Monday, February 10, 2014
Let's give this a try: I would like my entire class from this winter
term to blog on three events that reflect back on a day in the life of
you as a student in BPA 1050. Feel free to discuss anything that will
enhance the educational experience as well as what might have improved
your experience within the classroom. Please keep this professional and
courteous to all current and future users. Thanks in advance and I look
forward to all of you sharing your professional opinions. I would like for you to take advantage of my previous classes entries, they have done the same assignment and some of the posts are a great reflections of what they had expirinced over the nine day course. Best of luck and I look forward to reading your entries!
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Today I really learned about how important it is to make sure each step is as perfect as possible. Yesterday, when we were making the danish, I accidentally confused the methods for the two breads and I balled the danish dough instead of putting it on the sheet pan and stretching it. I realized the mistake relatively quickly and tried to correct it, but the dough had already been worked so much that it was impossible to stretch into the corners of the sheet pan. When we went to laminate the dough today, it was too rounded and needed a lot more hand stretching to make it fit into a rectangle. This made us have to trim a lot of the dough off at the end because there was a lot of dough on the ends without butter. I trimmed the edges a little heavily to make up for it and chef made me weigh it out to see how many croissants I lost in the trimming process. It was about 4 croissants. I learned that it's incredibly important to pay attention to each little step. I'm going to focus more on the differences between the brioche and danish processing for sure.
ReplyDeleteDay 4
ReplyDeleteThe night before we had to make a detailed production list to plan out our day and that makes me a little more stressed out while working on production. It's hard for me to be sure how long it will take for me to finish something on my list and once you're off by a couple of minutes it just throws your whole production list off. Tomorrow we can a have less detailed production list which helps take away some of the stress because having that list of what needs to be done at certain points is more helpful if there are no times for me to be constrained to while also working at a good pace. Since there are no times it is also easier to match it up with your group mates and allows more flexibility of when you can start making something. I believe the goal of these production lists are to just make sure we are using all of our time in an efficient manner by having an idea of how we want everything to go. It might have been a bit stressful for me at times but it does work and get you prepared for the day mentally because we were done a lot earlier than other days since production was finished in a somewhat quick manner.
Day 6 -
ReplyDeleteToday was one of those days where everyone sort of lost their cool. I'm not totally sure what happened, but I've heard that it's common for the whole class to freak out on the sweet dough processing day. It was just one tiny mistake after another. Luckily nothing absolutely detrimental happened, but it was still enough tiny mistakes to throw my whole group off. I like being hyper-organized, and this class really has no organization to it. We tried making the detailed production sheets, but, like Amber said, it didn't really help (if anything, it made everything worse). In Intro to Breads, while production was happening, I made a timeline and filled it in. That way we could still have an organized schedule, but it was moving with us. I think something like that would be helpful in this class, but there's not a lot of time to keep up with it. Something my group needs to work on is to just accept that mistakes happen and to not linger on it. If I make a mistake, I give myself one minute to weigh out my options, then I make a decision on how to proceed. In a class like this, you have to make quick decisions and stand by them. That's something I've learned this year and I think my group needs to embody it a little more.
Day 6
ReplyDeleteThis day started out as a good day but towards the end it got a little hectic. We are supposed to write the times for when our croissants or Danishes are going into the ovens. While everything was proofing we mixed a berry muffin. Since some of the berry muffins were ready to bake we decided to put them in the oven without telling Chef and not realizing that it was almost time for the croissants to go in the oven. Since quick breads take 25-30 minutes to bake and we took up 1 oven so there was only 1 oven left to for croissants which caused a problem. The croissants were done proofing at close times and since we backed up the ovens with muffins we had to change one of the proof boxes into a fridge so that the other products didn't over proof. Quick breads can sit a while before they bake but that is bad for croissants and Danishes.
Day 7
ReplyDeleteToday went a lot smoother then the past day only because we are starting to get the hang of how the ovens work but they did get a little backed up for some groups towards the end. We starting making practical doughs today while having to finish our last day of production. When making the brioche the heads were too big and that caused most of them to fall over or off while they were baking. It seems like a lot groups had that problem which is weird since it never happen until now. When we were laminated our sweet dough we wanted to make sure that we were putting it through the sheeter the correct way and if we were folding it in the right direction. The other day when we made the cinnamon rolls my group folded and divided it in the wrong direction which caused the rolls to be too small so since this is the last day to ask questions before the practical we want to make sure we get everything right. My Russian braid also came out a lot better since Chef showed me how to properly measure the sweet dough when rolling it out. My group and I fixed a lot mistakes that happen on the previous day.
Day 8 -
ReplyDeleteI feel like this class isn't really showing my full potential, and I can't totally figure out how to fix that. This class, for some crazy reason, has completely jumbled my brain into a pile of mush. There's a lot of moving parts that I find hard to keep track of, and there's a lot of nuances that I can't seem to get the hang of. I keep comparing this class to Breads, but today I realized that it's completely different and now I understand why they're separate classes.
Emily and I had an interesting time on the sheeter with our danish dough today. I think the butter might have been too cold, so it shattered and didn't spread the way it was supposed to. Also, even though we were following our notes to the T, it didn't seem to look right. I have a feeling we might have some trouble tomorrow when we go to process the products made with these doughs. I'm very nervous since my brioche grade was absolutely awful (I will never understand how to make those petit tetes look the way their supposed to). Note to future students: Take organized notes, take lots of videos, and pay attention to the tiny tiny little details. If he says to make the petit tete neck the width of your pinky, do that. If he says to sheet your dough down to 8mm, do that.
Day 2 was my first real introduction to the course materials. I enjoy how thorough we are when it comes to the learning materials, this class is one of the few that I have had so far this year that I feel goes really in-depth when it comes to the products we make. I can already tell that this class is going to require a lot of focus and attention to detail, which is something that I really appreciate. Today started to pick up the pace just a little when it came to production, as each day in this class is playing off the previous days production, and I enjoy how everything sort of falls into a rhythm because of that. The dough we make today will be used tomorrow, the dough made tomorrow will be used the day after that, creating an efficient system that maintains a tight production schedule. I really like the group that I'm in, and I think that we will all be able to work well together to make lots of great products over the next few weeks! I am really interested to learn more about using the sheeter, and can't wait to be able to learn more about mass-production and everything this class embodies!
ReplyDeleteDay 6 was a bit of a tough day. While I love that production has been picking up more and more every day we are here in the lab, sometimes things happen that can cause things to not run as smoothly as they could. Over the last few days I've been seeing how important communication is within not just the group, but also the entire class, and I feel that there were some minor hiccups in regards to not fully communicating with each other. Today's production included a berry muffin on top of all of the other products we already handle in class, and by not communicating as well as we could have, we ended up being part of an issue with the use of the ovens. All muffins take a minimum of 25-30 minutes to bake, and each group had at least one tray of muffins to bake, but they did not all go into the oven at the same time, leading to the oven getting backed up in the production schedule. Once muffins go in, you can't keep opening and shutting the door to put more product in, as this will affect the bake of the product and the muffins won't have a nice dome on top. Today taught me how important communication can be because even if one oven is backed up for a half hour, this has the potential to completely wreck the production schedule for everyone that day since we all have our own individual schedules to closely follow. I'm looking forward to another great day tomorrow but I know there are more things to look out for and practice for the future like communicating with other groups.
ReplyDeleteDay 8 was our first official day of practical production, and I think it went very well. My partner and I made Pumpkin Muffins for our quickbread, and I think the class as a whole did a very good job with making sure to communicate with each other to get everything in the oven efficiently! I'm still having some problems with shaping my brioche; every time I do these I seem to be having a different problem than the last. Today when I baked mine, they looked as if there was no definition between the head and the body, which could have been due to me not rolling the neck of the dough long enough, or due to the brioche proofing for too long. My group had to put our brioche into the walk-in for a bit before we baked them due to the fact that Chef was going to demo donuts and there was another group heading into the oven before us (we couldn't keep the brioche in the oven any longer or it would severely over-proof). All-in-all, I think today was a good day of production, and I think it's been great to see how I can apply the skills I've learnt over the last few weeks to this class. I'm really thankful to have learnt as much as I have and I can't wait to continue applying these skills for the rest of my baking career.
ReplyDeleteday 5 was a regular day start off with mixing brioche and danish dough, but we also have the addition sweet dough to make for Monday. everything is pretty nice, except the croissant. since we are the first group to sheet the croissant, the dough are still soft while we take it out, and it got too soft after sheeting and dividing. and for some reason the croissant was miss scaled, instead of 3 inches some of the croissant were only 2 inches. and since the dough is soft its really hard to work with, most of the croissant ended up look like unicorn horn.
ReplyDeleteDay 6 was the first day of piratical. we have a lot of dough to mix. we have brioche, danish, sweet dough and the preferment for panettone. we also have to make banana muffins. i start off with mixing all the dough at the beginning of the class and i got some confusion because everything basically just go on at the same time. i have to keep ask my team mate and try to figure out what are we doing next, what dough we haven't mix or what dough we haven't process. when its about half way through the class, everyone starts to bake their stuff and we have to communicate with each other to try to get the oven because our banana muffins were just staying out for hours and we couldn't get the oven to bake them. but, overall i think our group work pretty quickly and smoothly on day six. and thanks to chefs help so we can get through the whole wheat danishes so quickly.
ReplyDeleteDay 6 was the first day of piratical. we have a lot of dough to mix. we have brioche, danish, sweet dough and the preferment for panettone. we also have to make banana muffins. i start off with mixing all the dough at the beginning of the class and i got some confusion because everything basically just go on at the same time. i have to keep ask my team mate and try to figure out what are we doing next, what dough we haven't mix or what dough we haven't process. when its about half way through the class, everyone starts to bake their stuff and we have to communicate with each other to try to get the oven because our banana muffins were just staying out for hours and we couldn't get the oven to bake them. but, overall i think our group work pretty quickly and smoothly on day six. and thanks to chefs help so we can get through the whole wheat danishes so quickly.
ReplyDeleteDay 8, today was the last production day of the class, we have to finish our practical. yesterday our group made brioche, danish and muffins, and we leave croissant and danish for today. overall i think today was an easy day, except all the group finish the sheeting for croissant before 7:15 and this is a very risky steps, the dough might be too soft to work with, and the dough will probably have uneven end and tilt while proofing and baking. also, the Russian braid, our group almost over bake them, and after we take it out, the class runs out of harmony glaze so we only have white glaze on.
ReplyDeleteAll of the horror stories you hear about Viennoiserie are not necessarily true. Yes, it is a very high production class and you have to have your stuff together cause if not everything will go to crap, but it's also one of those classes that you enjoy every second of, no matter how hard it gets. I'll be honest, I had a couple breaking points (like when I dropped four cartons of eggs on the floor and had to stand in the fridge so I wouldn't cry) but I learned so much in this class. Not only about delicious pastries, but about myself. It's an incredible class and Chef is probably one of the best out there, always wanting to help you out and keep you from making mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a morning person, so the expectation of early arrival to a 6 hour day was doubtful. I knew this class was all about time management from start to finish, and after my first day in Viennoiserie I was more excited to wake up in the morning. The relief of knowing you are ahead of schedule is something that I thrive off of, which also made me want to come in to begin my day. I realized that If I was motivated to time manage my post-class schedule I could get more done without sleep. Sleep deprivation in Viennoiserie is sooooo real. If you motivate yourself to make the most of our time, you realize how much can be done in one single day.
ReplyDeleteDay 2
ReplyDeleteProduction actually started on Day 2 because Day 1 focused mainly on lectures and demos. However, there was a little bit of time on Day 1 for us to actually get into production. In half an hour, we had to make the dough for brioche and Danish so we could continue the processes the next day before actually baking them. In this time, everyone was busy trying to finish, which really showed how fast paced this lab is. Having understood this from Day 1, I knew what to expect for Day 2, when we would focus more on production. There is a lot of information to be covered in this lab, however it was not too much for me to digest, having just finished another breads lab, prior.
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ReplyDeleteI started viennoiserie, I had no idea what to expect when I walked in the door. Then I experienced Chef Hitz's introduction and was introduced to the intensity of the class, I expected to hate it. However, I find that I enjoy the pressure of production and keeping up with a production schedule. However, Day 5 today was a real kick in the butt. The PM class took my group's dough so we had to compromise and take theirs that we were unfamiliar with. We laminated our croissant dough the wrong way and almost wasted 3 days of work. Every time we went to use the sheeter to laminate dough, there was someone on it before us despite the schedule we were keeping track of on the board. However, we were able to keep up and rearrange our prod. schedule so that we were done on time. Coming in at 6 am today really helped the group out and I anticipate arriving at the same time for the remainder of the class.
