A land of castle, cookies, tarts and rolls II

It was a week of huffing and puffing. My back was sore and my feet are still numb but the satisfaction of completing all tasks on time worths every minute. I almost die when our chef told us that instead of 5 days to complete our group project, we got only 4 days because today is a public holiday. So here we go, squeezing 5-day work into 4 days.

Scrambled to reschedule our work plan as well as our own time management to complete two castles as well as our own 3 recipes. Again, some were not contributing as much as they should (you know who...) but I don't care because I really want to learn how to make the castles using fondant and pastillage. Here goes one of my motto: "The more I did, the more I learnt". The weasel in me came out when I indirectly managed to 'convince' a lot of my design into the castles without anyone noticing...hehehe. I got everyone to go along with the colour selection, door design and to add mosses and bricks to cover all defects.

In this project, we got to make 2 castles. One is a real cake and the other one is a dummy made from styrofoam. Fondant is a softer material which used to cover real cakes but too soft for other kinds of figure moulding. Hence, it is more palatable. Pastillage on the other hand, is easier to work with but I would not recommend anyone eating it. Here are the recipes for fondant and pastillage (they are cool to use as 'play dough' since it is completely non toxic):

Fondant
Icing Sugar......................................................5kg
Gelatin.............................................................75g
Water...............................................................430ml
Glucose...........................................................600g
Glycerine.........................................................120g

1. Mix water and gelatin for 10 mins.
2. Heat over medium fire and stir until gelatin dissolve (do not boil).
3. Add in glucose and glycerine. Mix well.
4. Put icing sugar in a mixer and using hook, stir on speed 1.
5. Add the water mixture gradually. A clay like dough will form.

Pastillage
Icing Sugar......................................................5kg/10kg/1kg
Water...............................................................450ml/900ml/90ml
Gelatin.............................................................50gm/100g/10g

1. Soak gelatin in water for 10 mins (do not stir).
2. Heat the mixture (not to boil) wait for the gelatin to dissolve.
3. Put icing sugar in a mixer and using a hook, stir on speed 1.
4. Add the water mixture gradually. A clay like dough will form.

Note: Always pack both fondant and pastillage in air tight bags or containers if not using (dry doughs are not usable). Use food colouring for any desired colour (mix in the colour by kneading the dough repeatedly until colour even).

I completed all my 3 recipes right before our project presentation at 1pm. I made some changes on the make up.Here are the pictures:

 

Verdicts: The Walnut Cinnamon Rolls and Chocolate Chip Cookies were hits! They were finished in an hour later. I had to pack some before they were finished. Unfortunately, my almond cream tarts while looked nice were not favoured. I believe I put too much nutmeg powder! HAHAHA...but the pastry shells were excellent!

How to Make Origami Lotus

After all the puff dough folding workout I did last week, I've decided to try on something less exhausting...to fold a paper lotus! This is my first time doing a proper origami (simple triangle airplane doesn't count)...I realised that it is extremely therapeutic!

Supplies:

• A4 sized coloured papers...I chose red (2) and green (1)
• ruler
• cutter/scissors
• stout string or thread   

1. Cut 12 pieces of 13.5cm X 7.5cm colored paper rectangles. An A4-sized paper should be precisely enough to make six.

2. For one flower, you need 8 pieces for the petals (red) and 4 pieces for the leaves (green).

3. Petals: Fold the paper pieces in half, parallel to the longest edge. The four corners are folded as if making a boat. Then the two longer edges are folded inwards and the paper is folded in half. Repeat the same steps for all 8 papers (red).

4. Leaves: Folding of the leaves is actually quite similar to folding the petals. Once you've reached the stage illustrated in the photo above, simply fold the two outer edges to the middle. Then fold all 4 papers (green) in the same fashion.

5. With the leaves complete, place the petals on them. One green paper (leaf) to be mounted with two red paper (petal). In the same way, add the remaining petals to the leaves. These four petal-leaf clusters are placed next to each other and held together with string at the center.

6. The flower petal-leaf clusters are folded in eight directions. Begin by folding the flower's first layer. Do this by folding the highest standing paper petals. How high the paper is folded depends on the individual. The flower can be made taller or flatter.

