Advanced Bakeshop Pictures

A Mille Feuille dessert: puff pastry on the bottom, then strawberries around the ring mold on top, then fill with vanilla custard, let set and top with puff pastry garnished with whipped cream and raspberries. 

Basically a giant cream puff dessert. The puffs on top were dipped in caramel.

A chocolate sponge cake with cream cheese buttercream, topped with marzipan and chocolate ganache. Delicious!

The End of Cake Decorating

So, I know I haven't updated in a while, but I started a new job and have been pretty busy between that and school, and everything else! But Cakes was such a fun class; I will say that my piping skills have improved, but as my teacher says, "it will only get better with practice practice practice!" So I have a long way to go before I feel comfortable making cakes professionally. It is true what many bakers say, it is much easier to work with fondant than it is with a buttercream frosting. However, it doesn't taste as good. So, I know I need to focus on practicing my buttercream covering on cakes. I have to say, I am pleased with my own creativity. If you've seen the cakes I posted, each one was designed by me, no one else!

Later on in May I will be starting summer classes. I'm taking an online Marketing class and the Advanced Bakeshop class. My teacher Chef Alan tells us this bakeshop focuses on chocolate, candies, pulled sugar work and chocolate work. It will be a challenge for me, and I dont' think that will be a big part of my business one day, but its a skill I need to know. Anyways, I hope everyone is looking forward to a good summer, I will do my best to keep you updated on my baking career.

BTW, my job is working at Camille's Sidewalk Cafe in downtown Greenville. It's a lot easier than my last job, and I work with girls close to my age. We mainly make sandwiches, wraps, and salads. Its a good environment to work in and hey, it pays the bills. Hopefully, when I finish my degree in December I can find a job somewhere getting baking experience. Thanks for reading and I'll post again soon!

My final cakes for Cake Decorating

This first cake is a rolled fondant cake I made. I made the roses and hydrangreas out of gum paste

and then did a water color paint on the cake out of colored sugar.

This was my first 3-tiered cake. It was a fondant cake and I colored the purple ribbon and placed it around

the cake using royal icing as glue. Then I made yellow roses, pink hydrangreas, cherry blossoms and cala lilies out of gum paste.

This was my final cake for class. I made antique hydrangeas with dogwoods and crimped the border around the side. Then I piped simple rosettes for the bottom border and highlighted everything in pink and green buttercream. This was an early Mother's Day gift for my mom.

The end of Bakeshop and Breads

My two lab classes (artisan breads and bakeshop) are over. Because each class is two days a week and about 7 hours a day, it only runs half a semester. For our finals for each class, we had to take exams as well as complete a practical (an assignment of certain products made throughout the semester made independently).

For breads, we did laminated breads (laminated with butter rolled into the dough). I was responsible for making danishes shaped as pinwheels finished with raspberry filling, glazed and covered in fondant. I also had to make rosemary pepper croissants with parmesan cheese rolled into the dough before baking. The last item was brioche (a rich bread with lots of eggs and fat) with seeds and seasoning sprinkled onto the product before baking. My items turned out alright, they were a little on the small side and my brioche wasn't shaped right (they are difficult to form), but overall, I did well in the class. I'm especially pleased because artisan breads is an advanced course and the pre-requisite for the class is bakeshop. I took bakeshop at the same time and it was not a disadvantage for me. I felt it helped me in the class because everything I learned in bakeshop was directly applied to my breads class.

For bakeshop, each student had to make buttermilk biscuits, heart-shaped sugar cookies with piping techniques, bavarian cream, and french baguettes. My biscuits turned out beautifully, a little undermined but beautifully shaped and delicious. My sugar cookies need some work, my piping skills are not great, but thankfully I will be taking a cake decorating class this march. The bavarian cream was the worst! I did horribly on it. 75% of the class did terribly on this portion. You have to temper eggs and sugar with milk in a pot (without scrambling the eggs), then add it to a gelatin mix and make sure it cools but NOT to the point that is sets. From here you have to make whipped cream and whipped eggs whites and fold them into the gelatin mix, making sure nothing curdles. I practiced mine at home, and the eggs scrambled. The final bavarian I made for class was even worse. I was running out of time and my eggs scrambled, the gelatin was already set, and I freaked out because I was worried I wouldn't have a product in the end if I tried to fix it. This affected my grade tremendously.

