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Thank you for your responses
.My chocolate cake recipe calls for natural, but I've always just added an acid to my dutch processed since it was what I prefer to have on hand. I've never been able to find dutch processed at the store.
I just called both Aj's & Whole Food stores and I have the choice of Scharffen Berger, Hershey's, & Ghirardelli. They're all naturally processed.
Do any of you have a preference or experience w/ Ghiardelli's or Scharffen Berger cocoa powder? Or are natural cocoa powders similar across the board (in which case I'll go to my local grocer & pick up Hershey's
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I have a chocolate cake to make this weekend and just used the last of my Cacao Barry Extra Brute and will not have time to order before I need to bake. Does anyone know of a decent non-alkalized/natural cocoa powder that can be picked up at somewhere like an AJ's fine foods or WholeFoods? How much emphasis would u put on the quality of cocoa powder? (is it commensurate w/ using a fine chocolate opposed to Hershey's?) Thank you in advance!
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Great idea for a post-- I was thinking of starting one myself. I'm also in the Phoenix area and this will be my first year in attendance.
I'm signed up for the hands-on chocolate entremet and sculpting class w/ J.M. Perruchon/ S. Treand. I was nervous about signing up w/o speaking with or knowing the quality of the instruction (2k isn't exactly a drop in the bucket). I had apprenticed with a former student/employee of Perruchon and am very excited to learn from him directly.
I was wondering if anyone has taken a hands-on class w/ WPF before and can provide me with some insight.
-Will we be working on projects in teams?
-Is it typically only the professional that signs up for these courses or did you find that you were in class with hobbyist/enthusiasts?
-How would u rate the progression of the course (ie the amount of material covered vs. the amount of time allotted).
-I believe my package mentioned that I bring tools-- my pastry 'tool box' is quite expansive and certainly I won't need everything. What would u consider the essentials for a course like this?
Hopefully this information isn't readily available on the website (where I must have missed it-- I'll feel awful silly
. I understand that the answers to these questions will be relative, I'm only seeking a basis of expectation.
Lisa, thank u for providing some info about the general forum! It sounds like a blast! I certainly hope that I can meet some other egulleters
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In one of Sherry Yards books (I believe she mentions it in both books) she actually learned the official twix bar recipe from Professor Halsey inventor of the twix bar for Mars corporation.
I don't recall the exact shortbread recipe but I do remember that it required ground up uncooked rice to create that twix cookie texture. I'll have to see if I can track down the recipe.
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I've never frozen a cheesecake before. Has anyone had any luck with this?
Absolutely... I am actually not a believer in spring form pans for cheesecakes. I always bake in cake rounds, freeze, and use a torch to loosen it out of the pan. I freeze almost every time- works like a charm
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Tsquare your dessert looks absolutely delicious! kudos!
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On a near daily basis I make the peanut butter shortbread, the orange marmalade, the lemon curd (using her lime curd recipe) and a few others with less frequency. My book is pretty much in tatters.
ooh Ooh! I didn't realize there was a topic for this book. It's been awhile since I've baked from it... the last thing I believe I tried were her graham crackers that I paired with a smoky pot de creme and chipotle crema. I just went and pulled it from my bookshelf- i'll have to explore a little more
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ETA: How well do these freeze for a couple of days, or do they hold well without freezing?
I had worked for a french cafe for awhile and we would keep pans of frozen choux dough mixed with herbes de provence and bring them out when needed. There are a couple of things to note if doing this that I had discovered.
-They have to come directly from the freezer to the oven-- no thawing.
With regular (cheese-less) choux, I have piped, frozen, thawed, then baked successfully. What did you find happened when you thawed that makes you recommend going directly from the freezer to the oven?
I found that they would dry out, hence no rise. Of course, Arizona is quite a bit more arid then most other places
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ETA: How well do these freeze for a couple of days, or do they hold well without freezing?
Regrettably, the other posts are correct. After being baked they really don't hold at all. I would say optimally they only stay delicious for a few hours. However, if you're concerned about prep time you can always make and shape the dough as if ready to bake and put it in the freezer.
I had worked for a french cafe for awhile and we would keep pans of frozen choux dough mixed with herbes de provence and bring them out when needed. There are a couple of things to note if doing this that I had discovered.
-They have to come directly from the freezer to the oven-- no thawing.
-I found that it helped if you use an egg wash to not only help with the sheen but it seemed to keep them from drying out which appeared to help with the rise. A pan of water sitting at the bottom of your oven isn't a bad idea either.
-When they were almost ready to come out of the oven and were not at risk of collapsing, we would bring them out and grate comte cheese on top.
The choux dough itself contained no cheese- we found that after freezing it made the choux too heavy to rise.
They were quite scrumptious.
I highly recommend the egullet discussion on pate choux. It really helped to bring my choux 'A game' to work. I would link to it, if I knew how
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I've been receiving this publication for awhile gratis from one of my vendors. I've loved it-- especially the recap from the most recent issue with the recipes from the pastry championship in Nashville. As a culinary student a couple of years ago I tried to subscribe but was unable because at the time you had to be directly affiliated with a restaurant or hotel to receive it. Is that still the case?
