Sticky Buns and Cinnamon Rolls :)

Sticky Buns.. a-ma-zing.

I've moved from artisan breads which are mostly lean, meaning they don't have any, or very little, fats and/or sugars, to viennoiserie... which is essentially baking with doughs that are made of butter, butter, and more butter (and maybe some sugar too). Although I certainly can't eat anything I made yesterday, I can definitely admire the products and enjoy giving them to people who can eat them (and love to!)

Really though, these doughs, known as enriched or sweet doughs, have a lot of butter... our laminated dough formula (used to make croissants and danishes) contains 20% butter of the final dough weight. And not just any butter, mind you, but butter that has at least 82% fat. Our chef (who is awesome! he's been a vegetarian for 32 years for health reasons, and can deliver hilarious one liners without cracking a smile, plus he is great at challenging us to challenge ourselves).. anyway.. our chef prefers to use "plugra" butter.. which is a play on the French words for "more fat" (plus gras). 

So for my first day, which was the longest by far at 12 and a half hours, we were going non-stop all day... and I LOVED it! First, we made some laminated dough, which would later be used for croissants. The process is crazy, and let me tell you, those "crescent rolls" that pop out of a can have nothing on real croissants. Without telling you every single step... the basics are: you use a sheeter (a manually-directed machine that rolls dough back and forth, making it thinner with each pass) to create layers of butter and dough. By the time you get to the last step, you essentially have a dough that is layer upon layer upon layer of dough and butter- which makes for beautifully flaky pastries. See what I mean...

Check out these layers!

Chocolate croissants

Notice how these are darker than you typically see in grocery stores, etc. 

Chef says that many American pastries and baked goods are underbaked, 

because we see darker coloring and think- burned!!! But, this isn't the case. 

These croissants have perfect coloring (they've been egg washed twice). 

One step of the lamination process- the tri-fold.

Dough on the sheeter.

Chocolate croissants ready to proof.

Rolling up a chocolate croissant. 

We also made sticky buns and cinnamon rolls... which again, are much darker than we typically see them. Also, chef noted that he puts the glaze on the rolls while they are still hot, so that the glaze seals in over the roll combining with and complementing the other flavors and textures of the roll, rather than waiting until the roll is cool, so there is a layer of white sugar on top. Sticky buns start out as cinnamon rolls, but they get a special home in a muffin tin coated with a brown sugar, honey & butter smear with pecans. The bottom of each bun then becomes the top. 

Rolling up cinnamon rolls

Making sticky buns.

Our cinnamon rolls (pre-glaze)

Sticky buns!! 

Cinnamon rolls!

I brought home a HUGE box full of cinnamon rolls, sticky buns, croissants and brioche. HUGE. I have no room left in my freezer. Stay tuned to see what yummy treats I get to make next week! 

Pitas are my new favorite bread!

So this post is a few days late... but things have been a little busy outside of class! (I'll update on that later.)

Class was a little crazy too! By 10am, we were down to 2 people in my group (including me!) and we actually made all of these breads:

Ciabatta

Challah

Pita

Baguette

Sesame Crackers

Out of all these awesome and delicious and different breads, I've gotta say my new favorite is pita, if only because it is the coolest ever thing to watch bake! I tried to find a good video online to share with you all, but it's so much neater in person, you should just make some at home! :) All you need is a pizza stone and a peel to move the hot bread around. (If you can't bake it at home, then I guess a you tube video will do!)

So we did a repeat of ciabatta, challah and baguette... we got some extra practice on ciabatta and baguette, since those two breads will be on our final practical (this Sunday!). The challah my group tried again, since we didn't get it right the first time... and again... we missed a very small thing, but it turned out to be a big problem later! We used regular instant yeast, instead of osmotolerant yeast. Osmotolerant yeast reacts differently with the sugars in the dough, and because we didn't use it, we had to proof our dough for nearly 4 hours!! (Instead of 2!!) It looked fine, and tastes delicious... definitely different than before!

We also made some sesame crackers, with sesame and wasabi sesame crackers. They had a little bit of milk in them, and butter, but I tried them anyway. I really don't like not knowing if something that I've made is good or not! Getting the crispy cracker consistency is harder than I realized! But they were tasty little crackers (especially with the little kick of wasabi!)

