Failing to rise to the occassion

IP Lesson III: Gateau Mille Feuille

'a thousand layers'



What else could you do with a reverse puff pasty?

A mille feuille, of couse!


The Mille Feuille means ‘a thousand layers’ in French. Frankly speaking, it really does have a thousand of butter and dough layers in the puff which makes it so crispy and its ‘melt-in-your-mouth’ kind of goodness.

The Mille Feuille go by other names such as vanilla slices and/or napoleon.

But a mille feuille by any other name will still taste as sweet.

This is one of my favourite ways of using, or rather eating puff pastry.

First of all, we had to bake three equal-sized discs of reverse puff pastry so we can assemble them. We had to ‘dock them like crazy’ in the words of one of my coursemates to prevent ‘blisters’ from forming; we don’t want a high puff, we just want the crispy layers.

It was really rewarding to take the reverse puff pasty out of the oven- the even tan of the puff pasty, the consistent puff amongst all three of the puff pasty. Next we had to prepare crème diplomat which will be the layers in between the puff pasty. Crème diplomat is similar to crème patisserie; the difference lie in the use of the gelatine in the crème diplomat which will give it a more stable structure and holding the crème in place in between the puff pastry layers.

The elements of my gateau mille feuille were coming together beautifully in a manner that I would be very proud of. Even the assembling of the gateau went without a hitch. However, the fondant icing failed me.

Or technically speaking, I failed it.

Fondant is such a finicky creature. It is easy to dismiss fondant as a sickly sweet sugar mess. You can probably say that as a consumer but as a chef working with it, you are under its mercy. Work too slowly, and you will have it setting before you can say ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ (well, that’s the longest word I know..)

That was precisely the thing that happen to my fondant. I had to spread a layer of fondant in its original state over the cake before piping a round spiral of chocolate and neon pink over it before making a design by feathering it. Before I got to the feathering bit, the fondant decides to play some mind games with me.

The worse thing about pastry is that you can’t do much corrective action like in cuisine; to add more seasoning if the soup is bland. All I could do is to helplessly allow the fondant to set before me and accept the way that my gateau had turned out. It wasn't a pretty sight (both my gateau and I).

My three hours in the kitchen has been wasted. There’s no point in having a perfectly great tasting gateau when it doesn’t look good, not to the Chef at least.

Despite it all, he was being very encouraging towards me.

"We all have these moments. Don't be too hard on yourself. Even the best chefs take time and practice to get things right."

Which brings me to this question: what if this is my one chance, that one opportunity and I let it slip? I have a feeling that there wouldn't be that many chances and opportunities for me to waste.

The thrills of reaping your rewards

IP Lesson II: Savoury petit fours

Petit fours: Mini pizzs with anchovies. kalamanta olives, cheese on a tomato concasse sauce, quiche lorraine and parmasan twists

The second day of classes on the first day of school was pretty hectic. We had to produce quite a few variety of reverse puff pastry products including mini pizzas, parmesan twists (Cheese sticks), pissaladierre, quiche.

There was lots to do and lots to bake today but I’m all for savoury stuff. I’m thinking about an instant dinner. What better than to dig into a plate of freshly baked petit fours.

Today was about reaping the rewards of yesterday’s toil. That is if you did your puff pastry and pate brisee (short pastry) well.

I enjoyed today’s lesson even though I was rushing a little towards the end to get my mini pizzas into the oven but overall the products were beautiful. They puffed up really evenly and nicely.

The petit fours tasted awesome really; you cannot ask for more with a good puff pastry with flaky layers that melts in your mouth.

So that was our dinner.
Would have been our breakfast too if we didn’t control ourselves.

pissaladierre with julienned leeks, carrots and onions

Another first (without too much anticipation)

IP Lesson I: Reverse puff pastry

Back to school once again after a two weeks break. It felt a little surreal as I walked through the school gates once again. This time, I am no longer a ‘freshman’ so to speak. I am a senior now yet at the same time, I don’t feel like I’m that good to be one.