ReplyDeleteDay 6 Blog Today was another day of full on production throughout the day. Because of the rushed schedules on different things and equipment, we (meaning me) rushed the lamination of the Danish because we did not want to wait. Impatience is especially a downfall when it comes to enriched dough by the way. I noticed the butter was on the cold side, but the dough was different temperatures in different areas so I went with it. Some of the mistakes we made were that there were visible spots without butter from where the butter was torn (this WILL affect the final product), the danish dough was different temperatures because of how our group pushed it into the half sheet, and also we mistook the fact that the dough would still be okay if the butter was on the cold side. To be continued on how well we can act like we have no idea why theres only 8.5 layers of butter instead of 100+.
ReplyDeleteDay 6
ReplyDeleteLike all the days, today was another day full of production. As I thought I realized the fast pace and intensity of this class from Day 1, I was really in for a surprise by Day 6. We always start an hour earlier than the required time because of the nature of the yeast-based products being made, which requires a substantial amount of proof time that just cannot be reduced in any way. To ace this class, and to be on top of production, the following virtues are BEYOND necessary; concentration, focus and organization. Wait, did I mention organization?! Chef re-enforces these concepts through the production schedule that we have to make. Laying out everything to be done and putting a time to it, really helps the process because it gives each group an idea what to do, in order to maximize time. There is also a sheeter schedule on the board which allows the entire class to organize the order in which the sheeter will be used, to avoid any chaos or time wasting.
Day 7
ReplyDeleteThe nature of the products made in this class requires a lot of technique, which of course won’t be mastered on the first or second try. Numerous amounts of practice is necessary. I remember always having a problem shaping the classic brioche, so I would call Chef over to guide me as I tried to correct my technique but for some reason I still was not able to get it. However, chef made us do the brioches almost every day of the lab, which of course, incorporated all the necessary practice. Towards the latter days, before the practical my brioche shaping became MUCH BETTER, thanks to the five million mistakes I made prior. This experience emphasized the importance and the wonders of practice, not just in terms of mastering techniques but in everything we do, not to get too sappy or cliché. These past seven days have not had enough practice to make me the best brioche shaper in the world, but the progress I made in the short span of 7 days is significant, and this really shows how the concept of practice is magical.
Day 2:
ReplyDeleteAfter going home from class yesterday I felt much more confident about what would be going on in class. I had a good understanding of what this class would be like and I felt really good about being repetitive and doing the same things. I know some might think it will get annoying doing the same thing all the time but i think it will help me to get a really good understanding of what we are doing and how to do it. I was a little hesitant on being in class at 6 A.M. but I actually really enjoyed being there. I was not tired and I felt energised, I wanted to work hard. As much as everyone hated being there so early I really enjoyed it. I felt so much better knowing that I would have time to get everything done and the day wouldn't be so stressful.
Day 4:
ReplyDeleteOn Day four we ran into some trouble with our brioche. When we flattened it out to divide the dough we did not do it properly. The edges around the circle were not at a 90 degree angle. Because of this, when we took the dough out of the dough divider the pieces were not even. The pieces on the outside were smaller than the ones on the inside. They are supposed to weigh 90 grams and the outside pieces were noticeably smaller. We had to go ahead and rescale all of the pieces by hand. It took unnecessary time out of our day so we started to get behind. But since we knew we were behind it motivated us to work faster and harder.
Day 7:
ReplyDeleteWe had a lot to do on day seven and it got quite hectic. We knew we had so much to do in a short amount of time. My group mates and I divided the work and worked as efficiently as we could and conquered the work. It was a bit stressful but it was exciting at the same time knowing that we had a plan that we were confident in. We were able to work efficiently and were even able to take on extra work making fillings for the class. We were able to help the other teams by making fillings that they needed help with sowe would not be as behind when we need them for the practical. It felt good knowing that we were able to help our classmates when they needed us.
Day 5:
ReplyDeleteWhen we had to make our zucchini muffins we messed up on the order in adding the ingredients. Our group was suppose to add the walnuts with the zucchini and after mixing it together until incorporated, we had to add the walnuts we forgot. That being said our muffins came out tougher than we wanted because of all the extra mixing we had to do.
Day 2
ReplyDeleteIn today's we learned many new things. Today was the first day we laminated our danish dough. We learned the entire lamination sequence. Remembering all the steps and when to rotate the dough was the hardest part of laminating. Once I got used to the sheeter, it became easier. Today was also the first day we processed brioche. Chef demoed how to divide and shape each brioche roll. The classic were the hardest, my heads came out messed up because I did not roll the ball after hitting it at an angle. I did not rotate enough so the seam came to the top messing them up while proofing I now know what I did to do to ensure the heads come out correctly next time. Also we made another round of danish dough, and brioche dough to practice again. Overall today was a good day and learned new things, but also had a few hiccups.
Day 4
ReplyDeleteToday we did a variety of things. First we mixed more danish dough. We keep mixing danish so we can practice more for the practical. We also processed brioche again today. The classic tarts came out a lot better today, except we over proofed them. With a lot of chaos going on and proof times in our heads. We proofed the brioche for over 2 hours instead of 45 minutes. Also we processed the danish dough. We sheeted it to the length and width of the sheeter belt. My group made croissants today. They came out okay for our first time rolling them. My problem was that my hands were very warm and when I rolled them, the butter was melting too quick to properly form the ends. They were put in the proof box quick because they take such a long time to proof. We also laminated another generation of danish dough. Lastly, we produced zucchini muffins. The mistake we made with the muffins was that we did not mix the zucchini in with the wet, which made the dough tougher.
Day 6
ReplyDeleteToday started off quite rocky. I was not in class yesterday, and when I came in early today, no one from my group was there yet. I wasn’t sure what needed to be done first. My group was paired with another to mix and princess out seasonal bread which was panettone. We then mixed another generation of brioche to put in the freezer. Also, we started sweet dough mix for production. The quick bread we made today was berry muffins. They came out good except we used the incorrect crumb topping, and they were slightly underbaked. The color could have been a little darker. We also processed brioche, my classic tarts came out very good today and only had one “turtle”. The swiss rolls made today were some of my best. Also we laminated another dough for danishes.
Day 8, today we practiced our practical divide of our danish dough, our practical brioche, and practiced sweet dough. Overall, it was a slower day, but theres always still so much to learn even when making these products so many times. Today our cinnamon rolls had too much filling, the brioche had not enough filling, and our croissants were under proofed by an hour. I don't honestly know how that got mixed up, but I think that could have been solved by just rechecking the time code with the whole group and being sure of the schedule. Our classic brioche came out really nice, and it was encouraging to see how much better our whole group got at those. If I had to give advice to another class going through all of the same procedures, I would tell them to mainly be patient don't rush your products, but be on top of things and double check everything with your group.
ReplyDeleteDay 8
ReplyDeleteOn day 8 our product overall came out pretty good, the only problem was our croissants. They were under proofed so after being baked the inside of the croissants were denser than we wanted them to be. To fix this just make sure the dough is proofed for 3 hours at minimum and then decide from there whether or not if they need more proof time or can be baked off.
Day 8
ReplyDeleteBesides the whole croissant dilemma the rest of the product, (brioche, sticky buns, cinnamon buns, russian braids, and snails), came out pretty well. The only issue with our cinnamon buns and sticky buns were that there was too much cinnamon filling in it. That being said the filling was popping out of the roll more than we wanted and had almost a too strong taste of the cinnamon. This can easily be fixed by just putting less filling in before rolling the dough.
Day 1
ReplyDeleteNot much to say about day one. It's pretty much filled with lecture and failed attempts at intimidation. Just kidding, not really. But today wasn't really a big production day. I will say I was reminded of the dead zone in the oven which I can say will definitely save future product.
Day 2
ReplyDeleteToday was our first day of production. We made brioche and mixed Danish dough. I can say the highlight or biggest skill I learned was how to laminate dough. It seemed a bit scary but it is not to be feared but embraced. I will say one trick to learning to master the controls, DO NOT OVERTHINK IT..!!! Everything that's done in this class is completely relaying on your confidence. Be confident and be consistently improving. Oh and you might want to pay attention to how to work the proofer, just saying.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteLaminating.......learn the sequences. It only will get more overwhelming if you don't. Oh and make sure that whomever you work with is confident in themselves or its only going to make it worse on you. Time is money and money is the thing that you definitely don't have an abundance of. So do it right the first time and the second time will be a piece of cake.
Day 2
ReplyDeleteToday we made brioche and mixed danish dough. It was an okay day, I had miss scaled the flour for the brioche for gen. 2 but it was okay because Chef caught the mistake and we were able to fix it. We also learned how to set up the proof box and how to change the convection oven options like adding steam. We also learned how to work with the sheeter and it was not as bad as it seem once it was your turn to drive it.
Day 5
ReplyDeleteToday we made Sweet Dough, Hazelnut Danish and Banana muffins. Today was a good day because we were not as behind as we usually are. We also made our best laminated danish dough today too, it was very squared the way Chef said to have it. We also are very used to the sheeter and it is not as much as of a challenge as it was on day 2.
ReplyDeleteIt is the first day of Vienoiserie. I have heard this class is demanding but very rewarding. I arrived to class earlier and good thing I did because a couple kids showed up late and that is not the best way to make a good a first impression. The overall day wasn’t as bad as people told me. We didn’t do too much production but Chef was sure to warn us today was one of the easiest days and that there would be many moving parts that we’d have to keep track of throughout the lab. Sure enough by day two, I saw how busy the class could get work.
Today is day 2 of Vienoiserie and my group was in charge of making Danish. We had all the ingredients ready to go and started combining them. As the ingredients were mixing on first speed I realized the yeast wasn’t dissolved in to the mixture. We then quickly realized the mistake and poured it into the preexistent dough. After we placed the dough in a covered container to let ferment for 2 hours at room temperature, 2 hours later our dough didn’t rise as much as everyone else’s. We told chef about our mistake and luckily it wouldn’t affect the final outcome to much we just had to let the dough ferment longer.
ReplyDeleteToday is day 3 of class and its definitely getting busier. We had to laminate our Danish, MOP for tomorrows croissants make our blueberry filling and on top of all that we had to make pumpkin muffins. After the muffins batter was mixed together, it was our turn to laminate the Danish. We have to let our muffin batter sit longer then intended and it became a little thicker. After they were baked we realized the muffins tasted dense because the batter was overmixed and sat to long.
ReplyDeleteDay 2
ReplyDeleteMy group and I forget to add the butter to the Danish dough when mixing. However, we were still able to add the butter after the dough was mixed.The butter was not incorporated fully as there was a block of butter in the dough when we went to laminate. I would suggest doing a checklist when mixing a dough and not to leave it up to one person.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteToday, we over baked our brioche. We baked for 20 minutes when the baking time is considerably shorter. I would definitely say that it is imperative to be sure of what you are doing as undesirable finished products can be the end result. Additionally, not just you but also your partners as this uncertainty can be reflected through the group's production.
Day 5
ReplyDeleteToday,we messed with laminating our dough. When we went to finish our laminating sequence the sheeter was not opened all the way. Therefore, when we passed the dough through it pretty much shredded our dough. It was savable and usable. However, I would suggest doing a check before going to use the sheeter. Ensure that the dial is open, the dough is in the correct orientation and YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSE TO BE DOING! The sheeter is no place for uncertainty.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteOn Day Three, we were instructed on how to go about our assigned cleaning positions, and one of the things my group was in of was cleaning the sheeter. While we were all figuring out how to go about cleaning the sheeter for the first time, we got distracted and forgot that our Brioche was still in the oven. Due to this, our Brioche was over baked, and there was a big difference between the color of Chef's Brioche and ours. This was a pointer to how important it is to be on top of things, because there are a lot of things going on at once in this class, and it's crucial that you keep them all in order.
Day 5
ReplyDeleteOn this day, when we were laminating our dough for croissants, there was a major mistake. We were doing this during clean up, so everything and everyone was rushed, and this caused a mistake. After the dough was trifolded, I forgot to open the sheeter back up, so when the dough attempted to pass through it was blocked. This caused the machine to begin to shred/flatten one section of the dough, which seemed worse than it really was. It was a manageable mistake, and only caused a few croissants to differ in size, but it still was daunting looking at our seemingly destroyed dough. This shows just how key working the sheeter is, and how you must be fully in the zone when using it. Don't become rushed, because this leads to mistakes. Take your time and know the sequence.
Day 4
ReplyDeleteOn this day, there was a scaling error with our dough. We added too much liquid which caused the weight of the dough to be considerably over what it should have been. This further enforced the importance of being exact when scaling out your ingredients, because it can affect the dough a lot and change the entire outcome of the product.
Day 2
ReplyDeleteToday I learned the importance of time management when there are multiple moving parts of production. It is very easy to get confused and overwhelmed when juggling many dough's at different stages but it is important to keep track of it all and get it finished on time. Writing schedules and having a timer are essential in being successful in this class. Good communication between your teammates also helps keep your day on track so everyone knows exactly what you're supposed to do and when you have to do it.