The last product, the french baguettes, there was a lot of pressure on me. I was the only person in bakeshop taking artisan breads at the same time, to my Chef, this meant my baguettes had to be amazing because all the practice I had with them. NOT TRUE! I made baguettes once in the breads class, and that was back in January! However, I was patient and let my dough rest, and the product turned out pretty well. My slashing was good and the golden color on the crust was perfect! I got pretty good scores on the overall product. Because I did well in the other classes and on all the tests, I ended up with a very high grade in the class.

Just before I left bakeshop, my chef (the head of the culinary dept.) called me into his office. He told me I was doing a wonderful job, was a dedicated worker and had the gift to make it in the business. He gave me a hand-crafted woodwine paring knife for basically being one of the top students in the class! He told me only one student each class gets this award, and I was extremely touched! He will be my teacher for cake decorating starting next week.

About this cake decorating class, it does until May, and I cannot wait to get started! This will help me in my piping techniques and I think it will be a fun group to work with. So, I will continue posting and taking pictures to share. Thanks so much to everyone reading, I am going strong in my baking and will hopefully be landing a job to pay my bills soon!

Ethnic Breads, Plated desserts, and Decorating

Here is a plated dessert I did in my bakeshop (101 baking) class. My teacher loved it (I think one of my better things in class). I took a simple round raspberry tart, cut it in half, stacked it at an angle, then placed berries at the base for my garnish, dotted white chocolate sauce then a smaller dot of blackberry coulis and ran a toothpick through to make a heart-shaped effect. The top is dusted with powdered sugar, and I made a caramel crisp and piped a whipped cream rosette on top to hold the crisp in place. Simple, elegant, and could easily charge 6.50 for it!

This is a decorative dough I made in my breads class. You bake it in the oven twice to dry it out completely, bake your flowers and pieces separate and then glue them off in the finished product. Its not for eating, you simply keep it as a decoration! Dust once a month, and that's it!

For ethnic breads, we made Naan (Indian bread), parmesean breadsticks, and challah bread in the shape of a bunny (the face is painted with cocoa).

In bakeshop, we decorated chocolate tortes (this one is not my design, we had to mimic the teacher, but it was still fun!).

These are both the cakes I decorated, the first is a chocolate torte and the second is your basic birthday cake. I know my handwriting needs work, and "Me" was written because "Rachel" didn't have enough space. I'm not as proud of the birthday cake because the icing was hot and melting and I had seconds to finish my product. One thing I've learned in these classes is to use your time wisely, don't goof off, and do your best to have a nice looking product at the end of the day that is consistent with the other things you are making and edible!

Decorating in Columbia

hey guys! sorry its been so long, school has been hectic, so here is what i did a couple weekends ago. I went to Columbia, SC to work with my roommate's grandmother who is a cake decorator (she's been doing it for at least 30 years I believe). She spent the whole day teaching me basic piping techniques, since that is my biggest struggle at this point. By the end of the day, I had two beautiful cakes to show for my work. Michelle (my roommate) and her whole family came over and enjoyed my desserts. They were delicious!

here are some pics of what I did:

these are the two cakes I made (above) with a simple buttercream frosting recipe (its important when piping the icing is not too warm or it won't stick very well and you can't pipe it the way you want to very well either)

I did a basket-weave for the side of this cake, with a shell border on the bottom and pink roses on top with leaves

Here is the same cake from a different angle (the top border is a simple shell pipe, roses in the middle)

Here is the other cake I made (the middle is a lattice design I was taught, roses on the edge with leaves, and a reverse shell border)

-I have to say, for my first cakes on my own, I did alright!

Midterm Bread pics

My rustic bread loaves (made with wheat, rye, and bread flour, dusted with wheat germ) shaped like boules.

My whole wheat hazelnut and currant bread (shaped like betards, the front one is better)

My sourdough white club rolls, not bad. I hear they were delicious.

Midterm for Breads, Swans for Bakeshop

So, this is the halfway point for my two hands-on lab classes: artisan breads and bakeshop (baking 101). This week, I had to prepare, mix, knead, slash and bake three separate breads for my midterm. I was very nervous; we had designated stations to work both Monday and Tuesday for breads, and everyone was pretty quiet. Each person made a different group of breads. I made a rustic bread shaped like a boule (rounded sourdough look), a hazelnut and dried currant loaf in the shape of a betard (pics coming) and sourdough white in the shape of small club rolls. I was freaking out a little, but overall, my products turned out alright. Chef Pat told me to work on shaping the hazelnut bread better (its a pain to try to form that thing with all the nuts and currants poking through and burning your bread, leaving holes throughout it). And my slashes (cuts) in the bread could have been deeper and smoother. But, I had the rustic bread for my dinner, it wasn't bad. So far, I'm a pretty average student in the advanced baking breads class, and that is something I'm proud of (not all the students are that lucky).

