We made a kaiser roll/vienna loaf (turns out it's the same thing, the Kaiser-ness of the roll, if you will, comes from the design on top). It was our first time using the proofer and a skin formed over the top of it which makes it harder to make an impression in the top of it, but overall it went well. You can also use a razor blade to cut into the top of it.
Sauerkraut Rye Bread- I was pretty skeptical (not being the biggest fan of sauerkraut), but it's really pretty good and you can't straight out taste the sauerkraut it actually just makes the bread really moist.
All the culinary people in my class were dreaming of the things they could make with this bread.
French bread- I actually don't have much to say about these guys. They fell a little, apparently meaning they proofed too long.
Soft Yeast Dinner Rolls- mmmmm adding a little egg and butter makes bread TASTY (especially for us uncivilized American pallettes). They taste like Sister Schubert rolls which my sister in law introduced me to. Just what a dinner roll should be. We also used a press for these. Put a big chunk in a pan and it slices it into 38 pieces, then you can shape or not shape as you see fit.
We also started 2 kinds of prep an old dough which we take parts of in different recipes in the future (gives it a different character and flavor) and a Poolish dough which is another kind of starter dough that we made baguettes from (individually) the next day
Day 8-
We made Olive Bread which the instructor proceeded to bite into and directly into an olive pit....greeeeat... though I can say I didn't do it :)
Focaccia mmmmmmmm, probably the best with a rosemary/garlic/olive oil on top
White sandwich bread, where we learned to mix and match things to make creative fun loaves, pretty fun actually. And I taught one of the guys in my group how to braid.
Whole wheat bread (pretty)
Day 9-
Apple Pecan Bread
Potato Herb Rolls (got to use the big press again, and we added cheddar, yummy)
Pita (in a plastic bag to keep them soft), kind of interesting, but not my favorite. I don't know how many times were told DO NOT BROWN THEM
Pretzels- yum yum. You boil them before you bake them like bagels
And last but certainly not least...pizza pizza! We made the dough on Tues and made the Pizzas Wed. We all did individual ones. Did you know you should put olive oil between the crust and the sauce so the sauce doesnt soak into the crust and make it soggy. I made mine with garlic/rosemary olive oil, spinach, sun dried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozarella and some basil. (there may have been a couple mushrooms for good measure)
Science for the week- Most bread is flour, salt, yeast, water. 1) Salt, though necessary, actually prohibits yeast from growing and doing its thing. 2) There is an entire process on finding out what your water temperature should be. You want the dough to be a specific temp so there's a formula to follow. You want your dough to be 75-80 degrees and take that number, multiply by 3. Then you take the temp of the room, the temp of flour, and the friction factor (the amount of heat you add while mixing the dough, which we say is about 20 degrees) and add them together. You subtract one from the other, and tadah....the temp you want your water to be. Let me tell you, doing that work and standing at a sink with a thermometer temping the water that comes out of the sink, give slightly more warm now cooler now warmer....man I just want to make slightly warmer than my hand and call it a day.
Listening to Madeleine Peyroux on Pandora
Reading "I thought There'd be Cake" (not actually about baking, a series of humorous essays)
Felicidades a Alison!!!!!
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