One thing to know about this class is that YOU HAVE TO MOVE FAST or you will be left behind. Especially when laminating or even just simply filling your brioche. You have to move fast so that the fats don't melt, the dough doesn't over proof, and so you will be able to keep up with chef and the rest of the class. If possible, do things in advance if you know you have time to do it like scaling your dry ingredients. Every little thing you do helps better the future.
ReplyDeleteDay 3
ReplyDeleteChef warned us that today would be a very busy, overwhelming day but as long as you listened to him and had good communication between your teammates you'll be fine. Today it was important to constantly think ahead to your next task. If you were working on brioche while waiting for the sheeter then you had to remember to take your butter block out otherwise you delay other groups. Thinking ahead keeps your team on schedule so you aren't running around at the end of class trying to get everything done.
Day 4
ReplyDeleteToday we had less items to produce so my team worked efficiently to get it all done pretty early. We weren't always sure what to do to kill time but Chef reassured us that there was always something we could be doing. You should never just be standing around waiting for things to bake or cool down. You should always be moving, if there's nothing left to make then start cleaning and clean until the end of the day. Being proactive and staying busy will help you finish the day and get out of class on time.
Day 5
ReplyDeleteI felt that today went by very fast! Between chef’s demos and lots of production that needed to get done, it was a busy day. I felt that my team works very well together and is very efficient. Most of the time we are always ready for what is coming up next. For homework, we made a production schedule for this day and I found that it somewhat helpful. As we keep making doughs it gets confusing to remember what generation we are working on, but on the plus side making all of this dough multiple times helps me remember crucial steps that need to be taken when mixing, laminating, and shaping these doughs.
Day 6
ReplyDeleteToday was a little stressful because we were working with sweet dough which was something new. Not only was it stressful day but it was a little frustrating and personally I felt slower today compared to other days. Other than that, I really enjoyed making products from sweet dough and learning how to do it.
Day 7
ReplyDeleteToday was the busiest day out of all nine days. There was lots of production that had to be done and I felt that my team did a great job working together today. We worked very efficiently and got everything done on time. Today I also think I did a better job on shaping the Petit Tetes, but they could still use some work. I have really enjoyed taking this class and has been by far one of my favorites.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteI felt like today was one of the toughest days, mainly because it was our first time working with 3 different danish doughs at once. Keeping track of what dough was being processed, what one was being laminated, and which one was just being mixed was one of the most difficult things for me. However this is something that got easier as I got used to doing it. Today was also one of the busiest days of the lab and we had a lot to learn when it came to shaping danish which made the day more confusing. However, good communication skills, not only in individual groups, but as an entire class kept the day running mostly smooth.
Day 5
ReplyDeleteToday would have been very difficult without a production list. The production list helped keep track of everything and even though we didn't follow it exactly, keeping track of how long everything should take kept us on track. Making changes on the list helped me learn how easy it can be to be adaptable as long as you continue to keep track of what has been done and what still needs to get done. Today proved how difficult it can be to predict exactly how everything will go in a kitchen but also how important it is to keep getting work done and stay on schedule so everything can be finished on time.
Day 6
ReplyDeleteDay 6 was a busy day, that was also a little stressful because we started a lot of new things. Not only were we trying to keep track of the processes used to make 3 different seasonal breads, it was also our first time processing sweet dough. Overall, I think my team managed our time well and were able to accomplish everything we needed too.
Today was day 5 and now we are working on 4th and 5th generation danish and brioche, I think my group and I are finally getting the hang of keeping track and setting timers for the multiple steps in fabricating these doughs, for the first time in this lab my group finished production first.
ReplyDeleteI want to keep practicing the petit tets because I know I can improve more. I need to create more of a neck between the head and shoulders.
In this class, a lot of people get lazy toawrd the end of the day and don't participate in the cleaning process. I think as a class we can improve by dividing up tasks rather than not knowing where to start everyday. overall I am really enjoying this class, I have never made laminated doughs before this and I love it.
Yesterday was Day 6 and it was clear that it was a Thursday, I felt like everyone in class was moving a little bit slower and there were tiny mistakes made in every group because everyone seemed tired and ready for the weekend. But, we did get a ton of production done which was great. We made petit tetes, danish, chocolate croissant, snails, sticky buns, berry muffins, cinnamon rolls, russian braid, and finished off our seasonal bread. With the extra practice yesterday I feel confident in my skills for the practical on Monday, I am ready to prep all of the doughs for the remaining few days of class. We also made a production schedule for class and I found it extremely helpful, I will be making another one for each day of the practical, it made it easier to set timers and keep track of all of the doughs we have. Loving this class more each day.
ReplyDeletetomorrow is the last time in viennoiserie and I can not believe how fast it has gone by. Today was the second day of our practical and I think it went well. I made petit tetes and there heads were more than 1/3 the size of the body so I can understand where I lost the points. I also practiced danish for the last time and made zucchini muffins for the practical. tomorrow we will make our last batch of sweet dough products and danish, I fell confident that I can process both doughs properly and have a successful practical. I am also very happy to report that today was the best team work our class has done when it comes to cleaning. I think the motivation of a 100 santitation grade is what pushed everyone to get the job done.
ReplyDeleteDay 6: My team and I , not to mention the whole class felt a little sluggish today. Which lead to a slower production. My group has slowly been getting better on our petite tete, although we lost track of time and over proofed them.
ReplyDeleteDay 7: This was the day most of our dough’s needed to be made for the final, so it was a little crazy. I had cut my thumb the day before , so participating was a little harder than usual.
Day 8: The 8th day was one of the most intense days. My group is down one person we really had to pick up the slack to catch up with the other teams, but timewise it was a good day. My petite tete didn’t turn out so well for me though; I made the head too big and one ended up falling off.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMadison Sooy
ReplyDelete10/19/17
Today in class I was whisking an egg wash in a square container and chef told me to only whisk in round bowls because whisks are rounded and they’re made to whisk ingredients in round bowls/containers.
10/23/17
Today in class we were doing our third tri-fold on our danish dough and chef commented on the fact that we weren’t precise enough with our second tri-fold and that there would be a section of dough with less layers than the rest because of this.
10/23/17
Today when we went to laminate our danish dough chef pointed out that our butter was not rolled out flat enough, and that this could cause our butter to rip or tear when we go to laminate.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteToday my group and I did the laminating process on our Danish dough. I found it harder then expected to remember when to rotate and when you don't rotate the dough the right way it can cause the dough to become longer then needed.
Day 5
ReplyDeleteToday we made petit tetes out of our brioche dough. Chef commented on the size of head of the petit tete I was making and told me it needs the be 1/3 size of the dough. when the head is to big it can fall to the side or even break off when it is baking.
Day 5
ReplyDeleteToday the croissants my group made were not consistent in size and did have at of layers. This was caused because when my group and I were processing the dough we took to long and the dough got to warm.
day3
ReplyDeletetoday in class I incorrectly made a brioche dough when scaling I believe we did not clear the scale and cause the dough to not have enough flour
day 6
today my group forgot how to laminate and make croissants and chef had to show us the proper way to do so by me missing lab 5 I was unable to help and not help my group
Day 8
today we start our practical and apart of the practical was to make muffins making the batter was pretty easy and then it was time to bake not only did my group go into the oven to early causing chef to have a uproar we also bake out muffins at 360F instead of 345F a whole 15 degrees which caused are muffins to be a little under baked.
Day 4: Well Day 4 so far has been the most problematic day. It all started off by me putting the finely ground sea salt instead of the iodized salt into the Danish dough.
ReplyDeleteThen I proceeded to measure the yeast right into the rest of the dry ingredients,
which isn’t correct either, you’re supposed to measure it separately so that you can
put it in with warmed wet ingredients. Then, only to add to all of my little mistakes, a person from group 1 knocked off our dry ingredients all over the table and slightly
onto the floor. Thankfully though, we didn’t have to re weigh out our ingredients.
Everything that went wrong ended up working out and nothing was so serious that it completely ruined everything.
Day 5: Day 5 definitely wasn't as bad as day 4 but there was definitely it's troubling moments. The only real issue we had was with the whole wheat dough, I'm pretty sure there was too much flour added and the dough didn't come out right, it was too dry. There was no fix but thankfully the second time it came out right. The only other slight issue that occurred during the class was our Danish dough was slightly too soft when laminating. Thankfully everything worked out with it and it wasn't messed up. We just have to be more careful with the temp of the dough.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDay 2: Today was a fast-paced production day that was only a fraction of what we will be doing tomorrow. Although today was our first heavy production day in this lab segment, there were still some mistakes made. My group and I were rushing a bit trying to get the majority of the work done, which was our first mistake. We didn’t have good communication so while one person knew what was going on someone else probably thought something completely different. We were going to cut our brioche dough into 90g even pieces. I have never used this machine that we were using before, but Chef had given us instructions. Even though I thought I had grasped the concept I did not cut the dough correctly, but I later found out that our dough would have cut unevenly either way because it was still too hard from the walk-in. This was my entire teams mistake because there was lack of communication, no constructive help from one another when mistakes were made, and a loss of precious time. I know that I really have to slow down and learn how to communicate with my new teammates. After this setback, I believe that we began working much more efficiently, tomorrow I will make sure that it does not take a mistake for us to work well together.
ReplyDeleteDay 3: Today was supposedly the busiest production day that we would have in this course. Although there was a lot of things to get done, I did not feel all over the place as I thought I would. My team and I stayed on top of things and finished everything we needed to get done as soon as possible. We even had time leftover so that we got to produce monkey bread and pumpkin muffins. We did have one setback where we forgot to put our Danish dough into the freezer before laminating, that set us back about an hour which made me think that everything that we had going on would fall apart. Although we were a little behind we picked up the pace and got it all done; and we only got out of class 5-10 minutes late. Our tarts and petit tetes all turned out better than the day before which shows progress! Chef also said that our croissants were textbook and great which made my team and I very proud and happy. Tomorrow I will again get to class around 6:10 to get a head start on day fours production, coming to class early in this lab segment is really helpful because of the multiple products being made and the variation in proofing time and baking time.
ReplyDeleteDay 4: Today my group and I got to switch gears and make our Danishes! It was very nice getting to choose the flavor profiles we wanted to do for the Danishes, and then the Swiss brioche tarts. Although we were doing great on time and organization throughout the day we did have some mistakes. When we were laminating our Danish dough (generation 3) for the second time, only one of my team members was working on the sheeter. I told my other group member who didn’t seem to be too busy to please go check on her. Long story short, there was some miscommunication which ended up very bad for our dough. The dough was too thick and was pushed through a sheeter that was on too thin of a setting. This shredded half of our dough so now we can no longer use it. Thankfully we didn’t have to restart and make an entirely new dough and butter block. My chef took off the ruined portion of dough. We will have less dough than everyone else but it is better than nothing. I was really only annoyed with myself because I knew that there should have been two people at the machine, but I didn’t go because I was in the middle of something. I should have gone with my gut and asked someone to go help or I should have stopped what I was doing for a short while to check in on the progress of laminating our dough. It was a learning experience and a mistake that I will definitely not make again.
ReplyDeleteDay 8: Day 8 started off smooth as soon as my group and I remembered that we had forgot our third fold on our whole wheat Danish dough so we couldn’t process it. We decided to just process our sweet dough that we had left in the refrigerator the night before, only to discover that it had been moved into the freezer. After a slight freak out, we came up with a plan and will complete all of this Monday. Then, further on in the class after my teammate and I had finished our Danish dough for the practical, a group had came up to us only to tell us that they had apparently misread the label and did a fourth fold on our Danish dough, making it unable for us to use on our practical. Thank goodness chef let us switch with our teaching assistant and we should be okay for Monday.
ReplyDeleteDay 2: Today was fast-paced! We were told that it will be twice as worse on Day 3. My main skill I need to work on is communicating efficiently in a group (since I am soft spoken) and moving quickly around the kitchen. My group never liked to communicate anything. Whether it was deciding to come in at a certain time or how llong something proofs or bakes. When ever they asked me something regarding the proofing or laminating, they never trusted me and attempted to remember on their own. This lead to a learning experience for our group because when we went to laminate our Danish dough they though they knew what to do even when I told them not to, they trimmed the edges during both tri-folds. Chef told us that the trimmings would be a ton of wasted money in the industry. Another learning experience from today was that one of the groups attempted to portion their brioche dough when it was still to cold. They ended up cutting the dough by hand into 90g pieces. Another group added the yeast to their dry ingredients for the Danish dough instead of stirring it into the warm liquids.
ReplyDeleteDay 1: Today was the first day of segment one! I was told Chef Hitz is funny but also serious. My roommate had Chef Hitz last Trimester and she would come back and tell me all the funny stories about things he said or did in class. We had an intern in our class who will be helping out. We started with a brief lecture then he picked out groups and we went into brioche and Danish production. The chef already had everything scaled out for us so we only had 45 mins to complete both doughs. It we did not finish on time we owed Chef Starbucks. He told us he can drink a lot of cappuccino. This was one of the stories my roommate told me to I already knew! After the production we started cleaning and went back into lecture and cleaning assignments. My group is in charge of the dish pit and the "amazing" greasetrap. I hope Day 2 will be just as good.
