Have I mentioned I have a bit of a naughty streak, maybe evil? Ok I don't, however I did let my students bake without any instructions...and then judged you. There was a reason for this- to see what you know and can you follow instructions. The first day we baked and the biscuits weren't so pretty a little tough and overworked, dry overall a valid first attempt. The second day- I actually showed everyone how to measure and the technique for cutting the 'butter' (margarine) in, then we re-made it. I must admit the second time around everyone did much better. On Wednesday and Thursday it was time to switch up the product, we used the basic biscuit dough however instead of simple biscuits we made rolls -cinnamon or pizza. Friday is time to modify, bring in your own 'add ins' and we are going to make the 'Master Scone' recipe. Yes, this is a brand new recipe, however the technique is still the same. Enjoy!
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Welcome to Culinary Arts: Baking! In this class we will learn different techniques to create beautiful baked items. Hey Ms. Siverson how do you grade us? well thank you for asking! I want you to share your learning with me, how do you do that? This year you have 3 different options to share your learning.
Focaccia and Bread Sticks, I thought it would be much quicker, however today's lab has taken a little longer than our 3 hours. We are starting the morning making focaccia dough using our Kitchen Aid stand mixers, a bit of a learning curve but not so scary anymore. As our focaccia is rising, we are going to make the one hour bread stick, similar to the focaccia recipe but more sugar and no oil. The breadstick recipe rests for 10 minutes before you shape it and let it rise.
I spent a few years working at Earl's Restaurants and learned a few things, such as parm dip and panbread, essentially soft thick herby bread with a salty sweet dressing. Delicious! Enjoy! At the beginning of this class, I sent out a survey asking what you want to learn how to make...quite a few people have requested BROWNIES, I just so happen to have a delicious recipe that I will share. The easy brownie recipe. Something to note...brownies are considered a bar cookie, meaning you could drop them on a cookie sheet like a cookie and they will still work. A couple of things to remember when baking brownies, they are meant to be kinda gooey- do not overcook them! I made my frosting as the bars were baking and then plopped the icing all over the brownie...let the frosting melt a little THEN connect the dabs. The other recipe we are making is a chocolate chip cookie recipe. I love the Anna Olson recipe containing cornstarch. When making cookies, the technique you are learning is the creaming method. If my butter (margarine) is cold, soften it in the microwave in 10 second increments, this will prevent the fat from becoming liquid. Something I noticed in one of the units was measuring the wrong amount of flour, this resulted in a very flat, crisp yet chewy cookie. The sugar and egg are what provided a majority of the structure.
Our second method is the Muffin method. This technique is extremely simple however hard to execute, almost everyone over-mixes their batter. Very few dishes are needed in this recipe, one for dry ingredients and one for wet. I use a fork to fold everything together and spoons to fill the tin. Our first recipe is a simple cornbread muffin. I like to enhance this with a 1/2 cup of cheese and some finely chopped jalapeños, delicious with a chili. Our second recipe today is a Mixed Berry Crumble muffin. The key with this recipe is to ensure your berries are FROZEN, add them to the flour mixture and coat with dry ingredients before adding the liquid. If you over-mix it, the batter will turn blue!
Welcome to Introduction to baking! Yesterday we started with making biscuits, no instructions! You may have noticed things did not go as planned...thats ok F.A.I.L is not a bad word, it just means FIRST. ATTEMPT. IN. LEARNING. I did do a demo after you had baked yours and gave everyone an option to try again today. One recipe, two days, 3 different products. I gave everyone the option to bring in cheese or chocolate chips to change out their basic biscuit recipe and a few people did. I can honestly say... much better! Finally a quick little demo, on how to modify a recipe ... roll out the dough and make cinnamon buns... add 1 tablespoon of sugar to the flour mixture, roll into a rectangle, spread with 2 tablespoons of butter and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. Bake in a muffin tin at 450 for 15 minutes. AMAZING!