Now for the most exciting part of the day... the pitas!!!!

I don't know about you, but I've wondered since I ate my first pita sandwich how they heck they get that pocket in the middle. So I was so excited to finally find out how pitas are made. The dough itself is quite simple, and the shaping isn't too difficult either. You take a chunk of the dough, and roll it around in your hand on the workbench, but not like a snowball. You keep the same surface touching the palm of your hand, so that the little ball of dough gets a "belly button".

Now, once the little dough balls have their belly buttons, they need to rest for a little bit, and then you roll them out into flat disks, 1/8th inch thick.... no thinner, no thicker!

From here, its off to the oven, where the magic happens! The flat disks are loaded into the hot, hot oven (500 degrees), so they're not touching each other, and after just a couple of minutes, you start to see the yeast bubbles pop up on the surface of each pita. The dough starts to look like its alive as all the bubbles join together, and when they all join together, the pita puffs up like a whoopie cushion. When most of the pitas are whoopie cushions, you take the peel and scoop under all the pitas, which kind of act like balloons! While they're still on the peel, you very carefully and quickly flip over each pita, and put them back in the oven. The puffing up process is even faster the second time, about 10 seconds, and then all the pitas come out of the oven.

(Here's a peek at the pitas puffing up in the oven)

I had to check one of our pitas, just to make sure it really did have a pocket... and sure enough, it did!! Here's the pocket (which you can fill with lots of yummy delicious things!)

This next class will be my last breads class... there's so much more I'd love to learn about breads! Its fascinating to learn how breads bake!

Two tips for dairy-free and gluten-free baking!

Even though I didn't have class on Sunday and got to sleep past my customary 5:45am wake up time, I still got to do some baking this weekend. I suppose I should use a word other than "some", since it definitely was more than "some". Anyway... first of all... I realized even more how much I love, love, love baking... especially when I get to bake for people that I love (i.e. my wonderful family!)! 

Our Easter dinner dessert menu included: 

Dairy-free, gluten-free carrot cake cupcakes with dairy-free or regular cream-cheese icing

Dairy-free, gluten-free brownies

Dairy-free gingersnaps with candied ginger

Everything was delicious (if I may say so myself!)... and I learned some things I thought I'd pass along to those of you who'd like to try dairy or gluten (or both!) free baking. 

First... the best dairy-free butter to use is definitely Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks. They have a good butter flavor, are better for you, and bake very similar to butter. I tried the brownies a couple of times, and when I used shortening instead of the Earth Balance sticks, the brownies were much more cake-like: not as dense or chewy. 

Second... don't be afraid of using gluten-free flours. I used Bob's Red Mill Baking Flour (and added some xantham gum) and although I was concerned that it smells and tastes bitter prior to baking, it bakes very nicely. The brownies and the carrot cake both had ideal consistencies, and there was no funny taste at all when they were done. (In fact, they smelled delicious!!)

If you want to try them out.. feel free to check out my website, you can order a batch and I'll get them out to you ASAP! Then you can weigh in on if it truly is possible to have delicious baked goods made without "butter" or "flour"! 

Chocolate Doesn't Come from Cows

.... I know, crazy, right?? 

I was standing just to the side of the checkout at a grocery store the other day, carefully reading each and every label on the chocolate bars... since they hide milk in EVERYTHING... and when I had finally found two chocolate bars with no dairy at all (a cranberry-almond one and a raspberry one), I actually got into the check-out line to pay. Now unbeknownst to me, the check-out lady had been watching me the whole time, and said rather peppily.. and almost a bit mockingly (it could have been that I was already on edge just because of the day I'd had up to that point)... "Tough decision, huh??". I looked at her and replied, "Yea, I can't eat dairy, so I have to read all the labels first." "Oh", she said. Pause. "They can make chocolate without milk in it?? Really?" 

So I'd like to dispel a commonly-held belief.....chocolate doesn't come from cows. 