ReplyDeleteDay 8: This was the first day of the practical. We made our sweet dough products, our lottery quick bread which was banana muffins and laminate our Danish dough. We also made savory Danishes and pretzel croissants with our Generation 5 whole wheat Danish dough. Our mistake of the day was processing our WW dough that only had 2 tri-folds. The end products did not look bad. It had beautiful layers but that was not what Chef asked for. It was also Saint Nicholas Day in Europe so we made doughboys with sweet dough. It was a lot of fun to see the end results of everyone's likeness!
ReplyDeleteA learning opportunity that I appreciated was working with the steam on the ovens. One group went into an oven that had been set to steam when they went in with their petit têtes. Brioche is not supposed to get steam in the oven, and when this happened, their brioche sort of melted together. This was important to me because it made the class recognize what steam actually does to items that don’t need it. It can be a useful tool to some recipes but disastrous to others.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I appreciated in class was using the sheeter. The sheeter machine makes lamination so much easier and quicker than having to do it by hand. Especially in a class where we have to process and laminate and mix and bake so many different things all at once it was really important having that tool to help us along. Once I recognized the controls of the machine it was very simple to operate. It’s a very useful thing to have tools such as these when working in a bakeshop because you wouldn’t always have time to do it by hand. Also whenever you do things by hand there’s more room for error. Another thing the sheeter does is maintain uniformity. You can set the machine to a certain thickness and make all of your doughs exactly the same, and that’s very important when you’re making multiples of certain products. The sheeter is just an important tool to have and I’m glad I understand how to operate it now.
ReplyDeleteBeing a kinesthetic learner, I learn by doing things myself after I receive instruction. However it make take me a couple of tries to get it right; I’m not always good right away. I appreciate being able to make certain things multiple times and get better each time. The first time I made petit têtes, they were very inconsistent and not proportional. I understand in theory what I was supposed to do, but I needed to physically do it to learn how supposed to be. My shaping got so much better after making them a couple of times; I improved a lot with making them. I’m very happy with how they look, even though there’s always room for improvement.
ReplyDeleteDay 6 of Viennoiserie was very productive! We are getting in gear for practical. We started working with sweet doughs and that is a lot of fun. It is really important when rolling up sticky buns that you start rolling from the sides then catch up in the middle in order to have a log with minimal waste. I also thought it was really interesting that the smear we use in class is a solid. I always thought it would be a liquid or even a bit of sugar on the bottom of the pan. I really enjoy the flavor it brings and the almost chewy consistency. My group also dabbled with coffee cake. We made the most delicious coffee cake in the world. You would never guess that the secret ingredient is sour cream. Overall it was a pretty good day!
ReplyDeleteDay 7 was technically the first day of practical. We had to split off into pairs and make doughs. I learned how hard it is to work out mixing time with so many groups. This made me realize that time management with others is a big part of the industry. Because we are in a learning environment we get to work comfortably with excess time, ingredients and space. In the industry you are most likely going to be sharing the kitchen and equipment with a whole team of people so this was a really great learning experience. Everyone's doughs got done so I'd say it was a successful day. I am anxious but slightly excited to see how tomorrow will be with all of the groups trying to laminate their doughs in one day. It is crucial that the doughs all get laminated tomorrow especially with the extended proofing time danish dough requires. Wish me luck!
ReplyDeleteSomething I always used to struggle on was remembering the sequence to processing croissants. I could never remember to roll out the dough to the width of the belt, then rotate to the desired thickness. However, it has become easier for me to understand the process mainly because I think before I act. Before I just questioned why we did things and now it all makes sense for why we do what we do when laminating and processing croissant dough. It’s something really silly but now thinking about it it makes sense in my head and I have no problem processing croissant dough.
ReplyDeleteSomething I always used to struggle on was remembering the sequence to processing croissants. I could never remember to roll out the dough to the width of the belt, then rotate to the desired thickness. However, it has become easier for me to understand the process mainly because I think before I act. Before I just questioned why we did things and now it all makes sense for why we do what we do when laminating and processing croissant dough. It’s something really silly but now thinking about it it makes sense in my head and I have no problem processing croissant dough.
ReplyDeletePractical today was a hoot. We made muffins and brioche. I am so proud of how the banana muffins my partner and I made because they were fantastic. The cross section was really nice with no tunneling. I did however struggle with the bake of my brioche. They were really dark. Thankfully there were no turtles and all of them came out very consistent with a great shape. The key was to elongate the neck of the dough so it didn't pull back during baking. We also laminated our danish doughs. It actually wasn't as big of a time crunch as I thought it would be with all of the groups trying to get their tri folds in. However, it was a time crunch getting everything in the oven on time. Yeasted doughs have to take precedence and at some points there weren't any ovens available. That is something I will have to look out for on day 9.
ReplyDeleteTo begin every lab we make Danish and Brioche dough. When measuring out the ingredients we are supposed to put the largest measurement in first. My group did this but when we put the other ingredients in, we put them in a pile in the middle. What we should have done, and what we do now, was put the other additions in their own corner. This way we could keep track of what we put in. Also, if we over measure, we have the opportunity to remove some.
ReplyDeleteToday was day three in my Viennoiserie lab and we learned how to make Danishes and proof them. We laminated the dough the day before and made them to correct size today. You have to proof the dough for a certain amount of time and the temperature has to be perfect. After the first hour, my group pulled them out to push the corners back in. The edges of our dough were a bit hard. We learned that we had the temperature too high in the proof box. After this we made sure to keep a better eye on our dough and the temperature.
ReplyDeleteClass today was very hectic but a lot of fun. We made brioche dough to make classic brioche and danish dough to make Croissants. After rolling a few brioche, it became easier. After each product was made we proofed them. We kept a close eye today throughout the entire process. We sprayed water to provide humidity, checked the temperature, and kept time of everything. Before putting them in the oven we had Chef check them and he informed my group that we were spraying the water too close to the doughs. We are supposed to spray the walls of the proofer. In the end, most of our Croissants and Brioche turned out great.
ReplyDelete-In class when my group was doing the practice croissants for the practical, we did not rotate our dough on the sheeter do the belly was not facing the right way. This caused our croissants to fall and look like ice cream cones when baking.
ReplyDelete-The other day in class, we pulled our brioche dough, divided the dough, rolled it, and then let it sit on the bench for a period of time while we processed our danish dough. This caused our brioche to get very warm and we ended up over proofing it and our classic brioche got very large in the oven and fell over while baking.
-While rolling the sweet dough for our Russian braids, I made it too wide and it did not fit in the pan. Had to fold a lot of dough under the braid and when it baked, it caused one side to be higher than the other side.
As far as day three goes, I know there is a lot about it on this blog, but I didn’t feel it was any different from any other day in this lab. Everyday there is a lot of things to get done, and as the days go on it just gets a little more hectic as you have to keep track of more doughs. An important thing to remember, which my group learned the hard way after our first time making croissants, is to keep track of how many folds you but in the dough while laminating. FOLDING IN THE BUTTER IS NOT A TRIFOLD. After your product is baked it is very clear if the dough was not laminated correctly. The last major takeaway I had in this class was making sure to communicate with Chef, your teammates, and the rest of the class. You don’t want to hold up an oven and cause everyone to behind, and you don’t want to freeze your dough solid or have it be too soft when you are next to laminate.
ReplyDeleteDay 2
ReplyDeleteIn today's we learned a lot of new things. Today was the first day we laminated our danish dough. We learned the entire lamination sequence. Remembering all the steps and when to rotate the dough was the hardest part of laminating. After I got used to the sheeter, it became easier even though not having my glasses or contacts, did make the numbers alittle hard to read.
Day 3
We made croissants, our second time using the sheeter it was pretty easy once you knew how to work it and know the sequence with the numbers. I wanna say the most confusing part and some what hard was the cutter and getting it to 3inches. After cutting it we had to roll it into the croissant shape, most of them did come out right. We made a mistake with placing them on the sheet pan and putting them to close that when they baked the sides expended and touch each-other giving them a white spot that was noticeable. We could had prevented that by spacing them out. The overall shape and color came out good.
Day 5
It started out hard, once 1:45 came around finding out that 2 people in our group didn’t show and one end up dropping the class.
We started to scale for our sweet dough, everything came out fine til a couple hours later when we had to flip it on a sheet pan and degas it. I did the mistake and rolled the dough into a big ball, making it firm and hard to spread out on the pan. Chef said to put it in the freezer so I did for 30 mins and it helped the dough relax.
Day 2
ReplyDeleteIn class today we laminated our Danish dough for the first time. The machine was easier to use than I had originally thought. The hardest part was remembering the measurements and how the dough had to be oriented. I ended up using the sheeter first out of my group because everyone else was nervous to go first. It wasn't so bad.
Day 3
We processed our croissants today and had laminated our second generation of Danish dough. shaping the croissants wasn't so bad but it took a bit to get it right. I wasn't pressing hard enough initially when starting to roll the croissants. My gut reaction is to be careful and gentle when doing anything in class but as I've found out sometimes you have to be a bit rough.
Day 4
In class we laminated generation 3 dough and processed our first round of Danishes from our generation 2 dough. We made chocolate croissants and they were okay. They could have been cut more evenly and they should have been baked a bit longer but they tasted amazing. By now we are all pretty comfortable on the sheeter and had almost no trouble doing it without help. Chef helped us a little when it came to making the dough the width of the belt but otherwise we did well.
Blog Entry Day 4
ReplyDeleteWell we all survived the dreaded two days. Most of prior blog posts said day 3 was the most stressful but chef said it would be today. Well I think that my group and I just over prepared to be able to handle the amount of work that needed to be completed today. One of our four members did not show up today for the second time so now she has been dropped from the class and there are only 3 in our group. Today we completed our first Danishes and I was so proud of them, we chose to do apple as our first Danish and they were so delicious, you could see the layers and they even looked pretty symmetrical. Our croissants needed a little more symmetry and I think that will be something that we can work on in the next couple of days with practice.
Blog Entry Day 7:
Of all the days of this class, I actually think this was the roughest for my group. First one of my partners was pretty tired and not quite awake enough to move the speed of class. When processing our Danish dough we forgot to flour both sides when flipping them and ended up shredding part of the dough. I think that was our biggest mess-up the entire lab and it was quite nerve racking hoping it would still turn out. The end result was that they baked okay but were just not the caliber of the past ones we have done. I would have to say that was a learning experience of using the sheeter and making sure all of our products are properly floured. Day 7 was just a day to keep moving forward from, I wasn’t not all that happy with everything baked this day.
Blog Entry Day 8:
Before class this morning one of our classmates sent a message that they were too sick to come today. Being the second day of practical, that instantly made me nervous for me and my other partner. But with that fact we really put our focus on the production and got things done, we even had a little bit of time to breath and took an ice cream break. Our sweet dough finished products were the best we have done. And the brioche petits actually looked like 6 in a set instead of 1 or 2 good ones and the rest just messy. But in all honesty I’m just pumped to not have to make that shape again. Overall I think it was a good day of the practical and my partner and I are ready to do the final part tomorrow.
over all the days of production the time that all our members where very spread out and 2/4 would come around 6:15, another at 6:30 and the last member would come around 6:45 or latter and it is irritation how she would just show up and all the mise en plase for the next day would be done. Over all we managed to get everything done in a timely manner but is was very annoying that she would come so late.
ReplyDeleteOver all the best part of this lab segment was all the repetition we had with all the products. Continuously going over how to make the same thing is one of the greatest parts of labs because its like the first step until we have to use it in the industry.
ReplyDeleteWhile making the croissants all the different time shows a lot of different outcomes if one part of the process was done wrong and you would be able to see it.
ReplyDeleteDay 2: On day 2 it was a little out of hand and we ended up falling behind for the first big work day and we ended up running into the PM classes time which upset them due to them staying later because they couldn’t come in early. Overall that day could have been better with time management and cleanliness.
ReplyDeleteDay 5: on day 5 was a day that was off for our group because two people in the group (I was one) were absent the day before and on day 5 another one of our groupmates was absent. Due to this me and the other student who was absent the day before were relying on the help of our one groupmate who was there the day before because we were lost and had no Idea what to do.
Day 8: Today (day 8) went smoothly at the beginning other than one of our group members missing their alarm and coming in an hour to 2 hours late but other than that it went smoothly we got all of our products out and at the end we did struggle with time management, but we pulled through and got almost everything done. (we forgot to glaze our blueberry Danishes)
On about day 3, I was making the danish dough and I forgot to warm the milk and eggs before mixing the dough, this was unfortunate because that meant that my dough would need to go in the proof box in order to rise properly as well as take longer than the normal amount of time needed to rise. I felt that i had let down my team as we would now be behind production because of my mistake. However we were able to fix it and use time management to get other things done while we waited and complete all of our tasks that day in a timely manor.
