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!