Baking One-Day Course

We went to a one day baking course in Le Cordon Bleu, in Paris.

It was great. We started by learning how to make the simple white bread dough to make baguette. As I mentioned in a previous post, bread-making is half science, half art. These courses are great to get a bit of the science and a good training in the art-part. Which is great, because the science one can always read it from a book. But the art, one has to watch an expert and try it.

For instance, we learnt how to knead the dough for 15 minutes by slapping it hard on the counter. The idea is to work on the elasticity of the dough. Once it feels elastic, we added salt and saw a clear change in the behavior of the dough. It becomes softer, with a bit more plasticity.

These are the already baked baguettes we made. We made them from scratch. We started from flour, yeast and water and went through all the steps until the final result. Interestingly, we all undersalted the bread. It just seemed like so much salt when you hold it in your hand. Advice: use more salt!

We also made pain de campagne and lots of other types of bread (e.g. rye, focaccia, etc.). These breads take different flour combinatios and sometimes --like in the case of the focaccia-- olive oil. Apart from the baguette dough, most of the doughs we used during the course were made by the chef and kneaded in a machine. He would show us the process and then distribute the dough among the participants. The idea is that once you know how to work one dough, you only need to know the proportions and the times to make any other dough. It also saves time.

We tried some buttery doughs, like this kouglof, filled with raisins soaked in Grand Marnier.

We spent some time making pastries. This is the chef showing us how to make croissants. You cut the dough into triangles and then rolled them up into croissant forms. He also showed us how to make all kinds of pastries like pain au chocolat, palmiers, etc. 

These are Astrid's croissants. They take a bit of eggwash. Tip: apply eggwash, let them rise a bit, and then apply again. While they rise, the first cot of eggwash dries and the second cot adds extra shine.

And voila. I am not going to show my own croissants because they look horrible.

I loved the overall experience. I just enjoy being in a professional kitchen. It is like borrowing an alternative life for a day.

We Made Bread

We finally decided to make bread. We've been planning to make bread for weeks now, and this weekend seemed like the right time to try it out. We got some bread flour at the store, and looked at a few recipes. Bread recipes are simple: yeast, water, flour a bit of salt and the craftmanship of the baker.

The art of making bread is 85% working the dough. After mixing 400g of flour, 250ML of water and 8g of dried yeast, we emptied the wet dough onto a floured board. We learnt a few tips from online videos making bread, particularly how to turn a sticky mess into anything that resembles uncooked bread. Understanding the elasticity of the dough is of paramount importance. We worked the dough by trying to creating an elastic and tense side. Hard to imagine it, I know. You should've been there.

In one batch we made small little buns. Four, to be more precise. We put them on a baking tray and let them rise for 30 minutes or so. Then they went into a 220C oven, with some water on a bottom tray. The water seems to be important, because the steam generated from it will help make a delicious crust. Not sure why or how, but we'll find out the reason one of these days. The buns remained in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. Below is a sort of small baguette I rolled.

The three buns below are a bit amorphous. But they tasted and looked great. The crust was crispy, but not crunchy. It was thin and wonderful. Was it the steam?

Overall, we consider the outcome of this recipe a success. For future attempts, we will try to work the dough a bit better and let the dough rise on a warmer place for a longer time. We want those yeasts to create more bubble of carbon dioxide so the bread is a bit fluffier.

We made a second batch. This time, we put the bread into a rectangular mold. Also very good.

Recipe summary: 400mL bread flour, 250mL water, two tsp of salt and a 8g package of dried yeast, previously activated in a bit of warm water. Mix, work the dough a bit, let rest fo 30 minutes. Work the dough a bit more, making buns, or putting into a mold. Let rest for another 30 minutes or so. Bake in a 220C oven for about 25 minutes.

Filet Mignon de Porc, Simple.

This is a filet mignon de porc that anyone can buy in Carrefour for seven euros. I cut into two parts, a small "tip" plus a larger part with fairly constant cross-section. I made a quick sauce with mapel syrup, mustard, smoked paprika, oregano and thyme (pretty much anything I found).

It went into the oven for 24 minutes at 180C-190C and then rested for about 4 minutes. The image below shows the cooked version. The end that you see looks more well-done than it actually was when we sliced them into 6 pieces.

If there is one thing to remember: 180-190C for 23-25 min. Like always, good luck.

AV made some lightly sauteed vegetables: broccoli, mange-tout, courgette and spring onion. All green and gorgeous.

Soufflé, second try.

We tried soufflés for the second time in one weekend. This time we made four of little soufflés, two green pea soufflés, and two pesto soufflé. We read a bit more about soufflés in different books to see if there were big discrepancies in the recipes. We found a nice reipe from a book by Nigella. In essence, it was very similar. Start with a roux made of butter, milk and flour, add the yolks, the corresponding ingredients and the beaten eggwhites.

In my opinion, the exact proportions don't matter that much, as far as the mixture is light and foamy. The little soufflés cooked for 17 minutes at 190C. We decided to reduce the cooking time a little bit to see if we could get a molten center.

The picture below is a close up of a pea soufflé.

So, that's the soufflé dinner, with Sekt, rucula salad and buffalo mozzarella. What else can you ask for as Sunday evening dinner?

Soufflé, First Attempt

Today we started our long journey into into the art of mastering Souffles. We bought ramequins (don't you love that word, ramekin in English) at Carrefour and cooked the most straightforward recipe we could find, the Goat Cheese Soufflé from the Gourmet Cookbook.

Cooking any meal is an act that falls somewhere in the art-science spectrum. Even though there is plenty of science involved, making a Souffle is mostly a craft of alchemy and hope. Let's get the basics first. You make a roux with butter and flour and then milk. You only need a 1/4 cup flour + cup of milk for 8 servings. You mix it with egg yolks and your favorite ingredients (in our case goat's cheese and thyme). You beat the egg whites, and then fold them into the mixture. Put everything into the buttered ramequins and pop into the oven for 20 minutes at 400F, which I figured is about 200C. And that's it.

Below is a picture of the soufflé about to go into the oven.

And this is how they look after 20 minutes.

Ingredients for serving 8.

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• 4 large eggs, (or 6-8 small eggs)
• 1 cup Goat cheese
• thyme, salt, pepper, etc.
• Luck

The verdict. Good first attempt. We found that even though the crust looks great in these pictures, was a bit too overcooked. Flavor was fine, but the goat cheese was not powerful enough so the soufflés were on the bland side.