7. Continue folding the petals. Once the first layer is complete, the second layer can be added. With the second layer of petals folded, the leaves can then be folded out.

Puff the Magic Pastry

In the land of Honalee, Puff Pastry may be very well magical since it raises to great volume and even expansion without the help of yeast. However in reality, to my much dismay, it is simply achieved by the folding and rolling techniques and bake over high heat to create a light, crisp surface and  flaky internal structure. A very simple dough to begin with (of flour, butter and cold water), puff pastry is however not as easy as it sounds.

There are 3 types of puff pastry:

• Full puff - 100% fat of the flour weight
• 3/4 puff - 75% fat of the flour weight
• 1/2 puff - 50% fat of the flour weight

Pastry margarine is incorporated into the rested dough via 2 methods: English & French. Pastry margarine is perfect since it has higher melting point so in room temperature, it is still in block form and easy to mold. Meanwhile, to create the puff pastry, set the oven temperature between 200-220 degrees C.

Cake flour/bread flour.............................................500g
Butter........................................................................50g
Salt............................................................................3g (not necessary if salted butter is used)
Cold water................................................................250g

Enclosing:
Pastry Margarine.....................................................375g

1. Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl evenly using a hook.
2. Add cold water and butter (take control over the water). Once a smooth dough is form, gather it into a smooth ball.
3. Wrap in plastic and rest for 30mins
4. There are 2 methods of enclosure (English & French). English method is as follows:
• roll our the dough into a large rectangle.
• wrap the 375g margarine in cling film. 
• soften, flatten and form the pastry margarine into an even square block (2cm thick) covers the bottom 2/3 the size of the dough rectangle.
• fold down the top so it covers half the margarine.
• fold the bottom third over the centre and now the butter is now enclosed.
• using a rolling pin, beat the dough lightly so margarine inside is evenly distributed and roll into a rectangle.
• before folding, dust off excess flour.
• fold down the top part to the centre and bottom part to the centre (sides meeting).
• now it looks like an opened book. Fold in the centre as if closing a book. 
• rest the dough for 30mins before doing another similar fold.

I shall post some step by step diagrams and pictures soon...

A land of castle, cookies, tarts and rolls...

It is part of our syllabus to work on patisserie projects. In this semester, there'll be a group project and an individual project by the end of next semester. During brainstorming, I suggested that our group to make a fairytale inspired showpiece, incorporating all the elements we learnt the last few weeks...it got lukewarm response which I am not surprise. My group members are unfortunately a scaredy bunch who are afraid to challenge themselves. Finally, someone proposed that we make a castle out of cake (I'm always interested in fondant and pastillage so I quickly agreed) but our chef felt like it will be too simple and recommended each of us make another 3 different recipes from 3 different lessons. So I've decided to choose the followings:

1. Chocolate Chips Cookie (Week 2)
2. Frangipane (Week 3)
3. Cinnamon Rolls (Week 4)

Of course I am not going to make exactly what we learnt without challenge myself with a few tweaks on recipe and presentation. For the choc chips cookie, I am planning to create a 'yinyang' effect. The frangipane, I am planning to make a miniature version tops with different fruits (peach, strawberry and blueberry). Finally, the cinnamon rolls which I incorporate a recipe found from http://www.allrecipes.com/ and a recipe recommended by my chef. Hopefully, they will be a standout and taste good at the same time.

I hope to post pictures of the work in progress as well as the final presentation.

Breadtime Stories

There are lots to digest when it comes to bread making. However, after the whole week working with Mr Yeast and Miss Gluten, they are not as intimidating as anticipated. Personally, I find bread dough is much easier to work with but a good understanding of each step and ability to identify when the dough is ready are important. We made numerous recipes but here is the one in particular that I prefer because of its flexibility in shape and filling.

Sweet Bun

Don't let the name fools you. The dough is sweet but it is not just a 'bun'. It is the most used dough in bakeries. So, this is the same dough that you can mould and shape into any design preferred. There's a straighforward method and there's the sponge method. The straightforward method is similar to my previous post whereby, once a dough is fermented for 30-45mins, it is ready to bake after make up and proofing. The sponge method involves, bulk fermentation for 4-5 hours (overnight preferred) and add into fresh dough bits by bits followed by make up and proofing. This mixture of sponge dough allows better fermentation thus, produces more aroma and taste as well as a softer texture on the baked products.

