What I learned in 2007

[Serj]

Ditto on better late than never...

2007 was a super fun year for me. I guess most monumentally I made my first egullet post! =)

I went to the French Pastry School, where I learned at least 10,000 things.

Along the same lines as so many other people, I fell in love with chocolate. I got my first molds. I got a bunch of other tools. I learned how to temper as if it was second nature. I got to work on my molded chocolates & dip lots of truffles.

Through school, I got to meet JP Wybauw. I got to meet all the egulleters who were at that course. I got see Laurent le Daniel, Nicholas Lodge & Jeffrey Hammelman in action.

I fell in love with bread baking. I kept my own sourdough culture alive.

For a couple of months this summer, I got the chance to work as the cook at Camp Natoma, a small summer camp for children on the Central Coast of California. That gave me the chance to grow tremendously. I planned and executed three meals plus a snack every day for up to 100 campers and 25 staff.

When I got back to Chicago, I got a new job, working in the pastry department at the University Club of Chicago, a busy hoity toity (in a good way of course!) private members' club. Right at the end of the year I took over as the baker there.

What a great year! A lot of fun!

[Alicia8870]

This year I finally started baking with a scale! I made my first molded chocolates, and fell in love with it! I made fondant from the grewling book to fill them, and I used transfer sheets. (No magnetic mold, so I carefully brushed melted chocolate on top of them, and set a small piece of the transfer on top).

I fell in love with decorating, and have tried every sugar cookie recipe I could find, and I still have not found "the one". I have been making my own fondant for cookies and cakes, and it tastes great.

I would love to go to pastry school, but lack the funds, so I am pretty much on my own with learning, but I am happy to be here, because this site is a gold mine of information.

Alicia

[CanadianBakin']

I keep thinking I need to sit down and make a list before I post but that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon so I'll just list what I can remember...

croissants

pain au chocolate

puff pastry

cruellers

sour dough starter - after keeping it for some time and experimenting a bit I found I preferred the taste of long ferment bread and I didn't like maintaining the starter so I ditched it.

(The above all from a pastry course I took)

sponge for cake rolls (thanks Jeannecake)

Pain brie (Thanks to Pastry's Best magazine. I now make it all the time)

edited to add: I finally mastered a Butter Cake with the Whimsical Bakehouse recipe (I think K8memphis suggested the recipe)

Edited January 22, 2008 by CanadianBakin' (log)

[merlicky]

In 2007 I learned that chocolate doesn’t have nearly the level of mystique that I thought it did; it is actually something with which I can work. I’ve always been awed by chocolate confections, especially truffles, but never thought that I would be able to make them. On a whim (after joking with my wife about opening a chocolate shop in town – which, btw, this town really needs) I decided to try it in October of 2007. I downloaded the Godiva dark chocolate truffle recipe from their website, made a few substitutions, and miraculously my first batch turned out really well.

Also in October, I first bought high end chocolate bars to taste and compare. I have probably had many of these chocolates in truffles that I’ve bought over the years, but never tasted them by themselves. I really learned that the chocolate you use can make all the difference.

I learned that my palate for chocolate is not as bad as I thought it would be. I was amazed at first by the quality difference between high end chocolate and mass produced chocolate. After a few of these tastings, and sampling nearly all the high end chocolate I could find in my area, I began to notice the subtle, and not so subtle, differences in flavor and texture. I also learned that I really don’t like eating a lot of the lower end chocolates that I liked at one time.

I learned that ganache is not quite as easy as it seemed the first few times I made it, and that it is not nearly as hard as it seemed the next few times I made it.

I learned that I can temper chocolate, and even though I am supremely unconfident in my abilities somehow I’ve been getting good results (I know, I know, wait for those humid summer months).

I learned that learning how to make chocolates is not all that friendly to the pocket book.

I also learned that making chocolates and other confections is something I really enjoy doing.

Mike.