Day 21: The Beautiful Smell of Baked Goods

My biscuits on pan, left side, at back 

You can tell when something baking in the oven is done (or almost done) when you can smell it's aroma floating through the kitchen. This is how it was ~ times three ~ today.

We started class today with organizing our tools as laid out by Chef. We placed all tools on our working space according to what Chef had put out on her space, so that we didn't have to search for them while working on our products. This is done to be efficient in the kitchen. Organization is a huge part of cooking and this is just the start of working that practice in to our everyday kitchen experience.


Olives, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Basil,
Feta Cheese Stuffed Bread. 

The first item on our menu was a stuffed bread. We began by making the bread so that it could proof while we made our banana bread ~ the second item on our menu for today. For starters we began with the yeast in warm water making sure that we sprinkled the yeast in the warm water so that it could bloom while we were gathering the other ingredients for the bread. We measured out the ingredients ~ dry and wet ~ with the scales in the kitchen for accuracy. To the dry mixture we added the wet ingredients and kneaded the dough until it was the right texture. This took a few minutes of kneading to get it to the right texture so that we could put it in to an oiled bowl covered with saran wrap and let it proof in a warm place just above the ovens.

While we were waiting for the bread to proof we began gathering the ingredients for the banana bread. Top the banana bread mixture we had the option of adding walnuts, raisins or chocolate chips. I decided on adding walnuts and chocolate chips ~ I don't like raisins. The wet mixture of egg and oil were mixed in to the dry ingredients using the muffin method ~ mixing only until all dry ingredients become wet. Over mixing causes the flour to release too much gluten making for a tough bread. The batter was then put into loaf pans, mini-loaf pans or tart pans and then into the oven at a temperature of 375 F.


Walnut, Chocolate, Banana Bread.

As the banana bread was baking away in the oven, we went back to our bread which had risen. We stretched the dough out into a square ready to add our stuffing. I used green olives with pimento, sun dried tomatoes, Thai basil, and feta cheese. The ingredients were laid at one end of the dough and then rolled to the shape of a baguette size loaf, brushed with an egg wash and placed on a parchment lined baking sheet to rise before putting in the oven.

We all cleaned our work area and tools ready for the next recipe. We could smell the aroma of the banana bread and knew that our breads were almost ready. By the time we finished clean up, the banana bread was finished baking and it time to put the stuff loaves of bread into the oven. Chef let us take a break and enjoy some of the banana bread that we had just baked. The loaf was put in the refrigerator to be used in a bread pudding that Chef would give us direction on putting together.

Fresh baked savoury bread loaf.

Right after our break the bread was checked for doneness. With the bread ready and out of the oven cooling we started on our last recipe of the day ~ savoury biscuits. Chef decided that we needed more organization in the kitchen. With 12 of us there is a line up waiting for the scales to measuring out the dry (flour, baking soda, etc.) and wet (egg, milk, and butter) ingredients. Chef divided the class in half with one half measuring out their dry and wet ingredients and the other half working on mise en place. I was directed to shred a white sharp cheddar with the block grater, others were directed to slice prosciutto (each then had to chiffonade their portion of prosciutto), chop rosemary and chives.

Prosciutto, aged white cheddar,
chive, rosemary and thyme biscuits.

After everyone got their ingredients together, Chef gave a demonstration of how to mix the ingredients for our savoury biscuits. Spices were added to the flour such as rosemary, chives, salt, pepper, hot pepper flakes (optional), and then the cheese and prosciutto. The butter was added last breaking small pieces into the dry mixture. We pinched the butter flour mixture until it resembled a coarse meal. At this point we added the wet mixture of egg and goats milk and mixed the wet and dry together trying to combine and not to over mix. We patted out the batter to about one inch in height so that we could cut out biscuits with our ring moulds placing them on a baking sheets, then giving them an egg wash and into the oven.

With all the baking done, our next task was to clean our working space and the kitchen. When all was done, we packed our baked goods ready to share with our families and friends. It was a great first day in the kitchen.