All Sorts of Stuff
Formulas: Marshmallows Bake Cinnamon Buns Make Mandarin Sorbet Candied Orange Peel Dried Orange Slices Brownies | Small Wares Needed: Mandolin Mixing bowls Spatula Scale Sheet Pans |
My Objectives:
Bake Cinnamon Buns.
Make Candied Orange Peels.
Help out my other team member as needed.
Keep station clean and organized, dishes to a minimum.
Bake Cinnamon Buns.
Make Candied Orange Peels.
Help out my other team member as needed.
Keep station clean and organized, dishes to a minimum.
Timeline: 7:00-8:00 Plan for the day. Chef Elizabeth lecture. MEP Food & Equipment. 8:00-9:00 Bake Cinnamon Buns. Cut Orange Peels, made syrup. Made Cream Cheese Frosting. 9:00-10:00 Iced Cinnamon Buns. Break. Cleaned station. Made Brownies. 10:00-11:00 Baked Brownies. Cleaned station. Chef demo Marshmallows. 11:00-12:00 Cleaned kitchen, did dishes. | Prep List: Flours: All-Purpose Sugars: Granulated, Powdered Unsalted butter Eggs Salt Vanilla extract Glucose Citrus fruit (oranges) Pecans Unsweetened Chocolate What I prepared: [Baked] Cinnamon Buns Cream Cheese Frosting Brownies Candied Orange Peel |
Summary & Personal Observations:
Today was a more relaxed day, even though I felt a bit stressed. My Cinnamon Buns proofed nicely since last week in the freezer, and were huge and delicious after baked. I did a quick Google search for a Cream Cheese Frosting with good reviews and made that, although Chef walked by and mentioned something about not putting all the powdered sugar in at once. She said sometimes the recipes call for way too much, and then it ends up being too sweet. Good thing she stopped me, because I ended up putting in about a third of what the recipe called for!
The Candied Orange Peel syrup turned out too thick. I think it's because I cooked or reduced it too long on the stove. So it ended up being this incredibly thick sugar, and the peels were stuck inside. I learned from this that even if you follow a recipe, common sense is still needed; I should have followed my gut, and pulled it off the stove before it got to that point. It will turn out better the next time I make it!
I thought it was very cool to see Marshmallows being made. It is basically an Italian Meringue, with gelatin added. My classmate made it today, but we will plate it up tomorrow.
The Brownies turned out perfectly. Chef is right: pulling them too soon from the oven is bad. She suggested leaving them in the full hour that the recipe says, which I did. And they were perfect! I also used 90% unsweetened chocolate and 10% bittersweet chocolate (because we ran out of the unsweetened). I overheard Chef telling another group [that had to use all bittersweet chocolate] that they should decrease the amount of sugar in the batter so that the final brownies wouldn't be too sweet. So I kind of eyeballed it, and knowing that I had a tad of bittersweet in there, I left out some of the sugar. Not a ton, but a bit. I'm glad I did because the end product was good, and perhaps would have been too sweet if I had added it all. So there IS wiggle room to baking, just not a lot (like in cooking), and you have to know what things can be compromised and what can't, and the consequences of changing things. I have a feeling that I will learn more on this in later classes and be more confident the further along in my education in baking.
Today was a more relaxed day, even though I felt a bit stressed. My Cinnamon Buns proofed nicely since last week in the freezer, and were huge and delicious after baked. I did a quick Google search for a Cream Cheese Frosting with good reviews and made that, although Chef walked by and mentioned something about not putting all the powdered sugar in at once. She said sometimes the recipes call for way too much, and then it ends up being too sweet. Good thing she stopped me, because I ended up putting in about a third of what the recipe called for!
The Candied Orange Peel syrup turned out too thick. I think it's because I cooked or reduced it too long on the stove. So it ended up being this incredibly thick sugar, and the peels were stuck inside. I learned from this that even if you follow a recipe, common sense is still needed; I should have followed my gut, and pulled it off the stove before it got to that point. It will turn out better the next time I make it!
I thought it was very cool to see Marshmallows being made. It is basically an Italian Meringue, with gelatin added. My classmate made it today, but we will plate it up tomorrow.
The Brownies turned out perfectly. Chef is right: pulling them too soon from the oven is bad. She suggested leaving them in the full hour that the recipe says, which I did. And they were perfect! I also used 90% unsweetened chocolate and 10% bittersweet chocolate (because we ran out of the unsweetened). I overheard Chef telling another group [that had to use all bittersweet chocolate] that they should decrease the amount of sugar in the batter so that the final brownies wouldn't be too sweet. So I kind of eyeballed it, and knowing that I had a tad of bittersweet in there, I left out some of the sugar. Not a ton, but a bit. I'm glad I did because the end product was good, and perhaps would have been too sweet if I had added it all. So there IS wiggle room to baking, just not a lot (like in cooking), and you have to know what things can be compromised and what can't, and the consequences of changing things. I have a feeling that I will learn more on this in later classes and be more confident the further along in my education in baking.