ReplyDeleteOn day 6 when we had made our production schedules, I had found that day to be proactive and the most proficient working day we had in my opinion. because we had a predetermined list pf what to do and when that we, as a group agreed on previously we got things done quickly, orderly and with little to no confusion. While I had made a production list instead of a schedule, I find that personally more effective as I can check off what i'm doing and not feel constrained to time and allow myself to work as the work finishes not as the clock says.
ReplyDeleteOn day 7 I was tasked with making blueberry filling.I had worked hard and thought I had been doing everything as according to procedure, however I later discovered that I added to much sugar which did not allow for the filling to thicken and remain a juice like liquid. I was disappointed however I tried to fix it and even though that didn't work I kept on with my dad not letting the mistake keep me from my other work or affect my attitude.
ReplyDeleteDay 3: I came in early to measure brioche dough. I measured most of the ingredients. However, I started mixing and forgot to measure and put the yeast. so there were yeast specs in my groups brioche dough.
ReplyDeleteDay 4: It was a hard day because two of my teammates weren't coming to class. Me and my teammate Kennedy were behind schedule. We had to make croissant and chocolate croissants.
ReplyDeleteDay 5: My two teammates came back. However, My teammate Kennedy couldn't come to class that day. I had to catch up my other two teammates. We accidentally mess up the banana muffin.
ReplyDeleteDay 4: Two of my group-mates were absent so Amil and I had to do the work of 4 people with only the two of us. It was overwhelming at first but once we both focused we pulled through and did a great job on our production of chocolate and plain croissants.
ReplyDeleteDay 5: This was one of the most important days of class and I missed it due to a family emergency. Due to missing this class I was behind and unsure of how to do some of the production on day 6 but was able to ask my group-mates and Chef Hitz for help.
ReplyDeleteDay 3: Me and my other group-mate were using the laminator to process danish dough but we forgot to do a rotation and messed it up. With the help of Chef Hitz my group was able to learn the proper corrective actions and fix our dough.
ReplyDeleteDay 4 was a rough day for us. Throughout Day 1-3 we’ve been great on time, production, and clean up but for some reason everybody was off the entire class. The first domino to our disaster was that our Brioches’ got over proofed and while baking we did not turn off the steam. Next, we over baked our Danishes by just a little bit but those 2 extra minutes in the oven mean a lot. Lastly, our Sweet Dough was processed too thin but chef was able to fix it. All four of us were overall stressed out but in the end, we decided that it was okay to have a rough day.
ReplyDeleteDay 7: Today was great today for us. Chef told us that our croissants came out nice. The savory danish were delicious and we were able to do a great batch of sweet dough, redeeming our mess from Day 4. I liked working with the Sweet Dough a lot, cinnamon buns are a favorite thing that everybody loves to eat when I make them at home. They just make me happy in general. Clean up was fast and easy and I think everybody had a easy production throughout the groups.
Day 1: The first day of labs Chef told us that we would have little production and most of our time would be based on our lectures. You would think nothing could wrong and truth be told nothing did. However, we did learn how to communicate more and work as a team better throughout the class. We did not cooperate and talk to the other teams about sharing a mixer to make work faster and production easier. In the end we learned an important lesson about teamwork and throughout the days we continued to work smarter, not harder.
4/17/19 :
ReplyDeleteFirst day of Viennoiserie lab and Chef Hitz has begun class with many lectures and demos. He demoed how to make two of the doughs we will be making throughout the nine day course; Brioche dough and Danish dough. He then gave us 30 minutes to make both doughs, have all dishes done and our areas cleaned. We all weren’t complete until the entire class was finished. With 5 minutes to spare, two groups finished everything, but two other groups were just beginning to mix their doughs. We didn’t fully understand what Chef Hits wanted and as he explained it, we had left two groups behind without lending a helping hand, and therefore, did not completely finish in the 30 minutes. Already on day 1, I learned that the entire class needs to work together in order to complete the tasks Chef Hitz is wanting and to not leave anyone behind. Without teamwork, we cannot get anything done.
4/22/19 :
Today is second day of lamination for croissants and danishes. Unfortunately, my group had confused the lamination process and sheeted to the dough the wrong way. To correctly laminate a dough, you must first sheet the dough until it is twice the size of your butter block, enough to fully envelop it. Then, with the seam landscape wise, you must sheet the dough to 13 inches. Rotate the dough until the seam is pointing into the sheeter, and sheet the dough to #7 on the handle. We had confused this process and sheeted the dough to 13 inches the opposite way. We therefore couldn’t do a tri-fold properly. A proper tri-fold is suppose to be like a book but instead, our dough was too long and in order to correct it, we must fold it the correct way and re-sheet the dough. The process of re laminating dough meant that it would be slightly over worked and our croissants and danishes would not proof at its best. Thinking we learned our lesson, we attempted to our third trim-fold again, only to do it the same exact way we did it the last time. Our products turned out okay but we quickly learned to always pay attention during demo and make sure to laminate the dough the correct way.
4/29/19 :
Be sure to arrive on time and EARLY to class every day! This will be very helpful in making sure you finish production and clean up on time. Chef Hitz cleans quite differently than other chefs, where we must rinse the floors everyday with hot water. The room itself is very wonky where the drains are not in the correct areas of the room, so squeegeeing the floors takes a little bit more elbow grease. By arriving on time, you can get ahead of production and make what is necessary that day. Today, we arrived on time but fell behind on production and cleaning. This resulted in me staying in late to finish my cleaning job which was clean the grease trap. Be sure to work diligently and effectively.
Day 3: Everything was going smooth. Day three comes and my group made our first mistake. We were ready for lamination of our croissant dough, and all of us were already nervous. Chef said he had full confidence in us to laminate by ourselves. As we pass our dough through the sheeter everything was fine. We get up to the rotation of the dough, pass it through and immediately know something is wrong. We keep rolling out the dough thinking we could fix it and we just made it worse. Chef comes over and asked what happened and we all just confused ourselves even more. Chef took us through a step by step rundown of how to correctly laminate croissant dough and we never made that mistake again. Good Learning Experience.
ReplyDeleteDay 5: Brioche is something that we did basically every day in class, so you got your fair share of practice working with brioche dough. From day one, my group was always graded the highest in the class. Chef is an honest grader and will tell you how it is. I kept getting the same comment that “my necks were too short”. This is all done in the shaping process. Every day I didn’t get it I would get so frustrated. Then on day five, Chef showed me a certain hand motion of how to “roll the necks longer” and it finally worked. By the last day of brioches, I didn’t get a negatives comment about “the necks”.
Day 7: Similar to Brioche, I had a re-occurring issue with my croissants. Chef explained that everything was consistent but my group consistently made one mistake every time. We would always get a rollover on the finished croissant not giving that nice spiral effect you are looking for. It wasn’t until Day seven we figured out that instead of putting the tip of the croissant on the bottom of the sheet pan before proofing, we should be just letting the tip just touch the parchment to let the layers unravel giving an even spiral effect when they come out of the oven.
Day 3:
ReplyDeleteConsidering it’s already Day 3, I’m surprised my first major mistake wasn’t sooner! During our first solo lamination sequence, my team ended up starting the process with the dough facing the wrong direction. By doing this, we ended up stretching the dough way too far in one direction. When Chef noticed what went wrong he quickly tried to help us resolve the situation, but when he had to step out to talk to someone we ended up getting nervous and doing the same thing again. Because of our numerous mess ups, we had stretched the dough twice as far as it should have in one direction, and barely any in the other. We were able to recover it when we processed it the next day, but the shaping wasn’t ideal. Although this experience was stressful in the moment, it turned out to be a great learning experience for our group - And we haven’t messed it up since!
Day 4:
Now that we’ve had a couple of days to practice forming our Brioche Tete’s, I’m finally starting to get the hang of doing it correctly. The first few times I shaped them, Chef pointed out to me how the heads were consistently too large which was causing them to droop to one side. Today something finally clicked, and I managed to get the head size smaller and keep the consistency with the shaping that I had before. My team also received positive notes for our danishes and muffins, so overall I’d consider today pretty successful!
Day 6:
Today was a hectic day, and my product definitely reflected that! While we only had to finish our sweet dough projects and another set of croissants/danishes for grading, we also had seasonal breads, brioche processing, and lots of demos to fit in. Because of this, I ended up stressing myself out way too much and getting even more frustrated than normal if my product didn’t come out up to my usual standards. A good example of this would be my croissants. I accidentally tucked the tail too far under when rolling, and it caused most of my croissants to misshape. It definitely didn’t help that looking at the pan, all of my other teammates croissants looked perfect! Looking back on it I know the product wasn’t terrible, and I ended up getting some great criticism from Chef that greatly improved my shaping technique. A stressful day, but again a good learning experience.
Day 4:
ReplyDeleteOne of my partners pulled the danishes from the oven when the timer went off. Unfortunately, this was the first timer for twelve minutes, and was to indicate when to rotate the pans for an even bake. Because the danishes were pulled too early, they were undercooked slightly, and were not an A standard. This is a reminder that you should always check the timer and communicate with other group members to make certain that the product is cooked for the proper amount of time.
Day 5:
Not all of our group was at the sheeter at the same time to monitor the dough, as there were only two out of four of the members. Due to this, not every side of the sheeter was being manned, and this resulted in the dough nearly falling off, when the sheeter was not turned off quickly enough. This was similar to day four when the dough actually fell off the sheeter belt when the wrong button was pressed and one of the group members had stepped aside to consult with the person operating the machine. These examples are incidents that will remind me to always press the right button, as well as to have others around to catch the dough if necessary.
Day 6:
There were a few problems with the sweet dough production. First off, we did not properly sheet the dough to the proper length, so our rolls were much smaller than the rest of the groups. There was also the problem of too much filling in the cinnamon rolls, so they were inconsistent in size and very messy. In addition to this, we forgot to top the Russian braid with pistachios, so technically we didn’t properly finish that production item. For the next time, we can be sure not to make the same mistake, because these experiences help us to remember the correct way to use sweet dough in production.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteSo far class has been great and we have learned so much. One thing that I learned so far is about the importance of liquid temps. The danish dough liquids (milk and eggs) need to be, in our case, around 80˚F for the dough to get its preferred temp. One team accidentally for got to warm up the liquids so their dough wasn’t proofing in the Cambro as fast as it should have. Luckily we caught this mistake early enough so we could fix it. To fix this mistake we took the Cambro and put it on a sheet pan on top of the oven to get it warm, but you could also put it in the proof box with the lid off.
Day 5
ReplyDeleteThere was a miner mishap when baking the brioche. We took it out of the oven and instead of the crust being nice and crisp, it was soft. Going over what we did step by step with chef helped us figure out what happened. We did everything right but as soon as we put it in the oven the steam had to have went off. When steam is incorporated the crust becomes soft and the necks of the brioche don’t show. This is why we always check the oven before using it.
This class taught me a lot about how I work and who I am as a baker. I am the type of person who's brain just seems to function better when I am under the clock with a million things happening at the same time. When I did work on the computer in highschool, I will always have 4 tabs open: what I was working on, a baking tutorial/food video, Netflix/Youtube and Spotify. For some reason, if I am only focussing on one thing at a time, I begin to feel claustrophobic. This class is perfect for me because while you are laminating your Gen3 croissants, you are also fabricating your Swiss Brioche Petit Tête, blending your quick breads and setting up Mise en Place for a filling or your dough for the next day. I really enjoyed this aspect of the class because not only did it challenge my mind, but it also gave us a great opportunity to really develop our team work and leadership skills. My group worked really well together and I have really enjoyed working with them. We aren't afraid to tell each other what to do and to keep each other in check. We all really respect each other and aren't here to mess around and play games. Because of this we are usually wither the first or second to finish and the first to start cleaning. Being conferrable with my teammates has allowed me to be more confident in my work and be able to say when I did a really good job and when/how I messed up.
ReplyDeleteChef Hitz also had a lot to do with that. With many chefs and just teachers/people in general, if you mess up, it is held against you and you are just expected to fix your mistake. With Chef Hitz, he doesn't get angry if you mess up. He simply suggest that you did not do it the right way and show you how to fix it. In this class, I was never afraid to ask a question if I was unsure as to what to do. Also Chef keeps a light hearted but stern environment in the classroom, which to me is the best kind of every. This is because you aren't terrified to mess up, but at the same time you know you need to keep on task and be as productive as possible. I will say, the things people say about this class can be very scary, and coming into it I truly did not know what to expect. Now that I am leaving the class, I feel like I have learned so much and what the people say isn't at all true. Yes, it is a lot of production, but no it wont swallow you whole and throw you up six hours later as long as you stick to what you are supposed to be doing.
