Utilizing Puff Pastry (Pastry Puffed)

Today was another simple day in which we worked with and baked the puff pastry dough sheets we made yesterday.

First up was the apple strips. While Dirty Kim rolled out a sheet to about 16" by 14", I peeled, cored, and sliced a number of apples. The sheet was cut into 2 5" wide strips and 4 1" wide strips. The thin strips were bonded to the edges of the large strips with egg wash, then spread in the middle thinly with almond frangipane. On top of that went my sliced apples, then coated with melted butter. Into the oven it went. Once out and cooled, run over with apricot glaze and a few lines of crushed almonds.

For palmiers, the same dough was rolled out, except instead of dusting the table with flour to keep it from tearing, we used granulated sugar. After getting the dough thin and well incorporated with a good deal of sugar, the sheet was rolled into from opposite sides then sliced into about quarter inch pieces. Into the oven the palmiers went.

Thirdly, cheese straws: roll out the puff pastry dough then, cover one half of it with Parmesan cheese, paprika and eggwash, fold to cover, then roll out to original thinness. Cut into even half inch strips, twist and layout on a baking sheet, then into the oven they go.

Tomorrow, and introduction to yeast dough and some twisty time with fresh soft pretzels.

ADDENDA:
Got my report card for last mod, A- in performance, A in quizzes and exams, and an A- for the practical -- I really should have gotten a D, unless it was to measure what I learned from taking the practical, in which case I could have received an A. My GPA is now 3.78, which is kind of meaningless since I don't have parents around anymore to show them off too -- an anonymous blog-reading public just isn't the same, sorry!

Things are going relatively well with Chef G, but it kinda sucks cooking for 4 hours and only having dessert to show for it. I definitely have no interest in making more than the occasional home dessert, this fanciful stuff is just too....too much work for too little reward.

Delivered another large box of pastrys to B's office, no way I'm taking this stuff home, or it would jump very quickly down my throat.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good yogurt with raw nuts, honey, vanilla, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM TASTINGS: 9-11:30am, lots of raw apple bits, a few palmieres, a few bits of apple strip, a couple of cheese straws, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
As I peeled, cored and sliced the apples, couldn't help but eat all the butt-ends and bits with a little peel.

LUNCH: 1pm, large spinach salad with carrot dressing, hijiki tofu patty on whole wheat pita, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Lunch at Dojo, good but the spinach wasn't as fresh as usual.

DINNER: 5:30pm, small amount of school made mushroom risotto, vegetable stir fry with shrimp and brown rice noodle, WF nutrient water, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Made a large-scale stir-fry that wasn't that great. Tried some Whole Foods version of Vitamin Water, 130 cal for 20oz, but tasted kinda chalky and flat.

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, mixed nuts with chocolate, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Puff Pastry (Puff the Magic Pastry)

Most of today's class time was dedicated to making puff pastry dough. It is a three step process: make the dough (detrempe), the butter compound (beurrage) and then put it together in a package (paton) to roll and fold.

The dough is a mix of AP and cake flour, a littler salt and sugar, ice water and a small amount of butter. First, the butter must be cut up into small pieces and rubbed into the dry ingredients so there is no bits left, then the water added in a well and folded in -- folded, not kneaded, to avoid gluten formation which will make the final product tough.

Separately, the solid butter is beaten with a bit of flour to soften; with just the right consistency, it can be rolled without too much resistance or breaking. The dough is rolled out into the shape of a big plus sign (+), the squared butter placed in the middle, then the flaps folded over. This package is flipped seam-side down, then rolled out long until thin. Then it's folded (far ends to the middle), then folded in half so that it looks like a book. This is done twice, then put in the fridge to harden, then done twice more. That's 3 original layers times 4 (12) times 4 (48) times 4 (192) times 4 (768 layers!) in the one-half inch thick dough. Crazy.

Tomorrow we cook all sorts of stuff with the pastry, but for the last 30 minutes of the class, Chef G melted some chocolate and we used our cornets (folded pieces of parchment) to write "Happy Birthday" and various things. As Chef G said, if you didn't pay attention in 1st grade to get your script writing together, it's certainly not going to help now. The chocolate itself was 'compound chocolate', which is made with additional vegetable oil so it doesn't need to be tempered properly. It tasted like cheap chocolate, like bad Valentine's Day chocolates or old Hannukah gelt.

Tomorrow, Apple Strips, Palmiers, Paillettes, and other forms of puff pastry

ADDENDA:

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good granola, good milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Woke up a little hungry.

AM NIBBLES: 10-11:30am, a hunk of french bread, a few small mouthfuls of piping chocolate, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, half a pastrami sandwich, pea soup, coleslaw, 2 pickles, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5

Comfort food at the 2nd Ave Deli.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, weird Chinese fruit

On the Circle Line with Y and her parents. They offered me a weird fruit I could not say no to. Kind of like a very large tough-skinned grape that had to be peeled, with a small pit. Very juicy and sweet.

PM WATERING: 6pm, 2 quarts ice water

PM SNACK: 7pm, small cherry icee, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
At the movies. 213 calories; the only other size was double the calories, but only 50 cents more, he he. If it wasn't for that listing, I definitely would have gone for the bigger one.

DINNER: 9:30pm, 2 slices bad streetza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5