I see them gather at the school hallway looking a little lost, wearing their starchy white uniform still fresh and new, carrying their ‘Le Cordon Bleu’ branded tool kit. That sight reminded me of myself three months ago. I felt a tad nostalgic if it’s the right word to use.

Walking into the familiar demo II kitchen, I found myself amongst cheery, familiar faces. The kitchen was bustling with noisy chatter amongst strangers-turned-friends. We also met our new chef for this term (for Thursdays)- Chef K*aren W*igston. She is no stranger to us since she was one of the examiners grading our éclairs during assessment week last term.

The lesson started proper with her referring to a long list of things on the white board which included a section on ‘work flow’, which was something unfamiliar in the demo kitchen last time.

Intermediate patisserie as I soon found out required much better time management and work flow than basic patisserie. This time, we had to present all our products to the chef half an hour before classes end (by ANY means). If not, we would not be assessed for the lesson.

Time management in the kitchen isn’t my strongest suit. This would probably sound strange for a person who enjoys (needs) to plan and be in control of things.

For me, time in the kitchen simply zoom by me. Three and a half hours in the kitchen may sound like a long time but with the numerous tasks and procedures that we have to complete, it simply isn’t. I’m still trying to work on that part.

Back to the lesson proper.

You know what’s cool: we ended basic patisserie with puff pastry and today, we’re starting intermediate classes with puff pastry. Reverse (or as some people may call it ‘inverse’) puff pastry that is.

The difference between the two types of puff pastry is the way in which the butter is enclosed in the detramp. For the reverse puff, the butter dough encloses the de tramp (dough mixture). This results in a flakier, crispier, lighter product. As far as I know (if my sources are right), Pierre Herme prefers the reverse puff pastry method.

And from this lesson, I found out that I favour this method too.

Today’s class was mainly focused on mise en place (simply means good preparation). We had to prepare our reverse puff pastry dough, fillings and sauces for tomorrow’s class because we will be making a variety of savoury petit fours.

Pretty funny that we, patisserie students, are starting the course with savoury items isn’t it?

Making the reverse puff pastry isn’t as tricky as I thought it would be. As with puff pastry, you need to (a) give the dough enough time to rest, (b) ensure that the consistency of the butter/butter dough is the same as the de tramp. For practical class, we were giving the green light to use the dough breaker which is a really cool machine.

Last term, we had to roll out the puff pastry by hand. It was back breaking and arm breaking work. Imagine having to roll it out 6 separate times. The dough breaker cuts the time by two thirds and cuts away all the pain!

Preparation of the tomato concasse which is a tomato based sauce for the mini pizzas and the filling for the pissaladierre was done in pairs. I can’t be more thankful for such a wonderful partner for Sarah and I work well together.

By the time class ended, it was already six-thirty in the evening. But our day has yet to end. We had a two hour theory class till eight-thirty. Did I mention how much I dislike late classes?

Theory was dreary as we had to learn about food safety. (Once again, it’s back to haunt me) Honestly, the classes are, at best, dry. I rather learn more about the differing ingredients in patisserie.

When the day finally ended, Sarah and I made our way to the bus stop only to find ourselves there for forty-five minutes. Those minutes crawled by; it just does especially on a cold, wintry night after a long day of classes. The feeling of misery really kicked in bad, I kid you not.

It was nine-thirty by the time I got back and ten by the time I had dinner. That’s no fun at all. That’s how much I dislike late classes. I pray and hope that the time table for Superior patisserie would be much better.

Life of a puff pastry

My Nemo which I gave away- Salmon en croute

I'm been slow on updating I admit! Been out and about too much that I'm tired from being out. I seem to hardly get enough rest over my 4-day weekend. I shouldn't be complaining really.

Back to the puff pastry products: We made the lovely beef bourguignon pie, a very traditional french pie. How can it not be lovely with close to half a bottle of red wine in it! Basically, its just lean blade beef cooked to a stew with onions, tomato paste, herbs, seasoning, wine and water. The liquids are being reduced so you will end up with a really rich and thick beef stew ready for the pie.

