Aaaaaand, we made it through the bread section. [Cue collective sigh of relief.]
Today, we started off relatively simple. We had to make three different doughs and there were three of us (eventually four), so we each took a dough and started prepping. We made a batch of Dutch bread, a batch of sourdough, and a double batch of focaccia.
Once those were done, we set them aside, and took the stollen out of the fridge. Before we rolled it out, we had to prepare the marzipan. This just meant we weighed it, weighed out half that amount in icing sugar, and blended it in using a Kitchenaid with a paddle attachment. Then we set this aside wrapped in saran wrap. To roll out the stollen, we separated it into pieces (the weight of which I cannot remember) and rolled them into long tubes, slightly thicker in the middle than at the ends. Then, we flattened these out with a rolling pin into an oval shape, leaving the sides a little bit thicker. Then we rolled up a little piece of marzipan (about 50 g) into a cylinder and placed it inside the stollen and folded it over. The oval had to be large enough that when it was proofed, the dough wouldn't expand and flip open again. After they were all ready, we waited until they got up to room temperature and then placed them in the proofer. [With a dough that is rich in fat, it is important not to place it in the proofer when it's still cold, because the fat will separate from the rest of the dough and it will not be good for anyone.] Once they were proofed, they went in the deck oven for about 20 minutes. After we took them out, we brushed them with butter, dipped them in sugar, and dredged with icing sugar. This had to be done while they were still warm. When I was making the dough yesterday, I thought that it looked like the least appetizing kind of dough, but after baking it, the stollen looked pretty tasty.
Next, we finished off the Bee Stings from yesterday. We made some diplomat cream, which is just pastry cream with whipped cream folded into it. The pastry cream was prepped by the pastry section the day before. As I whisked the pastry cream and folded the whipped cream into it, the bee stings were cut in half horizontally and then the top section was cut into six equal slices. This is just because if it wasn't pre-sliced, the cream would just all be squished out of it when you tried to cut through the hard sugary almond crust. After the loaves were cut in half, we spread the cream inside and then re-assembled the top layer. We had an extra one made out of the last little bit of dough which we obviously also filled with cream and then each of us tasted some. I cannot even describe to you how delicious it was. I don't even think I'm going to try. Let's just leave it at that.
For the batch of brioche we made yesterday, we separated the dough into 300 g pieces and rolled them into balls and then flattened them out with a rolling pin. We set these aside and made Streusel to put on top. This is essentially a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and a few other things. It is mixed together until the mixture holds its shape when squeezed. We let the dough come to room temperature and then placed it in the proofer. We didn't put the streusel on until after the proofer, because otherwise, it would just all fall off when the dough expanded. After the brioche came out of the proofer, we egg-washed it and then placed it in the convection oven for I'm actually not sure how long. But until golden brown. They looked beautiful when they came out. We were halfway through putting them on baskets when Jean-Luc said that we weren't actually sending these out to the cafeteria yet, because we still had to fill them. But we all tried one fresh from the oven, and it was delicious... Eventually, we cut all of these in half and placed a layer of pastry cream in the middle and then re-assembled. Brioche is so versatile and delicious. Seriously.
The focaccia was essentially the same as the other batches we've made, except we made a regular baking tray's worth, instead of a half tray. It was a lot of focaccia. So, we made the dough, set it aside and let it double in size. Then, it was rolled out to the size of the baking tray. We lined a baking tray with parchment paper and brushed this with herbs and olive oil and then placed the focaccia on top, then brushed that as well. This went in the proofer for at least a half hour, and then we made finger depressions along the top of the dough and brushed it again. After that, it went in the convection oven for about 15 minutes and then was flipped over and went in for another 15 minutes or so. Then we sliced it up and sent half to the restaurant and half to the cafeteria. [We later had to get the baskets we sent out to the cafeteria, because there wasn't enough for the restaurant. Apparently.]
The tiger bread was placed in the divider once it had risen and we made smaller rolls again instead of loaves. Once shaped, they went into the proofer and we started making the topping. After they had proofed, we gently brushed the topping on. Then we put them in the deck oven at 400 with steam. I think that one or two of the trays didn't proof for long enough, because the rolls split open while they were baking. But they still looked and tasted good. When these were nicely browned, they went out to the restaurant too.
The sourdough was the last thing we made, and we essentially just shaped it into large loaves. Then they went in the proofer. Once we took them out, we sprinkled a little flour on the top of the loaf and then used our baker's blade to cut three lines. These then went in the deck oven at 400 as well and we used steam for these too. So much bread...
Today didn't seem AS crazy as the day before, aside from the confusion regarding the rolls from the restaurant. But, we managed to pull it off. Tomorrow, we're onto our next section, so, it was a good last day in bread.
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Today's Recipes
Stollen
Dutch Mottled Bread
Brioche
Streusel
Bee Sting
Focaccia
Sourdough
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