We learned a lot about lamination in this class. The main thing we learned is that even though you think you might be able to go from the 35th setting to the 1st in one go, you cannot. A group in our lab did not see that the setting was on 10. They thought it was on 35. They sent third Joe through the machine and it came out in shreds. The pressure was too much for the dough to handle causing it to break. Though it was fixable it is also avoidable. We learned how to clean the machine and how to move it.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteToday I really discovered my disorganization in my brain. I realized that I didn’t have as much of a hold on my production schedule as I really wanted and need too. I found that I was getting lost in things that had already been done and things that need to be done, other items that were being proofed and how much longer they needed to proof. I felt really discombobulated and it reflected also in my group because we were all over the place. I think that this was a good lesson to get things in a much more organized spot in my brain and keep track of things better.
Day 5
This day was very taxing on my mental capacities because this has just been a very long week I was really glad that our croissants keep coming out with a nice inside. Although I think fatigue is what lead me to forget to put the old dough into the sweet dough. I think that this was a good learning moment to really make sure that I understand what is going on in a formula and at each step.
Day 7
This day was the most stressful out of all of the days. I felt that my group was all over the place and nowhere they should have been or not working on the most urgent of things. When our sweet dough came out of the oven I think a lack of urgency and communication lead us to forget to glaze the cinnamon rolls and forget to unmold the sticky buns when they were hot. I think that today showed me how important time management, a sense of urgency for the proper things, and communications is to a good team.
Day 5:
ReplyDeleteWe assumed that we had proofed and scaled our brioche correctly, however while they were in the oven we noticed that the brioche was not preforming as well as it should have. Upon further inspection once they were done and we had tried one we realized that the proof and scaling was correct however when they we put into the oven, steam was initiated with ruined the brioche. The brioche was not able to properly rise because of that moisture and the heads molded with the body.
Day 4:
Our croissants had a weird crust when we pulled them out of the oven, upon further inspection we were informed that since our proof box was too dry the egg wash had crusted over and when it went to bake when the dough rose the crust broke off.
Day 3:
When making danish dough the ideal temp of the liquids should be 76-78*, chef has us heat it up to 80*f just t be sure, however on group did not properly heat up their liquids to this temp. this resulted in their dough taking a really long time to ferment and because of that they had to put their dough in the proof box instead of leaving it out in the room.
ReplyDeleteDay 3 of Production in Viennoiserie(October 10th):
Having arrived early to get the Danish and Brioche dough mixed, everything thus far was going smoothly. The doughs were scaled correctly this time and we were more efficient having mixed the Brioche dough with another group. However, unfortunately my group ran into a mishap due to error on somone’s part from the previous day and ultimately lack of communication. Our danish dough was left in the refrigerator having been placed on a shelf rather than the class’ rack. Therefore, we could not produce Croissants or Danishes which will add to the list of products to produce on Monday next week. Fortunately, that gave us time to focus on the Brioche a bit more, which the shape had improved this time but the color was a bit lighter than the standard. I also noticed that proofing has taken a lot longer than most other groups, this could be due to a variety of reasons, however, one adjust that can be done is to attempt to shape the Brioche faster and more efficiently. Overall, the day was a learning experience, have realized that the team has to improve on communication, time management, as well as being more confident in completing tasks. However, despite the mishaps and learning curves, I have noticed that this class has given me the opportunity to attempt to be more of leader and improve on my confidence in addition to improving on new the technical skills during production.
Day 6 of Production in Viennoiserie (October 16th):
As it gets closer to the practical, production in lab has increased and activity is more hectic. Therefore, it is no wonder there have been some mistakes from trying to get everything done quickly. For example, when laminating the danish dough to make Croissants, I made the mistake of lengthening the dough too much instead of flipping it to the right dimension. Fortunately, the mistake was fixable and we still got to produce the Croissants to practice for the practical next week. The lesson learned is to be more focused at the task at hand regardless of trying to get everything done hastily, as this only causes stress and mistakes in the final product. Also, studying the notes more would be beneficial to not get confused with all the different dimensions for different laminated products. Other than that, everything went more smoothly, and everything was completed on time and we were able to get enough practice and fix any kinks in the fabrication of the products.
Day 7(October 17th):
Today was pretty hectic, yet it was extremely helpful to have a schedule for the production between the teams. Made it less stressful having a list of sorts to see what we needed to get accomplished, as having a checklist relives some stress in the production for me personally. We did make a lot of products, and while it was chaotic at times, it was a good learning opportunity. For example, as have I continued to improve on my managerial skills and communication with my team it has kept us from making the same mistakes, we had made in previous lab days. For example, I made sure we kept communicating specifically about the times for the different products, from the bake times to the proofing, as it can get quite confusing with 5 or so products being done in one days production. If I did not communicate, as I did when I reminded my teammates of the Danishes that were done in the proof box (someone else had the timer for them), we would have over proofed them and it would have affected the final product. Fortunately, overall everything went smoothly again and had no major or minor mishaps during production despite the heavy production schedule.
ReplyDeleteDay 3 of Production in Viennoiserie(October 10th):
Having arrived early to get the Danish and Brioche dough mixed, everything thus far was going smoothly. The doughs were scaled correctly this time and we were more efficient having mixed the Brioche dough with another group. However, unfortunately my group ran into a mishap due to error on somone’s part from the previous day and ultimately lack of communication. Our danish dough was left in the refrigerator having been placed on a shelf rather than the class’ rack. Therefore, we could not produce Croissants or Danishes which will add to the list of products to produce on Monday next week. Fortunately, that gave us time to focus on the Brioche a bit more, which the shape had improved this time but the color was a bit lighter than the standard. I also noticed that proofing has taken a lot longer than most other groups, this could be due to a variety of reasons, however, one adjust that can be done is to attempt to shape the Brioche faster and more efficiently. Overall, the day was a learning experience, have realized that the team has to improve on communication, time management, as well as being more confident in completing tasks. However, despite the mishaps and learning curves, I have noticed that this class has given me the opportunity to attempt to be more of leader and improve on my confidence in addition to improving on new the technical skills during production.
Day 6 of Production in Viennoiserie (October 16th):
As it gets closer to the practical, production in lab has increased and activity is more hectic. Therefore, it is no wonder there have been some mistakes from trying to get everything done quickly. For example, when laminating the danish dough to make Croissants, I made the mistake of lengthening the dough too much instead of flipping it to the right dimension. Fortunately, the mistake was fixable and we still got to produce the Croissants to practice for the practical next week. The lesson learned is to be more focused at the task at hand regardless of trying to get everything done hastily, as this only causes stress and mistakes in the final product. Also, studying the notes more would be beneficial to not get confused with all the different dimensions for different laminated products. Other than that, everything went more smoothly, and everything was completed on time and we were able to get enough practice and fix any kinks in the fabrication of the products.
Day 7(October 17th):
Today was pretty hectic, yet it was extremely helpful to have a schedule for the production between the teams. Made it less stressful having a list of sorts to see what we needed to get accomplished, as having a checklist relives some stress in the production for me personally. We did make a lot of products, and while it was chaotic at times, it was a good learning opportunity. For example, as have I continued to improve on my managerial skills and communication with my team it has kept us from making the same mistakes, we had made in previous lab days. For example, I made sure we kept communicating specifically about the times for the different products, from the bake times to the proofing, as it can get quite confusing with 5 or so products being done in one days production. If I did not communicate, as I did when I reminded my teammates of the Danishes that were done in the proof box (someone else had the timer for them), we would have over proofed them and it would have affected the final product. Fortunately, overall everything went smoothly again and had no major or minor mishaps during production despite the heavy production schedule.
Day 4 (October 14th)
ReplyDeleteWhile my group was laminating dough today, we ran into a mishap. While laminating we forgot to turn our dough 180 degrees after we had reached 13 inches. We had sheeted out the dough in the wrong direction instead of sheeting it were the belly should be facing towards the sides of the belt. Chef had came over and explained what we did wrong and how we can fix it somewhat even though it won’t be the same outcome if we did it the proper way. Chef had folded the dough almost like a trifold to try and fix it. However, since we stretched it the wrong way it caused the croissant to shrink a bit when we went to cut it. I learned for next time to make sure that we rotate the dough after the initial 13 inches because if we don’t the dough will shrink thus not giving us the proper dimensions and sizes for all the final products.
Day 5 (October 15th)
Today in class we made muffins, more specifically we made berry, sour cream coffee cake, zucchini, and banana muffins. Within my group we split the workload in half between each pair so we can get production done more faster and efficiently. My partner and I worked on zucchini and sour cream coffee cake. During production I noticed the other half of my team members were getting frustrated because their batter wasn’t coming out right. So the batter was slightly overmixed which when after they were baked there was slight tunneling and a bit of toughness. For when mixing muffins it is important that we don’t over mix the batter because it will develop gluten and we don’t want that in our muffins. For next time we will remember to just only mix the batter until all the flour is incorporated. Also, we had forgot to add the raisins in the zucchini muffin and by the time we remembered it was too late to add them in. When mixing the batters going forward, we will double check that everything has been added.
Day 7 (October 17th)
Today we prepared for practical by mixing and setting our doughs for next week. Within our teams we had to mix two batches of Danish dough for lamination for when we do practical since we are working in pairs. I went to go mix the Danish dough after it was all weighed out and while it was mixing, I noticed that there was something slightly off with the dough. When it was mixing it seemed like it was too soft and wet. In previous days I have mixed the Danish dough before and it had more structure than what I was witnessing with the dough today. So naturally I tried to fix it with some extra bread flour, but it didn’t seem like it was helping. So I decided to let it be and maybe I was wrong on my intuition, however when I put it into the container after I formed it into a ball, Chef had noticed it was off too. I was told to reweigh it and add extra flour to it if it didn’t match the formulas weigh. Then yet again after I added sixty grams of bread flour to the dough (the amount that didn’t add up to the formula), it was still way too soft and sticky. Then Chef, my partner, and I went over the amounts and ingredients that were in it and turns out that somebody had weighed out pastry flour instead of bread flour. Pastry flour is much softer than bread flour because of the amount of moisture it has, so that’s what caused our dough to become so soft. Going forward, I am sure to double check ingredients and amounts before mixing doughs. Thankfully I got to reweigh and remix the dough myself after our mishap.
Day 2 (October 8)
ReplyDeleteOn Day 2, all the groups were challenged to mix all the dough we needed in 30 minutes. Half the teams completed, but my group and another group didn’t have enough time to mix everything. This taught us about time management and showed us what we should expect for this course and what it requires us to do. We learned we have to be on top of the time and that we should always be busy to work for the end of the day and make sure we have enough time for everything to be done.
Day 4 (October 14)
On Day 4 when my team was laminating our Danish dough, we forgot to rotate the dough 90 degrees, so the dough was only being stretched in one direction. This would cause our dough to be too stressed in one direction and not enough in the other direction, causing the dimensions of Danishes and croissants to be warped. A croissant might become too long or not wide enough which means it would be too tall and would fall over in the oven, lacking the classic croissant shape. A Danish would turn into a rectangle rather than a square, making the shapes uneven and they wouldn’t appear as nice. After this, we didn’t let it stop our production, we learned how each step affects the next and we remembered it for the future so that the Danishes and croissants are correctly shaped.
Day 7 (October 17)
On Day 7 we were mixing and preparing the dough for our practical and as we were mixing the Danish dough, we thought it didn’t look right, it was too sticky. After weighing the dough, there was only a little discrepancy when we compared it to the recipe yield. We had Chef check it and we realized I accidentally used pastry flour instead of bread flour when I was scaling it. The difference in protein content caused the dough to look different. From this, I learned not to go on autopilot and make sure I’m using the correct ingredients and double check so that our product comes out correctly.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteOn day 3 we had a little dilemma when laminating our dough. We trimmed the sides of the dough on the second tri-fold when we were only supposed to trim them on the 3rd tri-fold. Since that day we have been very cautious when laminating our dough to make sure we are doing each step right. But Chef did show our croissants to another group to show them the appropriate color of the finished product of the croissant. I’m glad we had this day early on so we didn’t make this mistake further on in the class. It was a stressful day but a learning day and we only get better learning from our mistakes.
Day 5
Tuesday was one of our more laid back days since we had to go to a presentation at 11:45. So that meant Tuesday was our muffin day. We made three types of muffins, Berry, Zucchini, Banana and sour cream coffee cake. But when mixing our sour cream coffee cake muffin we messed up the steps on mixing. My partner and I mixed together all the wet ingredients without adding the eggs in thirds. Chef was a little skeptical of how they would turn out, but in the end, nothing was majorly wrong with the muffins. I enjoyed the presentation from the bread baker.