Since my toaster oven has chosen to break down on me, I figured that I should just finish up this savoury pie since I couldn't really keep and heat if up. I shared my beef pie with 2 other friends for lunch. It was definitely satisfying and for once, I did not have to bring lunch to school!

We also made the salmon en croute, another dish of French origin. As its name suggest, it is made with fresh salmon cooked and wrapped in puff pastry to look like a fish. It was quite a joy to be mincing garlic and onions and talking about culinary terms like sweating, sautéing for a change. The kitchen was filled with the smells of these savoury food which was a departure from the usual rich smells of butter.

We prepared the salmon mix by using fresh salmon, garlic, onion, fresh parsley, leek and thickened cream. This filling was then used with the puff pastry where we had to cut the shape of our fish free-hand. We had a whole variety of fish in class; we even had a shark! I confess to being quite an uncreative person when it comes to aesthetics so I was happy to stick with making a simple one, so long it mildly resembles a fish. Doesn't mine look like Nemo? I do think so. Ha

Apart from the savouries, I enjoyed the class on palmiers (a sweet French puff pastry usually to go with tea), pithiviers (puff pastry with frangipane filling)and chaussons (apple turnovers).

Ah! The infinite possibilities with puff pastries!

My Virgin Puff

the beautiful layers in the puff pastry

I have always avoided making the seemingly daunting puff pastry or pâte feuilletée ( ‘pat fe-yeh-teh’) . Why don’t we just use the store bought varieties? I received my answer at the end of this week’s lesson.

The making of the puff pastry from scratch is extremely rewarding and seriously, I wouldn’t mind doing it all over again.

On the first lesson, Chef M*ichael went through the different methods of puff pastry methodically-the French, the English and the Scottish method. We were introduced to the world of lamination (The layers between the fat and the dough), dé tramp (the dough you start with- flour, water and salt), and turns (the foldings to achieve the layers between the butter and the dough). As if there wasn’t enough terminology going on, we went through the different types of turns (single turn, double turn, book turn) and the different kinds of puff (full puff, half puff, three-quarter puff). By the end of the demo class, you would have your mind spinning with all these culinary terms!

***

A perfect puff pastry is crisp and flaky and full of buttery goodness! We all eat puff pastry in some form or other, be it in savouries like curry puff or chicken pie or in sweets like Danish.

In essence, the puff pastry is made up of thousand of layers of butter-dough-butter-dough. The job of a baker is to create the layers and structure of the puff pastry through a proper and systematic folding and rolling technique.

We spent the first lesson making two batches of puff pastry using (a) the French method and (b) the English method. The Scottish/ ‘rough puff’ method is frowned upon because as is name suggests is made very roughly and would not give the products as good a lift as the French or English method.

My personal favourite is the French method. Not purely because I believe that the French know their food and pastries, but also because I find that this method makes perfect sense. Think about it: Say if you want to completely cover all four sides of a book, what would you do? You would wrap it up like a present from all four sides wouldn’t you? That pretty much sums up the French method- To wrap a square block of butter from all four sides.

The process of making the puff pastry is time consuming and tiring especially when you are doing it all by hand. Imagine going through 2 kg of butter and 2 kg of flour. My arm felt so light after the class. No wonder my seniors have warned me about this particular lesson.

I feel that I have to set the records straight for those wondering about the difficulty of the puff pastry. Despite the numerous technicalities involved, it is not difficult if you are blessed with patience. You can’t rush through making puff pastry because the dough needs time to rest in between every two turns; it is not difficult if you are systematic and organized; it is not difficult if you are blessed with a cool room to work with because hot and humid weather is the arch enemy of the puff pastry. You will just get a huge lump of buttery mess if you do it on a hot summer day or just any day in Singapore. That’s why pastry chefs are in the cooler room of the kitchen. They have to be!

After a tiring Thursday, Friday and Saturday classes were dedicated to producing a range of puff pastry products- both savoury as well as sweet. The savouries were a welcome departure from the usual sweet. Finally something proper for lunch and dinner.

Will write more about it in the next post..