During the first week of June, we started on our breakfasts - primarily eggs benedict, everyone did a great job. We finished the week off with a traditional soft creamy French omelette and a breakfast bowl. First off the omelette...not as difficult as one might think, it requires cooking at a lower temperature to prevent the eggs from browning. The secret to a creamy omelette is to use a fair amount of butter, to pour the seasoned scrambled eggs into the small saute pan, and to let the eggs cook low and slow. Use a rubber spatula to help lift the eggs off the bottom and gently fold the omelette as it rolls out of the pan. We finished the week with my favourite, a Breakfast Bowl. This is a great way to use up leftover vegetables, there is no recipe for it, more about technique. I always start by roasting my vegetables at 400F on a cookies sheet, this helps to caramelize the sugars in the veggies and give them a roasty flavour. I do recommend starting with hard root vegetables...potatoes, yams, squash, carrots (anything on hand), once they are soft to pierce - add other vegetables (asparagus, onions, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, peppers) to the pan and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Once the veggies are done, turn the oven off and add a couple of large handfuls of spinach to the sheet and leave it in the oven to stay warm. Prepare your egg as you wish (boiled, poached, fried or scrambled) and top it with the hollandaise I mixed up (from McCormicks package).
Let's spend a little time letting the other foods class catch up and we will make a few yeasted items. When making breads (yeasted baked items) you must factor in time... it takes more than one hour most of the time. We hinted at it with the bread sticks and our lasagne.... Monday we made pretzels from scratch, slightly reminiscent of Auntie Anne's. Tuesday and part of Wednesday, UBC cinnamon buns and the start of Chef. Friday, we alluded to morning meals with the breakfast puffs (umm kinda like mini donuts). Waffles, yes waffles from scratch, separating the yolks and whipping the whites will help create light, fluffy waffles. these can be served with syrup or berries cooked with a little sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch to thicken. Looking for a challenge? Hollandaise sauce from scratch... as you saw in class, it's not as easy as we think. I think the key to creating a smooth velvety sauce is having the water in the double boiler to be on a very light simmer (little bubbles), whipping the yolks with the lemon juice and adding the butter in a SLOW stream constantly whisking. We watched a couple of videos showing how to make eggs bennie, poached eggs, craggy muffins and a choice of protein (back bacon or smoked salmon). Traditional eggs Benedict have a soft poached egg, however I am picky and like my eggs cooked a little longer. Make what you want, try...just remember to document AND reflect upon your learning in your blog!!!!! Keep in mind, when I made the hollandaise, it was similar to Gordon Ramsay's, however I used lemon juice instead of the vinegar both work you need the acid. Please remember - Your website is to show YOUR learning in this class, I do not want to re-read what your partners wrote. I am not concerned if things fail, thats ok, I just want you to learn from those mistakes...today no matter what technique was tried, the hollandaise failed. USE YOUR TIME WISELY, we only have 3 weeks of school left and 2 days with the laptops.
We are finishing our pasta unit with a salad. Typical pasta salads will traditionally have macaroni, cheese and mayonnaise, this recipe is made with rice shaped pasta with a greek salad flair. Light and fresh with crunchy vegetables and a vinaigrette dressing, it's best served the next day after marinating.
What is homemade pasta? Don't we already make pasta at home? What is the difference? I guess I should have said FRESH pasta. Pasta is a noodle made with eggs, oil and flour, there are many different shapes and uses. Macaroni is a tube shaped pasta, from here you can get shaped pastas like shells, rigatoni and rotini. These are great for hearty thick pastas that will really hold their sauce. Now, we are going to start with gnocchi (knee-o-key) a pillowy type of dumpling made with mashed potatoes, these are best with a simple tomato (pomodoro) sauce. The second recipe we will try is Bon Appetit's fresh pasta with Alfredo sauce, our two versions are the traditional pasta a beurre and north American Alfredo with whipping cream and cheese. When making gnocchi DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH or gluten, but with fresh pasta you need the gluten to stretch so we knead for 10 minutes. Finally with our remaining pasta dough, we are making scratch lasagne with fresh pasta noodles and bechamel sauce. This is delicious! We're using ground beef and sweet Italian sausage. I am making one with plant based meats and we will compare the tastes. When we first start our block, we will make our breadstick dough, you are able to add seasoning to it or just have it plain. The dough does need to rise before we shape and bake it, so we must start this first. |
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