In my bakeshop class, we didn't have a midterm, just another quiz (we take one every week). I am happy to report I got a 100% on it! Everyone struggled on the test, so I'm very pleased with myself. We started the class afterward with petit fours, eclairs, cookies, and making all the fondant and frostings. My team was responsible for making petit fours with a raspberry glaze in the center and white fondant on top (which I came in early to make which was fun) and piping on pink royal icing after. One of the other teachers hosted a tea party later that day, and we offered her some wonderful bites! My team also had to make a puff pastry shaped like swans. Pardon my French, but that was a bitch. We had to pipe the bodies and heads separate the day before, bake them immediately and let them sit overnight. The next day, we cut part of the bodies off, split that extra piece into two, and put Creme Chantilly into the base of the bird's body, using the two pieces as wings. Then, we carefully placed the heads into the middle (all was held by the creme). Sorry I don't have pictures, but sometimes, when you do something for hours and you finish it and everything is done, you never want to see it again! Well, at least it was good experience and Chef Alan said our team had the hardest things to do, and we did it beautifully.

I just want to say, I love my teachers, and I think they really like me. It's such a big change from growing up and going to school; I feel like I get so much out of class, taking notes, and have a great relationship with all the teachers (and the students for the most part). I think I've impressed many with my work ethic, not all the students are as devoted to cleaning to the best of their ability whilest in class. But I love it still, I love my life, my friends, and yes, if you've heard, my new boyfriend Steven. Shoot me an email if you have any questions, but for now, I'll leave yall some bread pictures. Next weekend I'm going to Colombia to shadow my roommate's grandmother who decorated cakes for a living. My piping skills suck and I need the help. So have a great Valentine's Day!

-the improved baker

Breads Week 4- sorry, pictures are all I have time for!

This is a light rye bread made with caraway seeds (the seeds give it that rye bread taste). I formed it into a boule (rounded look) and slashed the side.

This is my 5-grain bread. Flax seed, millet, sunflower seeds, and more! Same shape as the Rye and same cut. Much more water in this one and I don't think I proofed it long enough (last resting period for dough in warm proof box).

I am so proud of this one. Our chef said it turned out well. It's a semolina bread (has toasted sesame seeds) and I shaped it like a betard (what you see in the picture) and slashed it sausage style (3 cuts along the top to the sides).

Bread Pictures Week 3?

This first one is a whole wheat sourdough, I added too much water and overmixed it, it was very dense (but had the sourdough taste).

The Challah (pronounced "holla") made with eggs and some fat. Tastes like a typical roll bread. I made the 4-braid and 3-braid.

Jalapeno Cheddar Bread made with chopped green onions and cilantro. It was very light and moist and delicious! The best bread I've made so far.

A sourdough olive loaf. I made it like a fougasse (flatter bread and the special cuts I made). Not my favorite choice but it turned out beautifully and tasted great (says the roommate).

Second week done

Sorry it's been so long since my first post! I've been super busy with my baking classes and my online management course. But I'm still very happy in what I'm doing. This past week we didn't have Artisan Breads class (the MLK holiday) but I had my bakeshop lab both Wednesday and Thursday. We split up into groups of 5 and each group was responsible for something different. Many groups made a danish dough (as did ours) which required mixing on the first day, rolling out and spreading a mixture of butter and shortening onto the dough, and then rolling and folding it a bunch of times, making sure to retard (chill) it in between folds. This is why danish and croissant dough is so light in flaky: you create a number of layers in the dough and spreading on the fat keeps it light. It was very interesting and a lot of fun, although the dough turned into your literal food baby that forced you to worry about it's future, you had no idea if it would turn out the right way in the end (I'm sure that's how many parents feel).

We also made three different fillings that we used inside the dough before the baking process. We made a lemon-poppy seed filling, an almond glaze, and a cinnamon raisin filling. The second day we took our danish dough out of the cooler and rolled it a few more times, then we got to the fun/challenging part: creating different shapes.