It comes from the cacao tree (cocoa beans) and is processed to create chocolate liquor, which can be further processed to produce cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Maybe the "butter" part of "cocoa butter" is what gets people confused. But... just like peanut butter, it has no dairy in it. The more cocoa solids chocolate has in it, the darker it is. The reverse is true as well... white chocolate only has cocoa butter in it, no cocoa solids at all. Unsweetened chocolate (for baking) and dark chocolate are the only chocolates that don't have added milk, however. Even the dark chocolates are hard to find without some kind of dairy in them. 

My co-teacher, who was born in, and lived in Russia until her 20's, said to me, "Why do they add all that stuff to chocolate? Chocolate is chocolate! If you want candy, go eat candy. But don't mess around with chocolate! We don't do that in Russia." :) 

Holla! bread... (I couldn't resist)

Yea, yea, I know it's "challah" bread... but when you spend 12 hours baking it (and various other lean & enriched breads) it's gonna get said that way at least once. (Or twice even). ;)

Here's the thing about challah bread that no one tells you when you buy it... it is made from SIX strands of dough. Yup. Six strands. Imagine braiding hair (this will be even harder if you've never braided hair in your life... just work with me here) using 6 different sections- if you lose your place, you're done, and it's back to the beginning to try again. Like I've found to be true with much of what I've been learning, practice really does make perfect; the more you practice a skill like challah braiding, the faster and more accurate you become. Case in point- our chef braided his loaf in about 30 seconds (after demoing it very slowly for us) without missing a beat. Here's chef working on his demo:

After saying the 4 step process in my head over and over again, I got my entire loaf braided on only the second try! (I think I owe a huge part in my success to braiding lots of hair and making lots of bracelets as a camp counselor! Yea Deer Run!) Here's my loaf prior to baking: 

Now here's the sad news about this challah bread.... we somehow forgot to add the granulated sugar, which resulted in our chef saying, "Ummm, you have a problem here," when we checked our loaves mid-way through baking. Not only are they waaaay to light to be challah bread, they also had a crusty crust (definitely a no-no for challah bread). When we ventured to taste them, our chef's statement that we must have forgotten the sugar was definitely proven true- it was like eating baked flour- not so pleasant.

You can see how crispy it is here- all those little lines are cracks in the crust. We're making it again next week to practice (and get it right this time!). 

Today we also made ciabatta, which is the craziest dough I've ever seen! You could hardly call it dough... it's more like the blob, oozing to cover ever surface it comes in contact with. It is a wet, sloppy mess that somehow when baked, makes for an amazingly flavored bread, absolutely perfect for sandwiches with lots of "wet" ingredients (think grilled veggies drizzled with balsamic, melted cheeses, the list goes on... mmmm!). 

"The Blob" (aka ciabatta dough)

Our ciabattas after baking (delicious!)

While our ciabatta and challah breads were proofing, we made up some scones. Each group had to come up with their own flavoring ideas; my group decided on doing both sweet and savory. For our sweet scones, we made a combination of cranberries, chopped apricots, and lemon zest soaked in freshly squeezed orange juice. One whiff of that mixture, and we knew we had a winner! I sampled a bite... and they are AMAZING. 

Our savory scones were, if possible, even more amazing! We chopped up some sun-dried tomatoes, fresh spinach, and onion, then mixed in some feta cheese and finished them off with a sprinkle of parmesan-romano cheese. Whoa. They were SO good (I tried the tiniest of bites, and was blown away!)

Finish product: 

Scones- fresh ones- are simply wonderful! They are soft, a tiny bit crumbly, and delicious! Once I get a good recipe for dairy-free ones, I'll be sure to let you all know! I'll also try working on a gluten-free one. I have a HUGE respect for bakers who are coming up with gluten-free baked goods- it seems that every other word in a bread lab is "gluten"- that's how important it is to baking good breads! 

The good & the bad of the day (we showcase one of each for a critique at the end of each class). 

Which came first, the ciabatta or the baguette?

Two of the best-known bread shapes, one of which we made in class today, have been around for a while... but one has been around for far less time than you think. Ciabatta is the classic Italian loaf that makes awesome sandwiches (all the yummy goodies stay trapped inside because of the crust). You can't say "baguette" without automatically thinking about a long, narrow crusty loaf of French bread. So which one do you think has been around longer??

