for example your heat was slightly less than medium high, or you stirred too much, or whatever, you'll get inconsistent results. Temperature and/or texture are much more reliable guages of donness. What's likely happening with that "little pool" is your eggs are not cooking enough (270degrees to be exact) to kill the enzymes, and these happy little enzymes are in turn breaking down the pastry cream overnite and creating that nice soupy mess by morning. If your pastry cream is nice and thick, it's probably at the right temperature. Also, any batch larger than a quart should be made over a bain marie...it's almost impossible to cook pastry cream and to the proper temperature without burning it because you have to stir it so vigorously...the bigger batches require much more stirring.There's no saving grace for burnt pastry cream, even though I've witnessed some pie-bakers think they could just omit the burnt bottom and voila, no burn. Not So!

i have a cambro insulated sheet pan transporter that's black and I want to try making the homeade proofing box, only, I'm concerned that I won't be able to see inside while my dough is proofing, and that when i open the cabinet, i will make the temperature fluxuate too much...anybody else with a non-see-through proofing box...how do you use it? also, what's a good target temperature for croissants?

i think that's a good document. but yes, i agree with your gut that those red flags are a sign that something is not right. after learning the hard way, i always trust my gut. I think the idea of hiring that dude as a manager and giving him a budget to work with would be good; however I can see the allure of having him be a sole proprieter so he can take on the expenses of building out that part of the business (including adding necessary equipment etc.) It's important that his plans will benefit YOUR business, and he's not trying to just get use of your kitchen to build his own business OUTSIDE of your shop. That is what I was actually perceived of doing in a similar relationship. i was involved with a catering company where i shared part of their kitchen space, and they had a shop out front where they sold some of my pastries as well as their own stuff. i sold stuff to them wholesale, and they took care of it. they kept telling me that i could decorate the space around my desserts however i liked to promote my stuff. this was fine in theory, until they started getting desserts from another bakery as well and hers were made from mixes so after that I just wasn't motivated to do anything with the shop out front. i gave them their desserts, then they mislabeled and mishandled them. the shop was run so poorly that i just lost interest in it. I probably could have pursued and resolved the situation, but there was some weird energy there...i sort of knew they as a company weren't on the up and up all the time so i basically stayed quiet. probably a mistake on my part, but that's the effect weird energy had on me in that given relationship. eventually, they decided to expand the kitchen and kicked me out. they basically said i had more employees than they did (i had 2, they had 5), and that they were not comfortable with me around. Of course he completely neglected the impact his super ANGRY chef had on my employees, even making one of them cry. Anyway, even though they were very backwards about how they eventually told me to move, in the end they gave me a full 3 months notice which i thought was nice, even though we didn't end on great terms.

as a former web designer on a marketing team, i concur with previous comments. in a nutshell, people embark on a web site to communicate their ideas with other people, when their ideas are not communicated effectively, people shut down. think about your site this way, you're telling a story, so you need a beginning, middle and end. your beginning is your portal. you need some sort of clear hero. your nav right now shows your two restaurants and your chef name are all the same size. even though you're name's in the middle, it's not apparently clear. who's site is this? it needs to be made clear. so for example "my name is chef fowke, owner of blah and blah. i like fishing. or something to that effect. your middle is all your supporting stuff that supports your beginning. google ads are fine here I suppose as long as it is STILL clear who's site this is. You want them to listen to YOU, not all that other chatter. you should arrange your navigation more clearly. for example i am not sure what the "category" for the items on teh right is. maybe it needs a title. You should seriously consider changing the way your menus launch as I get pop-up blocking and that just makes me not want to reconfigure my popup blocker just to view the menu. right now your blog is front and center, which is good because it keeps the site fresh, but perhaps it needs to be subordinated. it's really a supporting feature of why people are visiting your site...they come for the food, stay for the conversation. you are telling a story...don't just shoot out all the info at the same time, organize it in a way that people can find out stuff. simplify simplify simplify. then for the ending. this is what you want people to DO when they leave your site. you want them to visit your restaurant, contact you, send the link to a friend. this needs to be very clear. thanks so much for sharing your site with us.