Set temperature at 200 degrees C.

Bread flour...............................................................400g

Sugar.......................................................................68g

Eggs........................................................................30g

Dry yeast.................................................................7g
Salt..........................................................................4g
Cold water..............................................................180g (+/- 10g) depends on the dough
Butter.......................................................................24g (cut to small cubes)
Bread softener........................................................4g
Bread improver.......................................................3g

1. Mix all dry ingredients together (speed 1).
2. While mixing, slowly add in water follow by eggs.
3. Finally, add in butter and mix until smooth and do the windowpane test.
4. When it is ready, allow to rest for 20-30mins (covered with cling film and warm surrounding).
5. Once the dough increases in size (double), put the dough on a clean surface and do knocking down.
6. Cut into smaller portion of 60g each. Round and let it benching while covered in cling film/damp cloth to avoid drying.
7. Here's the fun part. You can use all kinds of filling, either sweet (bean paste, sugar, coconut bits) or savoury (tuna paste, sausages, cheese). And, lots of shapes and designs to try.
8. Remember to do proofing and once ready, brush egg wash and bake for 15-20mins or until golden brown.

sausage butterfly:

sausage roll:

tuna bun:

Memoirs of the Yeast

The infamous Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a mouthful to many and is rightfully so. Used for centuries in the F&B industry especially to leaven breads (and to create alcohol!), yeast, the single cell organism from the fungi famili in my opinion is one of the most beneficial God's creations. In ancient times, yeast were cultivated from molasses within a temperature and moisture controlled room. Of course, nowadays yeast we use were produced in factories in 3 different forms; dry, instant and compressed.

Like rabbits, yeast's main goal of existence is to reproduce. Once yeast is being fed with sugar, moisture and air, at the right temperature of 35-45 degrees C, yeast will double in quantity in every 90mins. In the presence of air, sugar is broken down to produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. In bread making, the carbon dioxide produced is a natural raising agent and alcohol is to assist in taste and aroma.

There are many types of bread recipes but the steps of bread making is quite straight-forward. To summerise, bread is nothing more than a baked dough made of flour and water and leavened by yeast. Success in bread making depends largely on two basic principles: gluten development and yeast fermentation. 

This week, we learnt to make the most basic of breads while making sure we understanding each important step of scaling, mixing, bulk fermentation, punching, benching, make up, proofing and baking.

Scaling

Accuracy in weighing the ingredients is very important. Too much liquid will create unnecessary gluten and too much salt will affect the fermentation rate.

Mixing

The action of mixing is to:

• combine all ingredients uniformly
• distribute yeast evenly
• develop gluten 

To test if the dough is ready for fermentation is to do a window pane test. Simply pull a small dough and slowly streching it. The dough is ready once an almost translusence dough is achieved.

Fermentation

A process by which the yeast turn sugar and starches into carbon dioxide and alcohol. Rounded dough is covered with cling film and let it ferment in a 25-30 degrees C surrounding. 

Punching

After fermentation, expanded dough has to be punched down to:

• expel carbon dioxide
• relax gluten
• redistribute the yeast
• equalise the temperature throughout the dough

Benching

After dividing the main dough into desired sizes, round the smaller portions and let it rest for 10-20mins (covered). This relaxes the gluten and allows shaping easier.

Make up

Dough is shaped into loaves or rolls depends on the make up of the recipe. Place in pans on baking sheets.

Proofing

Final fermentation to increase the volume of the shaped dough before baking. The temperature is about 35-40 degrees C in the presence of moisture. If no proofing chamber, a oven temperature set at proofing temperature and consistently spray mist into the oven will work similarly.

Baking

Dough will oven spring, which is the rapid rising in the oven due to the production and expansion of trapped gases as a result of the heat. Yeast dies and its activity stop. Protein and starches will set and make the dough to become firm and hold its shape. Finally, formation and browning of the crust. A golden brown crust indicates doneness.

You're a tart, lets have a quiche!