Day 8
Today was one of our final production days. We made our practical Bricoche and muffins. Our day started out with the production of the Brioche. The brioche that I made today were the best ones that I had made out all the Brioche we had made. It felt good finally seeing the corrections that I was applying to my products, come to life. Afterward, we made our muffins, we made Pumpkin and Sour cream Coffee Cake muffins. The pumpkin muffins didn’t come out too well because when I was folding in the dry ingredients little clumps of flour formed together. When Chef cut into one of our muffins there was a clump of flour in it, which made our grade go down. I felt bad because it was also the grade of my two other teammates and it wasn’t their fault that there were clumps of flour in the dough. But overall it was one of the better days during this segment.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteToday's class was indeed a learning experience. I learned what areas of the kitchen we as a team needed to improve on, such as time management, laminating dough, and communicating with each other. When laminating we trimmed the dough at the wrong times which showed when we formed the croissants; however the finished product didnt turnout nearly as poorly as i was expecting. Time management wise we could have mixed and set our dough to proof better so that we didn't have multiple dough's out that needed our attention. it wasn't all bad though as we got to enjoy the fruits of our labors at the end of class
DAy 7:
ReplyDeleteToday in class we made our practical dough. It was weird not being able to communicate with my whole team regarding such a big product. We multiplied the Mise En Place by 1.3x for the sweet dough and brioche dough so that we would have enough but aside from that we couldn't help each other as much as we had in the past. Which is ironic considering we were just starting to work better as a team. Our zuccini muffins could have been mixed better because when chef cut them in half they had severe tunneling in them and a tough texture to them. in all honesty the toppings were the most enjoyable part of them. We also made a Panettone as a seasonal bread. i believe it turnded out well considering it was the first time we made it on a short notice. All in all i believe it was a productive day
Day 8:
ReplyDeleteToday we took part of our practical; this included laminating our danish dough, making brioche bread and tarts. As far as those go we forgot the crumb topping and harmony glaze before we put them in the oven so we were presented with a lackluster finsihed product. Our pumpkin loafs were not mixed well enough and had clumps of flour in them due to lack of communication in our team and i failed to rectify the problem pre-baking. However wi believe all in all our sour cream coffee cakes carried the day. Chef complimented them and they tasted delectable
Day 2: When making the brioche, I struggled with shaping them. I realized that you're supposed to make sure that the body is make out of the ugly side of the roll so that the head appears smooth when pull through the body.
ReplyDeleteDay 3: When making croissants, you have to work really fast with the dough. I learned that if you wait too long it make take forever for the dough to be firm enough to roll. If you try to shape them while they're too soft it makes the croissants too short.
Day 6: The hazelnut snails must be pushed down. If not, they can either become too big or lose their shape as they're baking.
Day 5: We've experimented with group 4's or my group's brioche by using fake egg wash. Firstly, it feels like watery paste, looks like beige thinned paint and doesn't stick to the dough as well as egg wash. When we baked them, the sheen from normal egg wash wasn't present and made the brioche appear to be like plastic recreations of brioche. It was shiny, yet mat. It felt all together unnatural, a waxy mouthfeel and a woody after taste- but the product itself was unaffected taste wise. For appearance wise, real egg wash is much more preferably with the glossy shine. Personally, I found the taste of the natural egg wash after eating the product very odd, almost like I drank soy milk. While fake egg wash could be cheaper, I learned that it comes at a great cost. I also learned that you need to heavily sprinkle powdered sugar on top of the Panettone or the chocolate glaze will simple slowly fall off the bread. Also that powdered sugar surprisingly doesn't melt in the oven.
ReplyDeleteDay 6: Brioche Dough when rounded should either be punched down or flattened slightly because when we took ours out, it was still frozen in the center and took hours to get even pliable. This resulted in uneven temperature through the dough balls and caused some to be too warm and some too cold. Not only that but my petit teat actually collapsed completely, so make my heads much smaller. Brioche dough should be mixed maybe a minute longer because we aren't getting enough volume in our dough.
ReplyDeleteDay 3: We were doing the trifolds for our Danish dough when, after the first trifold, we forgot to reset the machine, causing a freshly folded trifold to go through a #8 on the laminator. Because the dough was shoved through a space too small, the dough became very weirdly shaped with multiple tears in the middle. Chef was able to fix it using a the blitzing method, a method primarily used for puff pastry, by essentially putting the dough back together, making sure that the butter was evenly distributed. We were able to continue as usual, and fortunately, the product turned out normal.
ReplyDeleteDay 6: Everybody in my group seemed to be in a really crabby mood. As a result, when we were cutting our second danish dough, nobody was communicating and our dough got cut in half, causing lots of scrap dough. After Chef told us what we had done wrong, we incorrectly cut the chocolate croissants, causing even more scrap dough. As a result, we had 14 monkey breads, way more than we should have had. However, we learned just how important communication is. If we had communicated, we would have properly measured everything out before we cut, have had more product, and less monkey bread. We like monkey bread, just not that much.
Day 7: Communication was a lot better today than it was the previous day. After the yesterday’s shaping disaster, we took a minute to talk about what we were doing with the dough and made sure that everyone knew what was happening. Because we were communicating more, we were able to mix the most dough that we had up till now and still had plenty of extra time. The only time we relapsed was when we were trying to get the sweet dough rolls glazed. Molly was mixing the brioche for the practical when something happened and she stepped away after adding the last increment of butter. Later, when we were making sure we had all of our doughs, we couldn’t find the brioche and were trying to figure out where it was, we found it in the mixer. Thankfully, it was fine and nobody had touched it, but it also served as another reminder that communication is key.
Day2: (Oct 24th)
ReplyDeleteThe chef arrived 30 minutes before the demonstration in order to start on time and kneaded in advance. On the second day of class, I participated in the class safely. I was careful to avoid accidents and breaks in the production. I learned a few more things than yesterday and it was more fun. I prepared the process of making ingredients one by one. First, the Danish dough was made by a team of 4 people. We pushed it into a sheeter until we had a trifold with a thickness of 8, and then folded again and froze it. It was an repetitive process. I figured out how to make it today by asking my neighbor or chef. This taught us about time management and showed what we should expect for this process and what we should do.
Day4: (Oct 28th)
Today we made swiss dough, and a dry fruit stollen and whole wheat laminated dough. Mixing the Brioche, and Whole wheat laminated dough. was better than before, supplementing the brioche molding. The problem was not evenly applying the egg wash. Even I when applied it slowly, The surface of dough was cracked. I also spent a lot of time working on the sheeter for the Danish, otherwise the layers will not be visible. We as team can work more efficiently, and we will get even better results.
Day6: (Oct 30th)
Today was croissants there is still difficulty when laminating dough using a sheeter. It was disadvantageous to roll the dough by hand because my palms were warm, but I tried it as fast as I could. The last thing I needed to care about in the last 4 days was baking. But when I burned the croissant, it flashed to steam because I did not check the vent in the convection oven. I will be careful not to make mistakes later.
Day 1&2
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is that make croissants is the most intense and intricate process I have ever experienced in my life. Scaling and mixing the dough was easy, but the most difficult part was laminating and processing the dough. I know that once you have done it many times, it will be come easy but for my first time doing it; all I can say is that my brain hurt. There were many steps to remember. When to rotate the dough, moving quickly enough to ensure that the dough remained cold etc. All in all, I can say that I was well educated by Chef Hitz to make the best croissants I possibly can.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteFor my first time making croissants, I thought that everything was going well. My group members and I work very well together and very efficiently. We laminated our dough the day before, so when we got to class it was just to process, divide and begin to roll croissants. It was going great, until we had to bake the dough. When Chef first started his demo on making croissants, he showed us the different typed of folds that could be done with laminated dough. There was a book fold and we could also do 1, 2 or 3 tri-folds. He then instructed us to do 3 tri-folds on our dough. He also told us that to make it easy on ourselves we should make a mark on our label for each time we did a tri-fold. We had all 3 marks on our label indicating that we did 3 tri-folds. Seeing as it was our first time making croissants, we didn’t realize that ours was different from the remainder of the class. As we baked we saw that our croissants weren’t as large as the rest. When we took them out of the oven, chef asked us to count the number of layers. We realized we only had 9 when we were supposed to have about 27. I was slightly embarrassed, but I saw there was nothing to be embarrassed about. It was a learning experience for everyone and now we are always careful when laminating our dough.
Day 1&2
ReplyDeleteI must say this class is a very fast paste and intense class. What can I say, making croissants isn’t an easy job but once you put your mind to it and work in your groups it all works out.
On the first day when we all came in everyone was assigned to making their own laminated doughs which were then put away to get ready to be laminated for the next day. On the second day when we came in we all began to laminate the dough in our groups, let's just say the laminating process is one that must me done exactly to chefs orders or there will be issues with the fine product.
Being that it was our first time laminating Chef was always there for support whenever you needed him but he was also trying to accommodate the other groups and at this time I believe is where we made our mistake in the dough by missing one fold (it was a learning experience for everyone) causing our croissants to have 9 layers instead of 27 but of course we never realized there was an issue until the product was baked and completed and smaller than everyone else.
It was an experience for everyone, our croissants were way smaller than everyones and also leaked a lot of oils which was due to the lack of layers in the croissant.
their was one other learning experience in which the whole class learnt from. it all began when one of the groups began to laminate their croissant and in the precess chef called everyone over to see a demo cause the team that was laminating to forget what number they had the sheeter on, so by the time they went back they did not remember to open the sheeter back to a bigger number causing their dough to rip exposing the butter through the dough layers making not only the 2 days prior a waste but causing the final product to have an issue.
ReplyDeleteDay 3:
ReplyDeleteToday was a chaotic day. There was so much going all at once, but still my team and I were able to complete everything. We did come across one problem. When our croissants came out, we noticed they had less volume than all the other ones. When Chef came over, he asked us to count how many layers we could see. We answered about 8-9. A croissant with three trifolds is supposed to have about 27-30 layers. This means that we forgot to do a trifold at some point during the process. For this reason, you could notice the dramatic effect of layering and could only count 8-9 layers. This affects the volume, but also the quality of the croissants since they will now how too much butter that did not properly layer into the croissant creating a pool of fat onto the parchment paper. In the case that this effect was intended, the amount of butter used for the butter block needs to be reduced, but since this is not the goal, we just need to make sure that we do all three trifolds to avoid this from happening again.
Day 4:
The most critical thing we learned today is that if we do not work fast enough when cutting and shaping the danishes, we lose the layers that we worked for three days to get. By not working fast enough, we lose the opportunity to get cleaner cuts and therefore the layers become less visible. This was obvious in our final product since the first ones we cut you could see that the layers were very defined, but on the other ones, the layers were more subtle. What we work so hard to get is layers, so if we just worked a tiny bit quicker we could avoid this problem. Overall, this class went well. It was slightly overwhelming since we had to prepare the brioche and danish at the same time and there is only so much we can do at once. In the end, everything came out great. The products looked and tasted fantastic.
Day 7:
On Day 7 we learned to laminate doughs with other techniques besides the three trifolds. This is to see how the folds affect the final product and the layers. This is interesting since we would only be seeing one technique were it not for this “experiment”. Different types of folds included using either the tri fold technique or the book fold. We also changed the number of folds since we usually do three. I found it very useful to do this because, even though we haven’t seen the final product yet, we learn other ways that lamination can be done in order to achieve different effects.
Day 4: A hard lesson that the conversion factor needs to be rounded up in the hundredth place, because I got that question wrong on the quiz and lost 20 points. But also this is only the conversion factor and all other factors obey the regular rules of rounding such as grams and the like. The reason you round up on the conversion factor is because of the lick factor which every time a product touches anything, a certain amount will be taken awake, and it's better to have too much than too little.
ReplyDeleteday 2
ReplyDeletetoday we are making croissants. when I rolling the croissants to a 'half-moon' shape the edge melted and when I finish rolling 2 sides of the croissant is unbalanced
day 4
today we are making banana bread. when we are mixing the banana paste into egg mixture it seems banana paste is separate from the mixture. then we figure out because the banana paste is not completely melted
Day 5
first-day making a cinnamon roll. we didn't use the sheeter correctly so when our cinnamon rolls come out of the oven it seems smaller than the others and because it's too small our 'flower' didn't hold the shape that well.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteBecause there was such high production this day, it really tested the communication and teamwork in my group. We definitely ran into a few situations where efficiency was an issue because we needed to work pretty quickly to get everything done, but most notably struggled with communicating about setting timers, and delegation of tasks like cleaning, scaling, handling dough, etc.
Day 5
During this class, my team got a bit distracted by the production of other products and lamination, and almost over proofed out Brioche, leaving it in the proof box for over 20 minutes too long. It made them particularly difficult to egg wash, as they were beginning to deflate at even a subtle touch, and caused some of the heads to fall over, even ones that may not have if they’d have been proofed for the usual amount of time.
Day 6
My team messed up the sheeting on our sweet dough this day by not flouring the dough enough as it went through, causing it to shrink/ not hold the length or width we rolled it out to. In the end, our sticky buns, snails, and cinnamon flower final products were obviously visually smaller than they should’ve been, and they had to be baked for a shorter period of time so they wouldn’t burn in the oven. Overall, it was a decent learning experience for how to properly use the sheeter, though.