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Dan- Your cider donuts look scrumptious! MMmm I hope they're hard cider donuts
Isomer- Your lemon curd set-up perfectly-- i'll need to track down that CI recipe... I think my lemon bars need improving. Thanks for providing the source!
Tri2cook- Beautiful plate and concept. This is the first time I've seen "sweet tea" infused. Neat stuff.
Rob- stop it. you're making me feel bad!
Beautiful, and painfully creative as always (painful to me that is! -
Whoa-- Rob!! AMAZING! The sour slovakian cherry gelee is genius. I can almost taste it- I'm sure it was the perfect contrast to the sweet rootbeer syrup. Kudos! Bah! I should have made the drive!
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I really appreciate some of the new blogger sites... Thx
. *sigh* I really should have pursued foreign languages a little more aggressively in college.
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you're just over in Scottsdale. Take the drive and I'll give you one The dessert is finished and in the freezer for plating tomorrow. The last step was a root beer cremieux.
Haha... tempting....tempting
. We need pics! -
I'm anxious to see what you'll be putting that amazing sauce on! Gelatin filtration?
Talk about perfectionist-- I'm impressed!! -
Rob-- you are always so inventive with your flavor pairings! I must ask... what is the base of your flourless cake? It looks like it contains a grain but I couldn't be sure. I would love to hear a little more about the ingredients. Is it also gluten free?
Kim-- Thank you for the links about the photography. Your cake is beautiful! Shame that it wasn't the cake you were hoping it would be
I hate it when that happens!! -
I made these about a week or so before xmas for a catering at work. They're about the size of a quarter or so. I did, eventually, regain the use of my right hand
. Everything is individually glazed with a poured fondant. 
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This is by far my favorite thread-- such inspiration! Here are a couple of things I have been working on over holiday (as well as my food photography):
Alfajores:
Also, would anyone be able to point me in the right direction for as discussion in "food photography"?
bah! Edited to try and get picts to show!
These look fantastic but I'm confused....I thought Alfajores were a vanilla ground nut cookie rather than chocolate. I'd be interested in your recipe. Chocolate, caramel, nuts, what's not to like?!
The recipe is from a back page feature from an old Food & Wine magazine that I put in my "need to try' box. Their take on an Alfajores is a basic chocolate wafer with a dulce de leche/almond caramel filling covered in chocolate. However, I've found that F&W is often creative with interpretation! I'd certainly be curious in knowing & trying a more traditional Alfajores
Emmalish- your pictures (as well as your subjects) are beautiful! They're so bright and clean! Ah! Any food photo secrets you wouldn't mind sharing??
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I have tried different (mirror) glaze recipes from Enric Rosich, Paco Torreblanca, Pierr Herme....with gelatin, X58Pectin etc, most off them i find to thick, they tend to set too quickly especially when used to glaze frozen cakes.
Here is a recipe by Ramon Morato
Milk Chocolate glaze:
600 g cream 32%fat
200 g water
180 g sugar
4 g pectin X58
220 g glucose syrup
1400 g milk chocolate
16 g gelatin
He suggest to use the glaze at 30C, but as i said it sets to fast, i tried with more cream an its better, what do you think is best way to alter glaze recipes, put less gelatin, less pectin or add more cream like I did?
afoodie,
At one of the last patisseries I worked at, we would glaze 3in to 6in entremets in milk and noir glazes. We developed a couple of different recipes to suit different temperatures. When the entremet was frozen, I used a glaze comprised only of water, glucose, cocoa powder, gelatin and cream. The benefits of using this glaze on frozen pieces is that there are no fat solids (like cocoa butter from your 1400g of milk chocolate) to "block" when met with the freezing temperatures. Also, because there is no chocolate, I found that a good workable temperature for me would be hovering around 35C-- which may be a little too warm for the ingredients in your Morato recipe. I hope this helps.
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This is by far my favorite thread-- such inspiration! Here are a couple of things I have been working on over holiday (as well as my food photography):
Alfajores:
Here is my first try at molded truffles- hoping for more of a shine next time so my luster doesn't look like bloom! aagh.
Here is a Challah loaf that I made for a holiday breakfast:
Also, would anyone be able to point me in the right direction for as discussion in "food photography"?
bah! Edited to try and get picts to show!
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Kerry & Valerie,
Thanks for the great questions and information! Mystery solved!!
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Never liked it, tried it many different ways. I don't like the bitter cocoa flavor with my pork.
I have talked to a lot of people who have had the vosges chocolate bacon bar, I haven't met a single person who liked it.
If you don't care for the cocoa flavor w/ bacon how about bacon brittle?? It has a tremendous smoky flavor and adds a wonderful "chew" to crisp pecan brittle. You can cook the brittle to a dark caramel furthering the dimension of flavor
. There's a local restaurant in town where it's all the rage.
Cocoa Powder
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
REALLY?! It may be worth calling the other two Whole Foods in town to see if the product they carry varies from store to store in my area... All may not be lost
. I also called my local Williams Sonoma-- they only carried the SF tin.
I will certainly take the advice of trying out the SF or Ghirardelli if the other Whole Foods also disappoint. Thanks again for the help!