Now that we're getting closer to our opening date, I just redid our cash flow worksheet, and did a little labor calculation worksheet, based on bare minimum of staff and bare minimum of daily sales projections. Our budget got a little blown with permit delays so we're cutting it a little close to the wire for the next few months, so I have to be extra careful to stay on track budget wise. I scheduled labor based on a percentage of sales, figuring about 40% initially with a goal of 20% down the road. How do other restaurant/food business owners make sure they're on track during the uncertain first few months? How often do you check your budget, especially labor? Should I hire extra and keep people on call?

smaller portions.

my favorite is a coconut snowball, i make a coconut sheet cake and some pastry cream then take a round scoop and put a little pastry cream in it, then some cake for the base, then freeze it to set it, then roll in macaroon coconut and sprinkle with a little edible glitter

we did a pie fundraiser last year to help pay for my husband's cancer treatment (we didn't have insurance and the chemo bills were HUGE!). Anyway, we started promoting the sale about 1-1/2 weeks before thanksgiving and ended up selling 800 pies, plus got tons of volunteers to help bake them. It was absolutely beautiful, and I'm happy to say it paid for his cancer treatment. Of course what they don't tell you when you're in remission is you have like $1000/month of tests, so we're still in trouble financially. But my husband is doing very well on his one year anniversary of his treatment ending.

I actually think the grayish tinge is from oxidation of the flour, as I've seen this in pie and tart dough left in the fridge too long, both having no leaveners. Often this grayish dough is very elastic and gummy, and doesn't perform as well as fresher pastry dough, probably due to the gluten something or other. Nonetheless, I've kept both cake and quickbread/muffin batters in the fridge for at least a week, and frozen them with no troubles.

AnnieC, you might try Agave Syrup...it's a little more spendy than corn syrup, but has a nice flavor, somewhere between honey and corn syrup. if you're using it as a crystallization inhibitor, I think it will work just fine, but I haven't tried swapping it out for candy making so don't know how it would behave at high temperatures. Incidentally, I just made a pumpkin pie yesterday with agave instead of cane sugar and it turned out fantastic. I've been considering switching away from corn syrup because there doesn't seem to be a good supplier of just regular old corn syrup...they all seem to be high fructose corn syrup.

trader joe's pound plus bittersweet bar is not bad, sometimes a little waxy, but it tastes a lot like scharffenberger. they have I think a big bar that's like I think $1 something a pound.

your regulars and your reputation won't move with you if you change your name. i think adding the pronounciation will help clarify for those few folks who aren't fluent in the Ukraine language. the people who are quote unquote "complaining" are actually telling you that they secretly remember your name more because it's hard to figure out. it's like that cute boy who is so hard to figure out you just want him more. Growth is a big step, starting over if you change your name is an even bigger step. be sure to proceed with caution either way with good planning. by all means, good luck and best wishes.

nashville wraps seems to have the best prices on polypropelene bags (sp?)

i'm greatful to be blessed with an almost impervious baker's clock...it even works when i'm napping while waiting for a cake to be done. I set the timer only for backup, especially when there's distractions around the kitchen. I rarely ever use times listed on recipes. I'm with Annie...they're only a guideline. But I do have a few rules of my own... I almost always take a peek after 7 minutes...that catches any upcoming disasters...overfilled cake pans, cookies that are starting to kiss in the oven, etc. And then I set the timer for my best guess on what the remaining time would be depending on what's in the oven. Cookies, drop and shaped, thin sheet cakes (1/2" high), 9-14 mins. Bar cookies, brownies, smaller cakes, some cheesecakes, tart shells, 22-30 minutes larger cakes, big tarts, 30-45 mins pies, super big cakes 45 mins to 1 hour Like I said, when you peak, what I do is look for "what percentage is it done" so like after 7 mins it's 30% done, then I know to add about 14 mins, but I'll probably add 10 just to check. I sort of wish I had exact times for some of the things I bake, and I have definitely come close to that for brownies, I think that's where a timer is better than the eye, especially since I've been overbaking them lately...very sad

pithiviers...pithy-vee-airs...sounds like an old apple. correctly pronounced PTVA.

you can make the filling and shell for pumpkin pie in advance (freeze the crust and just refrigerate the filling), and then just assemble it on turkey day. same goes for pecans, although don't add nuts to filling. i sometimes bake then freeze, then thaw uncovered at room temperature and then pop into the oven for like 10-20 mins to crisp the crust a bit...works well with fruit pies, double crust.