On day 1, I learned the importance of teamwork. I had already learned this somewhat in my previous classes, but I knew that coming into this class it would be even more important. This was especially cemented during the Hunger Games Challenge. My group and group 1 were able to complete our work in time, but by doing so, we accidentally screwed over the other two. In order for us all to succeed in this class, we need to work as a collective group of 18, not as 4 separate groups.
ReplyDeleteOn Day 3 of Viennoiserie it kinda felt like a bit of a struggle and very frustrating. We had to laminate Generation 2 of our Danish dough as well as process our Generation 1 Danish Dough. But we were last in rotation for using the sheeter and it felt like we got stuck behind. Because before we could get to processing our dough 2 teams before us had frozen dough so we had to wait for them, and although we tried our best our dough got frozen as well. We also did'nt have the team before us paying attention to tell us to pull our butter and it overall just put us behind what felt like a lot and we didn't get our danishes in until an hour after everyone else. It also felt like people were rushing us to finish when there really wasn't much we could do to speed up the process.It just really showed how we have to work as not individual groups but a whole class team.
ReplyDeleteOn Day 4 of Viennoiserie it felt like a much better day and i think those in my group would agree. Everything we did honestly felt like it just kinda flowed. I think its because we were the ones that were able to start on the sheeter for processing our Danish dough but it created a good system flow for our team. It also gave us the ability to have extra time to complete other tasks to help prepare us for other Formulas we would be doing next week. It felt good because i know there was a bit of a stress to get those things done.
ReplyDeleteOn Day 6 of Viennoiserie it honestly felt like another pretty smooth going day, we got our sweet dough production and brioche into the proof box and oven what felt like really fast. It felt like for the most part of the day we were ahead of the game and got extra stuff done. There was only a small hiccup when it came to making our sweet dough that put us a little behind but other than that it felt like my group was able to communicate well in order to get what was needed to be done, done. Today felt really good ans successful i just know to pay better attention to measuring in the future so nothing gets messed up again especially on the practical.
ReplyDeleteDay 5: For my group Day 5 production went very well, we communicated effectively, and stayed on top of our production schedule without falling behind. The biggest issue my group has is the talking which can slow us down at times, such as when we were glazing the sticky buns. As far as working together the group works well when delegating and completing task, but we need to slow down and take our time when completing these task. Overall I felt I worked well and when finished production always found something to do to keep me busy.
ReplyDeleteDay 6: Today in class in my opinion was are best day in class, we came in got straight to work, and communicated effectively throughout the day. As a team are sticky buns, cinnamon rolls, panettone and Russian twist all came out well. My Brioche did not come out as well due to the lack of support around the head. One thing me and my teammates need to work on is communicating with each other on who is teaching the time of certain items in the oven, or when proofing. Other than my sad looking brioche, today was a very good one for me and my team mates. One thing I also noticed with the class as a whole is how we have gotten better at communicating and taking action when cleaning and boxing. Less people are trying to box items all at once and are taking time to help clean the floors. Overall today was good and I am looking forward to the rest of this week
Day 7: Todays class went well, my group was challenged with the ability to multi-task and juggle multiple task at once. We did good communicating on times with bread in the oven, and communicating who was accomplishing what task. Are sweet dough for the practical came out well. The processing of are Danish dough was good, and the overall day was a success. Every day are group gets better working together and more efficient managing time.
Day 1: Knowing Viennoiserie I knew how hard and fast pace it would be. The first challenge was trying to mix two doughs in half an hour. My group already messed up with mixing one of the doughs. We added the butter too quickly into our brioche dough. With that happening we had to mix the dough much more longer than it should have been. With this happening it made our proofing time longer and after the baking time it looked a little different than everyone else’s, but after that one mistake we made sure to add the butter in stages. Day 2: It was out first time using the sheeter to laminate our dough. My group worked very well together but we forget when we had to trim the end of the dough during it. We trimmed it during the first tri-fold which we weren’t supposed to do. Chef came over and told us that wasn’t what we were supposed to do and how in a bakery we would’ve lost a lot of product doing that. It’s supposed to be done after the second tri-fold and now we make sure to tell each other that we only cut after the second tri fold. Day 5: Today was a tough day for my group. We were all just stressed out and trying to work hard but when we got to the sheeter we all got confused with laminating the croissant dough. As we were laminating we ended up making our croissant dough a little too long and thin. Chef brought everyone over to show our mistake which was embarrassing but it’s a learning mistake that I make sure to never do again. Chef ended up helping us trying to use the messed up dough by separating it and using the smaller ends into danish’s and the rest for croissants. This was definitely very stressful and something I wish to never happen but it’s a learning experience.
ReplyDeleteDay one: We were informed by black board that today would have little to no production and was lectured based class, so I think that may of thrown off our game. After we went over a lot of information and class was almost over, Chef offered a challenge. That the whole class make two doughs in half an hour or we owe me a cappuccino and he said we could do it as a whole class or just in our groups it was up to us. We went with each team would make their dough since we didn’t want to scale one huge batch and distribute it between the four teams. But by doing this we caused an issue with the limited mixing machines we all didn’t finish mixings the doughs so we failed the task. Which was more of a test than anything we failed, the lesson of this was teamwork and cooperation were the ways to succeed in this lab room.
ReplyDeleteDay 3: We were told it was going to be a rough day and for some people it was but for me and my group I felt it was actually much easier than day 2. We finally got our footing and got used to each other which allowed us to move much more smoothly as a team. We knew what we were doing and didn't miss a beat once we walked into the lab. If you have a team that is very cohesive and is also dependable and independent at the same time it makes for a smoother transition. That day we walked in and mixed the danish and brioche doughs like usual as well as fabricated the danish dough for croissants and the brioche from the previous day. I wish I had paid more attention to the laminating process while my group and I were doing it because I didn't understand it until day 4 or 5 which really sucked because I felt lost up until I figured out the sequence.
ReplyDeleteDay 5: Another tough day that also, to me at least, felt easier than the previous day. It helped that we were prepared and knew exactly what to do and how to do it. We weren't the first group to laminate which really set us back because we tend to do better when we go first but I assume that's the same for all groups. Even though we were still working with the dough that had gotten pulled out of the freezer during the 4-day weekend too early all the products came out pretty great. There were a lot of products to be made, including the whole wheat laminated dough, 2 different types of muffins, mixing sweet dough, and seasonal bread which all took up a good portion of time. We accidentally made the liquid too hot and mixed it for too long and our sweet dough started to melt the butter, forcing our hand in taking it out and having to let it bulk ferment for less time on a metal table to absorb some of the heat.
Day 6: Although it wasn't supposed to be, Day 6 was my groups hardest day because our axil had been thrown off. We didn't mix any brioche or danish dough which was a routine thing we had done ever since day 2. We were to do all these preparations for the next day as well as mis en placing for our final that we were starting on day 7. We didn't laminated anything and only fabricated the sweet dough as well as prepped all the fillings. The lack of consistency really made me at least feel very off and lost and we went by much slower than we usually did. We probably should have looked over the materials and recipes for the next day and set up a game plan so that we weren't so disoriented.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteAlthough it was filled with many things to accomplish along with demos, day three was accomplished on time. But that was not in any way easy. Our first task was to scale and mix both brioche and danish dough and then to laminate the previous day’s dough. Scaling and mixing went smoothly, but when we got to laminating, we realized how important it was to be accurate every day with the dough. Due to not flattening our danish dough in the pan and it being uneven in size from day 2, laminating the dough was affected. Since it was uneven, the dough spread unevenly and we had to keep adjusting its corners. This also led to the butter not being layered into the dough well and cracking inside the dough. On top of this, while I was operating the sheeter, the dough became longer than 13 inches which then later affected the laminating process because we had to make it thinner at the end to compensate for the messed up size and shape. I learned that when laminating dough it is extremely important to work quickly to avoid the butter being too cold for the working dough which through friction and room temperature is heating up. It is key to have both of them the same consistency and temperature to ensure proper lamination. While shaping croissants, I learned that it was important to push out and away and not straight because it makes the ends skinnier and allows the croissant to be stable. Before I pushed outwards, my croissants were toppling over. Overall, day three was the hardest day, but it was not impossible.
Day 5
Day five was a good day overall. Today was our first day of making sweet dough. This dough is mixed just like the brioche dough, but what I now know is that it really only needs about five to six minutes of mixing on second speed. With all the dry ingredients ready to go, one of my teammates warmed the wet ingredients. What was only supposed to be 55-60°F was actually measured to about 82°F, which was discovered while I was mixing the dough and it looked nothing like the team next to me. When I stopped the machine and felt the dough, it was probably the hottest dough i’ve ever felt and had a shiny look to it. Immediately I called Chef over because clearly something was wrong and he had me remove it and place it onto the metal table. This would cool it down a few degrees. It is important as I learned in a later day repeating this, that you work with the dough, basically babysit it and walk it around on the table so that along with cooling down, it doesn’t crust over on the top. After my sweet dough cooled off, I only proved it for about an hour which is an hour less than it should be proofed, but due to the extreme heat it was ready to go. The rest of the day was fairly smoothe, some issues with over proofing our brioche just slightly after about an hour and 45 where it should have been between the hour/ hour and a half mark. Overall, my sweet dough taught me how to handle hot dough which will help me not only on the practical, but in other labs as well.
Day 6
Today our group had a slow start. We were all pretty tired and our normal production schedule was different from the other days. As we got started, all of our ingredients for our sweet dough was measured and ready to go from the previous day. At first, the dough was looking good, much better than when I overheated it. And then I opened the mixer. We forgot to take out the green food bag of measured yeast and it had spread all over the dough. Although our apple tarts came out well, our sweet dough Russian twists were inconsistent and not uniform. As a whole class, we didn’t end up having enough time to make the muffins which were on the production schedule for the day. Overall day 6 wasn’t terrible, but we were slower and less efficient.
Day 1
ReplyDeleteWe walked into lab not really knowing what to expect with this lab, we had heard the stories told to us by the previous students and to say I was nervous would be an understatement. Upon first glace at the class announcements, we noticed that there would be little in the ways of production and I believe that this threw all of us off. With that being said, the class seemed to go by pretty fast and was filled with demos and lectures. Then in the last hour of class we were challenged to make both a brioche dough and a Danish dough to be laminated the next day. the catch however was that all groups needed to have these dough completed in 30 minutes. accomplishing that with only 2 spiral mixers was technically impossible unless we had combined the doughs and made a double batch in each mixer. With this new life lesson planted in our minds like seeds, I think this really set us up for what the class was going to be like for the next 8 days.
Day 3
We were told that day 3 was going to be a bit rough compared to what we had done the past two days and boy was chef right. My group was still working on our communication skills and moving faster to make sure we got everything done on time and with enough time to make sure everything proofed for the correct amount of time. today we were taking everything we had done in the past two labs and adding more to it. We came into lab and made our brioche and Danish doughs, then we needed to laminate our Danish dough from the previous day, and lastly, we needed to fabricate croissants, pete tetes, tarts, and chocolate croissants. so overall and pretty heavy day but we managed to get through the day in one piece so I would count that as a win in my book.
Day 6
Today was a bit better, but still challenging. We prescaled our dry ingredients for our doughs. this helped a bit but this was also our first day of working with and shaping sweet dough. they ended up not growing at all in the oven and dried out a bit due to their small size. but other than this little bump, we were sailing smoothly most of class today.
Day 3
ReplyDeleteToday was hectic. Constantly moving and rushing to get things done it left me feeling shaken because I like to collect my thoughts before doing something so I don’t mess up. Turns out there little to no time to do that with everything being so back to back. While making the zucchini batter I forgot to scrape as I was mixing causing lumps in the batter. I ended up having to try and get rid of the lumps by scraping them against the bowl overmixing the batter throughout the process.
Day 5
I think one of the biggest challenges I keep on running into is trying to have a collected mindset while trying to guide the group in the right direction. I want to be as meticulous as I can but it’s impossible for me to be everywhere at once. My group as a whole isn’t the most attentive and I find it to be pretty frustrating when we forget something so simple. Like when we forget to put our Danish dough in the freezer or like when I forget the steps to laminate. Its all a learning experience and everyone’s different so I try not to make a big deal out of it so it doesn’t get in the way of everything else. Just learn from your mistakes for the next time. Speaking of mistakes one of our croissants came out oddly darker in color and smoother in texture. Chef explained that it was due to the butter being exposed so it caramelizes quicker
Day 6
Today I felt really drained trying to juggle all the tasks we had to accomplish while also being down a person. I find laminating dough to be a very nerve-wracking experience. I find myself drawing blank throughout the process and would confuse when to do certain steps. It’s a lot to process along with everything else that’s going on in the background but I think that's why so many people find viennoiserie to be challenging. My group actually got to see what causes this smooth darker surface on the baked croissant that happened to us the other day as a result of not tri-folding the dough correctly and making sure they meet the corners.