I put the oat bran and oatmeal through the food processor because I don’t like big flakes of oatmeal. This batter was thick to start with and became thicker as the oats absorbed the liquid. The flavour definitely tastes like oatmeal with its characteristic chewiness too. Not t...
Please take your ten fingers home with you. I didn’t expect a full class for this course, as it’s on a weeknight and is more expensive than the other Bakery Arts ones. Our instructor works during the day at a commercial bakery supply company and is quite knowledgable about ch...
Starting this week, I’ll be taking the Chocolate Works class. No baking involved, but lots and lots of chocolate so I’m told.Week 1: Almond Bark and Raisin Clusters Week 2: Cherries and Caramelized Almonds Week 3: Truffles Week 4: Molded Chocolates Week 5: 3D Models Week 6: Ch...
With some of the leftover baked shells from the quince tartlets, and some leftover frangipane made in class on Saturday, I improvised some additional tartlets. I filled the baked shells with frangipane, then topped them with thinly sliced Northern Spy apples, then sprinkled so...
For the last class of this course, we made two coffee cakes are included in breads, I guess, because they’re yeasted. First, we made a sponge that needed about 30 minutes to ferment. During that time, we made the same poppyseed filling that we used in a previous class, as well...
I made 2/3rds of the syrup and only poached two quinces. This recipe uses the peels and cores in the poaching liquid; I think this adds more pectin so that it will gel. I oven roasted the fruit for the full 2 ½ hours. The poaching liquid turned a nice pink-orange after I reduc...
I was looking forward to a great tasting pie, but this one was just not very tasty. I made the double crust recipe with about three extra tablespoons of water. As a result, it was easy to work with, but came out quite crispy. The filling is made from many strong, competing fla...
Bagels should really belong in the Art of Breads course. I mean, lots of people eat toast for breakfast, so a Pullman loaf could conceivably be taught in this class too. There’s also a one-day bagel class teaching both sweet and savoury treatments so the college already has ba...
I had some chestnut pastry cream and egg whites left from Saturday’s cake, so I tried my hand at macarons again using Clement’s basic recipe. I added some green tea powder to the macaron batter, about 2 tsp. This attempt was pretty disappointing, as the first batch I made had ...
I used the leftover pear poaching liquid plus a cinnamon stick for poaching the quinces. The fruit was tender but still held its shape when I removed it from the heat. Cooking the apples was problematic: there was a lot of liquid in the pan, so I drained about a half cup befor...
For my Grandma’s 80th birthday dinner, I made a chestnut cake from a recipe that I had wanted to try for a long time. The addition of poached pear was an addition inspired by cream cakes from Chinese bakeries which often have fruit cocktail in them. Forthwith, the procedure:In...
A co-worker lent me her copy of this book and I was impressed with the range of chocolate recipes from simple hot chocolate to complicated ruffle cakes to asparagus and cocoa nibs! The macaroons came out a little sticky; I had some whites in the fridge but forgot how many so t...
