retired baker

Senior engineer for premier biscuit chocolates in the UK, its a division of cadbury. This is from memory from our conversation 20 yrs ago, I think the basic idea is correct....best as I recall.

try a croquembouche.

I can add something, the phase change contributes to the degree of temper , too long and the choc will over temper. Using it too quickly gives a different degree of temper, not something you will notice immediately but chocolate that is molded for 50 week shelf life has to be accurately done. There is a small german temper test machine (schmidt), the size of a lunch box , that will indicate the degree of temper in any batch. It measures the minute amount of heat that is given off as the choc sets. At the atomic level the electrons drop to lower orbits as the choc sets, in order to do so they emit photons to rid themselves of energy. This is heat in the form of a burst. To understand it easier, consider ice when it forms, the water temp is dropping but there is a temp rise at the moment of crystalization as the photons are emitted. The temperature rise can be measured, even as the ice forms. The paradoxical nature of physics is the temp increases as the ice sets. Same thing with chocolate, its just simple physics. Electrons cannot drop into lower energy orbits unless they emit quantum packets of energy, as quanta are discreet packets they can be measured very accurately. The schmidt machine measures that heat burst and graphs it onto a paper scroll, they look for a certain S curve, the shape of the curve shows the degree of temper. Its not in cookbooks because its not the sort of knowledge the food industry uses, its common knowledge at the industrial level because those guy aren't chocolatiers, they are engineers and they look at chocolate differently. They look at chocolate like any processed product, it could just as well be crude oil or natural gas. We can use their knowledge to fill in the gaps and any method or machine that gives more control over the process is useful.

Nope, you can do a straight process at those temps. Same for puff dough. Chill the dough for 15 minutes before starting and start with cold pounded butter. If the dough is cool and the butter is cold but malleable you will not have any trouble in a cool kitchen. Heres 1200 layer puff dough in less than 30 minutes. Can't be done the youtube experts say, I agree...they can't do it.

Just adding, you'd have to know what the finished sauce should be, otherwise you'd just be guessing. But yeh, thats essentially how its done. Well I can't post more than a couple times a day being a newcomer. Its not worth my time. I'm not coming back, good luck with it.

Theres a saying, don't underestimate the skill of a person who looks like they just push a button.

You win the grand prize, I can only post a few mssgs per day being a new member so I wasn't ignoring you. I filled the mold with pastillage and inserted a dowel which goes into the cake beneath. Not sure exactly how the French do it but it worked. I'll probably give them to a wedding cake baker at some point, would prefer they don't end up trashed.

I inherited this old mold from a French baker who died yrs ago, it came in his box of old handcrafted pastry tools. The workmanship is incredible, all hand soldered from tin plate, held closed by a pin, remove the pin and it unfolds into 3 hinged sections. This particular tool is the smaller of two, the other being almost double in size. I tried to load a couple of pics but failed but made a 2 minute video showing it.

I baked thousands of muffins commercially for yrs, what is usually done is the batter is made up in huge batches and poured into buckets, chill the whole batch. Ea morning pull out as much batter as needed and fold in frozen fruit, blueberry or rasp or whatever. The batter becomes very stiff like mashed potato and can be piled up in the mold . Convection baking sets the exterior very quickly so theres minimal melting and flowing outward. the only way the batter can then expand is upward. Most of what you see in supermkt bakeshops is baked from frozen slugs. Quite dreadful. Most bakeries buy dry mix in 50 lb bags and mix that in one batch, pour into large buckets and mix flavors into each one, then scoop what they need every morning. The mix makes a weird rubbery texture, I don't like it. A batter based on butter will probably set too hard in the cooler. We used unsalted margarine. I've lost my old recipe, I'll see if someone has a copy and break it down in size. I recall it was very odd, calling for hi gluten flour that had to be barely mixed in to prevent gluten development which makes it rubbery.

That's why I always make square, tri or oblong turnovers, never round. The dough, especially reverse puff , is way too valuable to squander on impractical shapes that generate unacceptable scrap like that. If I absolutely had to have rounds I would cut squares of dough and roll each into a round. Minimal scrap either way.

Just glancing at that recipe, I wouldn't bother. Dry yeast is a no go, AP flour no go. Fresh cake yeast and hi gluten is the way to fly. Occasionally Id get bread flour delivered instead of hi gluten and the difference was apparent. All purpose is another step down, I never saw AP flour in any bakery in 50 yrs. If we wanted a weaker flour it was just a matter of mixing bread and cake flour. I've been wanting to put a video on youtube but I'm not able to source fresh yeast in northern Maine. I wont waste butter on dry yeast, I know what the result will be. I used to bake commercial wholesale croiss for 50 yrs and from day one it was fresh yeast or production stops until we get it. The thing with "classic" recipe is its the barest acceptable method, its a mistake to assume its the best. Its just average at best.

