School

So, happy news: once I complete this term in school, which ends in mid-June, I'll have one more before I graduate.

I will have 3 more labs to complete, then I am finished with my Associates in Baking and Pastry. Wahoo!

Next term I will take the A la Carte class, which is the on-campus restaurant, the Chocolate Confections and Centerpieces lab, and the Advanced Patisserie and Display Cakes lab. 

Between those 3 labs, I will be in the campus kitchens 34 hours a week. I expect to not have much of a life outside of those labs.

However, despite the amount of work I expect to put forth in those classes, I can't wait to take all of them and am, for now, ignoring the great big "What are you going to do after you graduate?" question.

The easy answer is get a job. The difficult answer is saying what job and where it will be.

But again, right now I'm ignoring that question.

For now, here is what I've been making in my labs in the past few weeks:

Fougasse bread.

Pain de Campagen bread.

Semolina bread.

Baguette.

Brioche. 

{Please ignore the overly dark tops.}

Demi Baguettes.

Pains aux Raisins.

Pain au Lait rolls.

 

Kugelhopf.

Pumpernickel.

Three Grain Bread.

Berliner.

German Mason's bread.

Levain bread.

Soft Pretzels.

Stollen.

Lavash.

Naan.

Parantha Aloo.

Rubies Torte.

Rubies Torte interior.

Dobos Torte.

Dobos Torte interior.

Palomo Torte.

Palomo Torte interior.

Buche de Noel.

{Sometime called a Yule log.}

Maple Bacon Cookies

For my graduation project for school, I am to come up with a complete business plan for a restaurant. This business plan is to include menus and recipes for the items on said menu (along with a bunch of other information that I won't bore you guys with).

My restaurant is a cookie shop, and one of the items on the menu is a maple bacon cookie. Sounds fabulous, doesn't it?

Maple Bacon Cookies:

Recipe adapted from Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe

Yield: about 24 cookies

2 ¼ c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened
¾ c sugar
¾ c brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 ½ c cooked bacon, torn into small pieces

½ c maple syrup
¼ c brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375*F

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In a separate bowl combine butter and sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Add in vanilla and eggs, one at a time, until well combined.

Add dry ingredients, mixing on low speed, a little at a time until fully incorporated, and then fold in bacon pieces.

Drop rounded teaspoons onto parchment lined baking sheets and bake 9-11 minutes, or until golden brown, and allow to cool completely.

In a saucepan, combine maple syrup and brown sugar and heat on medium heat until sugar is fully dissolved and the syrup has reduced somewhat. Drizzle cooled cookies with maple glaze and let is set.

Then, my friends, you are free to inhale the cookies to your heart’s content.

Just to see what would happen, I allowed the maple/brown sugar combo to reduce further and it created a much thicker frosting-like glaze, but the sugar crystals were noticeable and it gave it a bit more of a texture that I did not care for. Go ahead and try this for yourself, and if you over-reduce it, just add a bit of water while heating up the mixture and stirring, until you get it to a consistency you like.

What I've been doing

I'm sorry friends, as you might have noticed, I haven't written a post in about a month. That isn't to say I haven't baked anything at home this past month, I just haven't baked anything new. I've made a bunch of cookies, like this and this, but I've already told you about those. 


What I am excited to show you is what I've done in school since the start of April. I'm now in the more advanced baking classes, Artisan Bread Making, and European Cakes and Tortes.


Here's a look at what I've done:

Cottage Cheese Dill Rolls

Soft Sandwich Bread

Buttermilk Biscuits

Banana Walnut Bread

Bacon Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

Black Pepper Parmesan Bread Sticks

Walnut Wheat Bread

Light Rye Bread

Baguette

(We had issues with it rising, that is why it's so puny)

Pane Siciliano Bread

Focaccia Bread

Smoked Gouda and Scallion Muffins

Whole Wheat Pizza

Ciabatta Bread

Panettone Bread

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

Braided Grissini Bread Sticks

Semolina Stromboli

Noblis Torte

Noblis Torte interior

Zebra Torte

Zebra Torte interior

Like I said, I've been baking, it's just mostly been at school.