I've been a lagger lately...Besides the usual weekly baking, we are planning for our upcoming group project. We've done bread week and my posts still stuck with tarts and pies. However, the pie and tart week posed such challenge for me that every recipe seems important and worth-mentioning. After a few attempts at both sweet short pastry and pie dough, I am happy to announce that I am getting better at making the doughs. However, there are a few important points while handling these doughs, especially sweet short pastry:

1. Use cold butter and cold water.
2. Before any liquid added to the crumbs like mixture from rub in method, monitor the consistency as you add the liquid. Even though a recipe called for 100ml liquid, you can't assume that it won't be too wet (non sticky) or too dry (non crumbly, no crackings)   
3. Let the dough has some R&R. Best if you could make the dough overnight and let it chill in a fridge or once the dough being laid in a pie ring, chill it again.
4. Work quickly with the dough. Roll them evenly and always floured the rolling pin and surface. Not too much flour tho.

Here are two simple tart recipes that we did which uses baking blind. Baking blind includes an initial baking of the pastry before the filling is added. Usually bake with beans/rice so the pastry remains in shape during baking. Such pre-baking technique used for pastry cases that are to be filled with an uncooked or precooked mixture.

Fruit Tartlets

In this recipe, we'll be using the sweet short pastry for the base. Using 3cm tartlet rings, roll the dough as thin as possible. Bake blind until golden but not brown. Cool over wire rack. Melt some cooking chocolate and brush the interior of the tart shells. Let them cool.

Pastry Cream (the custardy filling holds the cut fruits in the tart shells)

Milk...................................................250g

Vanilla Essence..............................Drops

Egg Yolk..........................................50g

Sugar...............................................50g

Corn Flour.......................................25g

Butter...............................................35g

1. Boil milk in a pot. Mix half the sugar and vanilla essence into boiling milk.
2. In a separate bowl, mix egg yolk and the remaining sugar with a whisk.
3. Add corn flour into the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Stir till smooth.
4. While whisking, slowly bear in hot milk into the egg yolk mixture. Stir constantly.
5. Return everything to the pot and cook until mixture thickens (medium heat).
6. Lastly, add in butter.
7. Fastest way to chill is wrap the pastry cream in a cling film and laid it flat in a fridge.

Fill the pastry cream in piping bag and pipe it in the chocolate covered tart shells. Decorate with variety cut/sliced fruits and berries. Glaze the fruit topping with apricot flavoured glaze.

Chocolate Coffee Tart

Since the filling is sweet, we'll be using the sweet short pastry for the base again. Using 8cm tartlet rings, roll the dough as thin as possible. Bake blind until golden and cool on wire rack.

Whipping Cream/Heavy Cream.............................................90ml

Milk............................................................................................90ml

Chocolate (medalions)...........................................................120g

Egg............................................................................................half of a medium sized egg.

Coffee essence........................................................................drops

1. Combine the cream with milk in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat.
2. Add chocolate and stir until chocolate completely melted and blended uniformly.
3. Add the coffee essence.
4. Beat the egg lightly in a bowl and stir in gradually in the warm chocolate mixture.
5. Pour the chocolate liquid into the tart shells.
6. Bake at 170 degrees C and let it cool. Best serve chilled.

Quiche Loraine

This recipe, surprisingly a hit amongst all of us. Probably most of the stuff we made previously were all sweet and we can use almost anything for the filling. Since the filling is savoury, it is better to use pie dough instead.

Prepare a pie dough and do a bake blind for 20mins at 180 degrees C. Once the pastry turn golden, remove the beans and bake for another 5mins. For 2 x 5 inches or 1 x 12 inches pie ring, here's the ingredients:

Eggs...............................................................3

Milk.................................................................50g

Cream............................................................100g

Salt, pepper, oregano and herbs to taste.

Sky's the limit when it comes to the rest of the filling. Vegs: capsicums, onions, tomatoes, spinach etc...Meat: ham, bacon (cook 1st), sausage, smoked salmon etc. Finally, tops with shreded/grated cheddar cheese.

1. 
   
   Set the temperature to 160 degrees C.
2. 
   
   Add some cheese in the pastry base and all vegs and meat follows.
3. 
   
   Combine the eggs with milk and cream in a bowl and season well. Pour over the meat and vegs. Sprinkle some herbs and tops with cheese.
4. 
   
   Bake for 30-40mins or until set.