That much butter would tend it toward the very soft. Tempered choc would become untempered as soon as the hot cream hits it but you wrote warm cream. Theres the problem. Scald the cream and it wont make any difference tempered or not.

I was looking at some food industry books on chipsbooks, very expensive, a used one on amazon from $1000. Maybe this one , way cheaper at least. Emulsifiers in Food Technology, 2nd Edition (Viggo Norn, editor)

Interesting, sous vide type slow cook was done in paris long before todays sous vide was invented. the crème was not cooked on the stove but assembled, placed in a thick sided crock and left on the shelf above the range at the start of service. A folded cloth placed underneath the pot regulated the temp. Occasional stir prevents clumping. If it broke , just whip a blob of butter into it.

I only pre sliced the tomato to stage the video, its all done with my phone and uploads can be very slow... so anything to speed things along.. No need to drain anything, unless you're slicing them very thin...too thin? I did cut one half to show my sis, count the number of slices. Gourmet magazine asked for this recipe , my old boss turned them down.

maybe I can help here, l try to keep it simple and not overthink things.. The object is to wet the bread right? So wet the bread then put it in the oven. I did this for yrs in a gas convection , baguettes come out crackling. Cut the bread and spray or brush water on them. I was throwing water in but the bulbs exploded and occasionally the pilots would snuff out.

You would do better talking to a process engineer, they are often licensed chemists. Why is this font tiny>?

Tomato tart in 10 minutes to the oven. I make these vids for my sister, then tell her she cant do it.

It can be difficult early on trying to get established. Island falls is 50 miles south of caribou, 600 people, lots of Amish (very nice people btw) I live next to a farmer who is a bit of a foodie but cant cook to save his life, I don't have the heart to tell him. I feed him most of what I make , he's interested so I direct him to my videos , just simple stuff. I get free eggs and veg in return. Theres only one store but sells everything from milk and grocery to welding rods and bullets , no gun permits required here. Houses are very cheap, we paid less than 50K with an acre that borders 130 miles of wild northern forest that is impossible to penetrate. Being culturally a Brit I don't live to eat, I eat to live. But I have a technical appreciation for sauces and good food. Most of what I cook goes to the farmers family. Recently I gave them a country pork and veal pate, chicken marsala, beef bourguignon, Danish, Viennese whirls, macarons til they were sick of them ,truffles , pain de mie, tomato tart , apple tart, etc. Made him half a doz canoli, he said he's never had them before. Dipped the ends in choc and ground pistaccios. Heres an apple tart and sticky buns filled with pastry cream made using brioche. At the beginning is a photo of me at 17 yrs of age with Maurice in his patisserie and some various pics of the stuff I later sold in Boston.

Had to look up a picture of bialy first. You want a tart with brioche base, ok. A French woman from Normandy showed me this when I was working in Fl many yrs ago. If you want individuals just use a brioche mold. I made a video using a 9 inch tart mold, whateva.

Im retired too. I spent 50 yrs baking, its a trade and trades are hand skills . You could read til blue in the face but until someone guides your hands it can be frustrating. I don't recommend any books . Its not knowledge intensive, its labor intensive. Baguettes are simple as far as recipes go but its all in the method. There are lots of baguette videos on youtube, visuals are better than trying to get it from a text. I would focus on one bread , not shooting wildly into the sky with a different bread every day. Pain de mie is a straightforward simple bread that you can master and stay fed. If you can get into a bakery working free that will teach you very well.

Hi there, Born and raised in UK moved to US as a teen. retired 3 yrs ago, moved out of the rat race to northern maine. ( Island Falls). I started as apprentice to Maurice Leduc who came over from Paris in the early 1960's. I stuck with him for over 10 yrs then worked around. Hotels etc. Opened a French bakery for 20 yrs, then went into catering and sold out in 2012. Had a lot of fun working around different places for a few more yrs until giving up my spatula. I had a great career, no regrets and hope anyone else can stick with it til it becomes fun. My casual observation is Americans are known for inventiveness and ability to network , these forums show that (OK capt obvious). Although moses used a tablet to contact the cloud 2K yrs ago so...nothings really new. Still playing in the dough and choc at home, putting videos on youtube for my sister in AZ. Wish I could get fresh cake yeast up here and veal bones too.