I think I've heard on this forum somewhere, but can't remember where, that cocoa powder lasts about 1 year, as without the volitile cocoa butter, it's not as susceptable to spoilage. I buy mine in 50lb sacs and I usually have them 6 months until i'm out. In fact, I just made brownies with some of the cocoa powder that I've had for over a year in very hostile conditions...a former commercial kitchen that didn't have heat, and my garage that is also un-insulated so hot in summer and cold and wet in winter. airtight container is a must.

we have awnings out front with signage consistent with the rest of the tenants, but I will be putting vinyl lettering on my glass to customize my space. I'm sort of glad I don't have the option to hang a sign...one less thing to worry about. maybe you should do some of your own sketches and make your own trip to the zoning or dept of planning and development to see what's possible in your space; however if your city is anything like seattle, don't expect a straight answer!!! I think the projected sign can sometimes be sticky b/c it can fall on somebody's head so that's why you're running into red tape. it's like my flooring might have asbestos in it (of course I'm not sure...actually anything could have asbestos in it), but when i mention the word "asbestos" to anyone who would be working on my flooring, it's like i have the plague and they run for cover.

ha. i've been struggling with this over the past few months while opening up my shop, so much so that I've lost my desire to cook, but I am sure that desire will return as it gets closer to my opening date. Referrals are a good way to start. I've been using craig's list to find smaller contractors; however you have to be really thorough with smaller businesses as they might not have proper licenses and such. You have to do your homework and research. There's usually a resource in your community to find out if any of the contractors have been in trouble or fined or such. I usually try to call 3-6 places and then from that I'll weed it down to 3 to get bids from. This is really important because bids will vary greatly. I try to get bids from both big companies and mom&pop shops. Then I narrow it down to my first and second (backup) choice, because often my first choice might flake on me or suddenly become unavailable. Here's my criteria: Price. I'm usually very price driven, but that's not necessarily the best guage of a good fit. If you get a bid that's say 5k less and you have to babysit the person all the time well then they're making YOU work. Your job is to manage the bakery, they are just helping you with parts you are not skilled in. The main reason you're hiring the job out is that you don't have time to do it yourself. So make sure your price will cover all your needs. Do you like the person? I really trust my gut on this one. Do I like this person? Are they condescending to me when they give me the bid? Are they being fair and really listening to MY needs, for example, do they understand that I want the job done the quickest way, which may not be the best way, but it will get the job done the way I want it to be done? Are they personable, respectful, and easy to work with. One thing I hate is when people call me on the way to my job and ask where to park or how to get there. That to me is saying they don't know how to think for themselves, or be resourceful with the internet and such. Do they do what they say they are going to do? Keeping promises is a good indication of their integrity. If they promise to give me a bid by wednesday, I expect a bid by wednesday (actually end of day Tuesday so I can review it first thing wednesday) Are they on time? Do they follow up with their bids? Do they return your calls before end of day? Also, it's a good idea to go over the bid in very fine detail to make sure it includes everything you need. My plumber's bid was like 25k, way higher than other plumbers, and they didn't tell me that that wouldn't include them hauling out the concrete rubble. I was expected to hire ANOTHER contractor to do that. Bogus. At that point I was so mad I didn't even have the energy to fight with them, I just fired them. Another thing, be very careful of contractors that ask for 50% down. I would recommend trying to avoid putting a down payment if at all possible. If anything, you could put a down payment for materials for like 25%. But think about it, it's not your job to help with their cash flow management, they are working for you, and so philosophically they should cover their overhead until the job is complete. It's THEIR business, not YOUR responsibility. NO matter what, make sure that with whomever you hire you have an alternate in the wings. I had a very long struggle (not even over yet) with the city, and it's been very challenging trying to schedule my contractors with an uncertain buildout schedule. You'll almost certainly hire employees for your bakeshop, so any of the criteria for your contractors will apply to your hired help as well. Best of luck!

the recipe without egg whites lasts substantially longer than the recipe with egg whites.

the ceilings are 14.5 feet up (16 feet up in some parts) so i don't think they'll make the kitchen hotter. health dept only specifies that surfaces are easy to clean, so color isn't part of that. Just like they don't have a specific measurement for how high a sneeze guard should be, only that it is "sufficient" to prevent food from public contact. after looking at other places, I think the color is going to work out just fine. what i have noticed, is flour dust and such collects on light fixtures bigtime, so I'm going to make sure those are easy to clean!