Introduction to Dough (though Pastry Cream is tastier)

The weird thing about today's class: we prepared three different doughs but put them in the fridge for use tomorrow -- cooking & tasting today was pretty much nil.

The three doughs have three different primary list of ingredients and lengths of mixing to reach a certain final consistency:

• Paté Brisée: AP & Cake flour, Water, pea-sized bits of butter, broken texture to make a flaky crust.
• Paté Sucrée: AP flour, eggs, sugar, butter the size of grated cheese, makes a sweet, sturdy and cakey product.
• Paté Sablée: cake flour, eggs, sugar, creamed butter, sandy texture to make a cookie-like product

The first two were made by every person in the class, the third by group. Our group's Paté Sablée was chocolate-flavored, which involved the additional ingredients of coca powder, milk, and baking soda. The first, Brisée, came out of the mixer in chunks, the Sucrée came out as a thick batter, and the chocolate Paté Sablée was rolled into what looked like a giant tootsie roll.

Long Island Lolita took on mixing a Hazelnut Frangipane, which is a filling for a tarte. Hazelnuts are ground, then mixed with sugar, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, dark rum, whole eggs, some AP flour, and baking powder.

More interesting was pastry cream, which Dirty Kim headed up. Dissolve cornstarch in a little milk, boil rest of milk with sugar to dissolve, whisk whole eggs into cornstarch slurry, and temper eggs into milk, whisking all the while. Bring mixture to a boil to thicken; whisk, take off flame, finish with whole butter, and if not flavoring, add vanilla.

We through in semi-sweet chocolate pistoles, which is just a fancy name for thin rounds, which have lots of surface area, ideal for quick melting. Once it's evenly distributed, spread on a plastic-coated pan, cover to prevent a skin forming, and chill immediately.

We finished and cleaned up by 11:15, then Chef G showed us how to make cornets: little parchment paper cones from cut triangles.

Tomorrow, we roll, bake, and finish some tartes.

ADDENDA:
The scale says 224 again. I say bah!!

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, banana, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Need to grocery shop today.

AM TASTINGS: 10-11am, spoonful of chocolate pasty cream, melted chocolate on baguette, handful of semisweet chocolate pistoles and shelled pistachios, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Didn't really make anything, just snacked on a few ingredients.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, school-made fragulla pasta with sausage, 2 ears of boiled corn with butter, 8oz fruitpunch sportsdrink, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, homemade salad, 2 slices streetza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING TASTINGS & SNACKS: 7-9pm, 10 tastes of Burgundy-region wines and a brandy (about 1.5 glasses), 3 different interesting cheeses, 1 roll, several water crackers, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5