The answer surprised me.... I was thinking for sure the baguette has been around forever; in actuality, the baguette has only been around since the 1920's! The ciabatta, on the other hand, has been around a great deal longer.

Although I miss the artistry of cakes, I love the hands-on process of baking breads... and there certainly is still some artistry involved in the shaping, cutting, and toppings of these breads. After just one class, I feel a bit brainwashed by our culture about what bread is "supposed" to look like. These artisan breads are beautiful in their "imperfections"- and they have incredible flavor! I'm probably never going to want to buy bread again! Also, interestingly enough, the US government mandates that all flours be "enriched" with nutrients, since to make flour used to make white breads, essentially all of the nutritional value is removed. There's a movement in Oregon for millers to be able to make unenriched organic flours... but ALL flours are currently required by law to be enriched.

This morning we prepped our baguettes made with poolish (a preferment that makes it possible for us to finish the bread during our class). We also made baking powder biscuits... even though they had butter in them, I gave them a try- and WOW- they are good... like really, really good! In the afternoon, we made Kaiser rolls, which are lighter in crumb texture- they don't have large holes like the baguette. In the coming weeks, we'll be making bagels, pizza dough, scones, and challah bread (just to name a few!).

Here are some pictures:

Poolish (flour, water & yeast)

Testing to see if the dough is ready to cut & bake

Chef making an "epi" bread (baguette cut like a wheat stalk)

Our finished baguettes

Inside our baguettes (great holes!)

Baking powder biscuits

Yummy, flaky layers! :)

Toppings for Kaiser rolls: poppyseed (blue/gray), wasabi sesame (green), and sesame (white)

Trays of Kaiser rolls ready to proof (the white things on the table are the stamps that make the starfish shape)

Finished Kaiser roll

A beautiful, soft crumb :)

As one of my group mates said today near the end of class... "I'm all breaded-out"... I came home and wanted to eat mounds of vegetables, fruit or protein. I settled on a dish of my mango sorbet and called it a night. ;)

A Revelation!

After I spent the night looking up information on "stress & overeating" (true story- it's most often work-related), I began to bake some sugar cookies for a special event in my class. I decided to watch that documentary "Kings of Pastry" that my chef had talked about in class, and about 5 minutes into it, was blown away by this comment...

"The idea in France is to eat the best, best possible on a daily basis, but just in small quantities so your brain is happy everyday. You know, there is no, you don't starve yourself and eat like a pig at the "all you can eat" on Saturday night. They don't exist in France- the "all you can eat." Chef Jacquy Pfieffer

It was like a missing piece of this puzzle in my brain finally was put into place, and then "Everything in Moderation" really made sense to me. Before, this was my ideal way of life, now it can become my real way of life! What an amazing way to relate to food- to recognize the fact that scientifically, our brains respond in certain ways to certain foods, and that some foods really do make our brains happy! The missing piece in our culture is that we begin to think in terms of quantity instead of quality. We find those happy foods, and instead of "indulging" in a high-quality, small-quantity portion, we keep going and going and going (myself included!), and partly because what we're eating lacks quality. Some people go to the other extreme too, and are so careful about what they eat, it takes all the enjoyment out of the act. When we think about food only as fuel, or only as comfort, we neglect to find the balance- the moderation- necessary to live healthily and happily. 

So today, armed with this new realization (and some other stress- relief techniques I learned through all my reading!)... I made a few stops on the way home from work (after a nice 5 mile run in a gorgeous state park down here- exercise is the ultimate in stress-relief!). First, I stopped at Target, where I picked up a few of my "happy foods", for whatever mood I may be in: Tazo chai tea latte mix, vanilla soymilk, Haagen-Dazs mango sorbet, blue corn tortilla chips (with flaxseed!), "Tension Tamer" tea, and 2 bars of Lindt dark chocolate. (I already have dried cherries and almonds at home). Then, I stopped at the liquor store to pick up a bottle of Italian Chianti- a 91 pointer! Woohoo! :) 

I'm leaving guilt behind, and fully embracing the idea of eating small amounts of foods that fuel my body and make my brain happy (everything in moderation!). 

Another awesome quote to end this post... which I'm aware of thanks to my sister, Sarah... 

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be encumbered by your old nonsense." Ralph Waldo Emerson