Our group made bear claws, coffee cake (not really coffee in it, just looks like a turnover), and cinnamon rolls. It was a little difficult because none of us had done this before, and some of our products turned out to be the wrong size or didn't look quite professional. But believe me, they tasted delicious! With all of the groups making different products, by the end of class, we had hundreds of pastries to box up! Some groups made monkey bread (a cinnamon fruit nut cake), grandma's bread (the chef's polish grandma's special bread), croissants, and pinwheel danishes.

I definitely tried one of my danishes to make sure it tasted alright, and yes, it was brilliant. But, in order to keep my figure during all this, I've been sending off my goodies with my roommate to feed the Wofford staff. I think I've become increasingly popular with these people as each week passes by.

Well, that's got yall up to date with me; just working on homework this weekend and maybe Michelle and I will go hiking tomorrow. Until next time, please be sure to look at my pics! Btw, if you want the apple pie recipe, sorry, it's too precious and I can't afford giving up such a gem!

Some baking pics

An apple bear claw I made in bakeshop

An apricot danish I also made in Bakeshop
My first week in Breads (left to right: ciabatta, rustic wheat, and a poorly made French baguette) It was difficult for all three, but hopefully practice makes perfect!
The most delicious thing I've ever made. Not in class, but out of my research online + my creativity did this come out! It's an apple pie with gruyere cheese baked into the crust. My roommate approves, and it's going to be on the menu at my bakery someday!

The apprentice baker

There was a loud thump when our chef slammed 15 pounds of dough onto the table. I could tell just by watching the chef kneading the dough over and over, you need strong hands to be a bread maker. As I stood there watching my teacher's demo, I could already tell, this is what I want to do with the rest of my life.

In case you haven't kept tabs on me and what I've been doing, I'll give you a little background before I go on. I am a student (again) at Greenville Tech getting my Baking and Pastry Certificate.

It feels like its been almost a decade since I graduated from PC, but I've been really busy since then. When I got my diploma in May 2010, I flew overseas to teach English in Prague, Czech Republic (central Europe). This was a way for me to "find myself". Well, after eight weeks of traveling around Europe, I started thinking about all the things I was seeing. The thing I thought most about was the amazing bakeries I was finding everywhere. I couldn't get over it, it was especially difficult to bear in France. You wouldn't believe the amazing pastries these little shops could crank out, and there were bakeries on every corner! I mulled over this idea for a few months while in Prague. I knew almost immediately I hated teaching, well, teaching English as a foreign language. I finally made up my mind that November that I would stick with teaching until the following April, then go home to pursue baking.

Living in Europe was a great part of my life, but when I realized that baking was the path for me, I knew that I couldn't wait another minute. I believe, once you figure out what you want to be doing with your life, you can't do anything else! I got home in April 2011 and moved out to Greenville, SC to find a job and look into Greenville Tech's culinary program. I chose this school because it was cheaper than an arts institute, it had an amazing facility and great staff, and offered the main classes I wanted in a shorter degree which is a "Baking and Pastry Certificate". Since I started classes in August 2011, I will finish in Christmas 2012.

Last semester I had to get my pre-requisites out of the way. So now, this January, I am taking real baking courses! The class I was speaking about earlier is Artisan Breads. I'm also taking Bakeshop Production (like baking 101) and a management class. The first two classes are intensive hands-on labs that I will be in Monday-Thursday from morning to late afternoon. Today was my first day in Breads.

One thing I learned right off the bat from my teacher, Chef Patrick, was that the word "artisan" actually means taking the best part of a product's history and making it into your own craft. So breads, for example, I am learning the techniques passed down throughout history and making it into something I consider to be my creation; its like leaving my personal mark on breads. Isn't that fascinating? I don't know about yall reading, but that is new to me.

Today in class, we helped our chef roll out the hard and soft bread rolls, balling up the rustic breads, and shaping the ciabatta bread, and then we had to prepare our own dough that we will bake for tomorrow's class (baguettes, ciabatta, and rustic bread). This class is actually for more advanced students, and I was supposed to take the Bakeshop Production first, however, due to my work schedule, I had to cram this all in. Some of the students think I'm crazy for taking this class first, but, I feel if Julia Child can walk into an advanced french cooking course and be fearless, so can I. Besides, later on today when I was rolling dough, the Chef mentioned to one of my classmates that I was confident enough and will do just fine in the class. That's just the little encouragement I need to bake wonders!

I know this is a very long post, but I hope yall found it interesting and I plan on writing more about my classes this semester, as well as post pictures of things I bake, so please stay tuned!