high anxiety....

First of all, I want to credit the photographer of the dessert pictured to the left. It's a quenelle of Arroz Con Leche ice cream (rice pudding ice cream). It came from a nice blog that I've added to my favorite links section.

There are 2 things that I cannot seem to get a handle on in the kitchen - one is writing on a cake and the other is spooning out quenelles. It's a very special scooping method that is typically used for serving frozen desserts. There is no such thing as close enough when it comes to serving a quenelle.

I was helping out yesterday with the set up of a wedding party banquet. It required a whipped cream quenelle on every plate and it was a disaster. I had an anxiety attack last night over my inability to do this. I'll never get a job if I can't do this, etc, etc. It's not an issue in a bakery but any sort of fine dining requires it. I think I'll be buying a couple of quarts of heavy cream, whipping it and practicing this weekend. Then I'm going to make some Arroz Con Leche ice cream. It sounds great.

it's not a crescent roll....

I guess a croissant is technically a crescent roll but I'm going to be a snob and insist on calling it a croissant.

I was trying to find a picture of a croissant and I stumbled on a blog site call Paris Breakfast Art. The artist has some nice stuff. Do the Googles if are interested in some nice watercolors.

Week 4 will be history tomorrow. It was a very good week. The focus was on puff pastries or laminated doughs. These include breakfast croissants, sandwich croissants, cinnamon buns, chocolate croissants and cream cheese danishes. I've always thought that a croissant looks like a mutation of a lobster with its claws reaching around in front. I rolled, cut and formed about 125 croissants this morning. I've almost got the technique down. Giggle. Making the dough, folding in the butter and cutting the dough is a 3 day process. The production of a croissant is pretty labor intensive. I think they sell for $3.00 which seems like a good deal.

I worked the 2:00am shift again on Thursday. I think I'm going to continue with that for the experience.

a gallon of eggs.....

FYI - if you have a recipe that calls for a gallon of eggs, crack about 72 of them. You'll be close.

It was a good week. I'm starting to feel comfortable in front of the mixers and ovens. I have yet to memorize all of the baking temperatures and times but that will come. The days fly by and I was surprised when Saturday got here. Saturday's are the busiest days of the week. This morning I knocked out 24 loaves of sourdough bread, 300 slider buns, a few hundred breadsticks, a tray of baguettes, a couple dozen buttermilk biscuits, a couple hundred jalapeno biscuits and pecan pie filling requiring 72 eggs. They sell little 3" pecan pies in the cafe and they are quite popular. I haven't mastered the two handed egg crack but I at least keep the presence of egg shells to a minimum. I figure that counts for something.

I did the 2:00am - 10:00am shift on Thursday of this week for the experience. It involved everything I mentioned above as well as all of the muffins, danishes, croissants and artisan bread. Yikes - I came home and took a nap.

i wish i had more hands...

Week 2 is done tomorrow and I was trying to come up with a theme for the week. I'm attaching a painting by Ruth Palmer called Step Lively. It sums it up.

I'm vastly more comfortable than the first week but I still feel like a klutz. The good news is that time flies. It's 8 hours of action with very little downtime. The majority of my time is still being spent with breads, danishes, croissants, etc. My exposure to the pastry side of the business is helping out with banquet prep, petit fours and basic desserts. The overnight baker (bread) is pretty amazing in terms of multi tasking and keeping his cool. He's a one man show and there are multiple mixers, ovens, sheeters and problems to deal with. I realize it's not rocket science but I'm still impressed that everything gets done on time.

Note: It's been 2 weeks and I haven't been to single meeting. Giggle

weekend visitor....

Caleb came down and spent the weekend while Carrie went to a friend's wedding. It was cold this weekend so the outdoor activities were limited. I did, however, take advantage of the free labor and had him roll out some dough for shortbread cookies. He then used a round cookie cutter to cut the dough and placed them on a sheet pan. When they were done, he dipped the tops in a red icing. I figure that if I spread out his training, he'll be making a mean meringue in a couple of years.

week one....

The first week is completed and it was great. There's so much to talk about but here are some random impressions...

I'm glad I wasn't a baker before the invention of large mixers. I use a VW sized mixer to make enough dough for 2 dozen baguettes. The dough is the size of a large medicine ball. I would hurt myself trying to knead that. My favorite product, by far, is their sourdough bread. I love the smell of the sour starter, the way the dough feels and the bread itself is outrageous. I helped out on the production of dessert platters for a banquet of 400. Chocolate dipped strawberries, tiny fruit tarts, tiny eclairs, tiny cream puffs, truffles, petit four cakes and small cuts of cheesecake. It amazed me how consistent everything was even though it was done by hand. I probably shouldn't mention this but produce companies must send the premium stuff to restaurants and all the rest goes to stores. They use the same companies that I see in grocery stores but I have yet to see a bad strawberry or blackberry. They use bottled water for their bread. I don't have to go through metal detectors when I arrive at work and security didn't confiscate my phone. The executive pastry chef spends the majority of his day in the kitchen working with us. There's a radio in the bakery and it's on all the time to some local radio station. I resisted the urge to say "I remember when this song came out" when a Three Dog Night song played. I don't want to date myself. This is the first place I've worked where I didn't have to go to a safety class. There aren't emergency showers for accidental flour exposure. This is good because I'm covered in the stuff when I leave each day.

"what's up with this walk at 4:15am?"....

Kahlua's life has changed. After a year of clockwork walks at 7:00am and 8:00pm, she was rousted from her long winters nap for a walk at 4:15am this morning. Thank goodness dogs can mark their territory at anytime of day. She seemed unfazed once we got out in the cold.

I had my normal "night before something new" angst last night and couldn't fall asleep. I won't know how to do anything, I won't know where anything is, I'll screw something up, I'll get in the way, I'll ask a really stupid question, I'll measure out 5 pounds of salt instead of 5 ounces, blah, blah, blah.

Summary - I give myself a C for the first day. I stumbled around and took longer to do things than I should but it was a good start. The atmosphere of the kitchen is great and the staff is wonderful. It's hard work but so far, no regrets.

I was beat when I got home but I wanted to try out my new routine of running after work. I had always run in the morning and then gone to work. For the most part, that meant going to a desk and sitting after the run. Today was 8 hours straight on my feet and then running. I did a little over 7 miles which in hindsight was a little ambitious. I'm going to scale it back a little until I get more accustomed to it. I'm blaming it on age.

working class hero....

I met with the Executive Chef at the Driskill this morning and we are all set for my start next week. The day will start at 5:00am and run into the early afternoon. The baker comes in at 2:00am so I'll get some overlap with the baking side of the operation (bread, croissants, danish, etc) and desserts. The chef for pastries and desserts comes in at 10:00am so I'll get a chance to work with her as well.

I think that the days will be Tuesday through Saturday but that hasn't been decided yet. We also haven't discussed fine dining desserts or banquets but it's all a possibility. I'll be there for 12 weeks.

I guess I'll be running in the afternoons now. I'll be able to work on my tan. I haven't run in the sunlight in years. I hope I don't get lost. Everything looks so different in the light when you've only seen it in the dark.