Pegel

Pegel is an Indonesian word to describe stiffness in the muscle, pronounciation is a bit like peu as in un peu, beaucoup, pas du tout and girl pronounced in thick Aussie accent. My right arm has been pegel pegel for the past two weeks because at school we had been making different sort of sponge based cakes and been whisking eggs, egg whites, cream by hand that it's been feeling numb and sometimes I have pins and needles! On the upside, it is looking super toned like never before! Next week I think I should try to whisk with my left arm only to even it up...

So it all started Monday the week before with the Moka, and honestly I am not in love with this cake. When we went on the patisserie tour with the class we bought a Moka from Pierre Hermé and even that I would've preferred something else. Each to their own taste I suppose... But I really enjoyed making it! To get the butter cream coating super even and flat and slick was fun, had I been allowed I would've spent half an hour just to get it nice and even.

That day we also made the joconde for our Opera cake which we were going to assemble on Tuesday. So I thought Tuesday would've been a walk in the park, but NO. I think we were even running late on Tuesday so much work went into building this cake. The layers from top to bottom : chablon, joconde, butter cream, joconde, ganache, joconde, butter cream, glaçage and chef said a good Opera has to have a nice balance of everything... mine turned out lovely, even though they didn't look exactly fine and dainty cos of my clumsy attempts at cornet!

On Wednesday we didn't take anything home but we made Bavarois au coco and prepared a few things for Thursday. We had our first art class and that was a bit SCARY! because much do I want to be a creative person... I don't have much up my sleeves!! Ah well, so I plan to take this learning seriously.. and hopefully any repressed artistic genes in me might surface. Anyway, so Thursday we finished three cakes! and that felt a bit like a relaxing time compared to just 1 Opera. I prefer cakes that don't look too busy, and I am all for negative space and less is more. Watching my chef decorated the bavarois and the fruit mousse was quite breathtaking. Really beautiful and with restraint, when you see the cakes you couldn't help but sigh... Lucky that he preferred us to copy what he did because I would've anyway! I have to say my cakes also ended up being really pretty, except that I really could've done with less strawberries on the fruit mousse. I gave them out happily and quite proudly.

Friday we had our first evaluation on tarte aux pommes and tarte au chocolat. To cut the story short I was in the middle pack, but I am my own competition anyway... I think I could've done better and like an elite athlete I would try to beat my personal best next time :)

New week, still on the cake theme... Monday we made 2 types of cheesecakes and made the french meringue for the Concorde and that was a walk in the park. I know I sound like a SNOB :) but cheesecakes are simple to make. I wasn't enthralled. We finished the unbaked cheesecake and I think for this one we were allowed to decorate as you wish but I imitated my chef's style from the other week. (You know, I am a copy cat and am really quite concern about the creativity challenge for the end of the course!! A bit like a masterchef mystery box x invention challenge!!)

On Tuesday we made the first of the 3 types of chocolate mousses we learnt this week. For the Concorde the mousse is similar to how I normally make it which is just with eggs. I piped the meringues too chunkily and they didn't look fine and delicate. I used to sell these when I worked in David Jones food hall I should had known to make it nice and thin grrrrrr!!

Anyway, then we made a Fraisier and I must had drawn the shortest stick because my strawberries were HUGE! and so had to cut them horizontally and turned out that I didn't like that look at all. Then I made a huge mistake, I didn't hear when chef told us to keep the crème patissière outside so they are not too cold having came out from the blast freezer. When I mixed the butter in, I could see then the texture became weird... I showed it to chef and he said the cream and butter should had been at the same temperature and not too cold. When I took the ring out and saw that I didn't chemise the cake well. I just wanted to dig a hole and cry hmmpphhhh but I just grit my teeth, not be a baby, and told chef that it was a fail for me. On that day we were to have a cornet evaluation, lucky he postponed it because after that... I don't think I could handle double disaster. Fraisier my nemesis.

On Wednesday we made a dangerous cake called a Royal. Whenever someone asks chef how long can we keep this and that, normally the answer is one day. Well it might be very sickening of me but I still have this cake in my fridge!!! I should and will throw it out today! But it is soo good! It has a couple of layers of sponge, a layer of hazelnut milk chocolate feuillantine, covered in praline chocolate mousse, the 2nd type of chocolate mousse which has whipped cream and no eggs. And I really had a good day making this cake.... after feeling a bit defeated the day before I decided to be more focused and maybe it was a good thing that I accidentally left my phone at home. I was more attentive and somehow for the first time since we started I was not left at the back of the pack and completed the steps in line with everybody.

Thursday early morning wayyyyy before dawn, Amie and I got up and made our way to the Bon Marché. All the Anglo Pastry students and our chefs were going on a school excursion to Rungis yay! I love markets and this is THE market professionals go to so it was really interesting. We also went to do a little tour of Les Vergers Saint Eustache, a produce supplier to the palaces and Michelin restaurants around the world and the array of products and the quality are amazing! I took heaps of photos that day and this is my favourite.

On Friday we made our last cake and I had high expectation because I love love crème brulée.. it was going inside as an insert, sandwiched with a couple of layers of sponges, covered in chocolate mousse. This is the 3rd type of chocolate mousse that we made, it would be really interesting to have a taste test of all three just to compare which one I prefer... this one has eggs and cream. I was happy that my cake turned out pretty because I wanted to offer it as a gift.

Also on Friday we had about an hour to practice cornet and had our evaluation. I tried to keep calm and not to have a nervous breakdown when I saw other students piped flourish decoration in addition to the letters. I passed... and also realised that I have such a long long way to go and must practice a thousand times over because all I can write for now, is just Fraisier.

And so it was... the two weeks of sponge cakes and by now I think my whisking skill if there is such thing, has reached advanced level. I used to beat stuff with hand held mixer at least... hardly ever with a whisk because it seemed such a hassle and a tiresome thing to do. Now, give me a bucket of cream and a whisk, 5-10 minutes. Bam! No sweat.

Melinda xx

Viennoiserie mon amour

Normally we would be told the week before what we are going to make the week after, when chef said we would be making viennoiseries, I kept my cool but my insides were doing back flips. So excited :) because you know... I've tried and tried but I was far from happy with the result.. and I think it wasn't due to me being incapable you see... it's because I wasn't in the right environment with controlled temperature. Anyway so I practically pranced to school on Monday... I had French in the morning and the lab in the afternoon. Someday I will write about the other classes we attend, and the school lunches .. because I enjoy them in equal measure.

That Monday we finished around 8pm, and especially in the beginning it was pretty intense and chef was yelling pushing us to work faster. We had three types of dough to make pâte à croissant, pâte à brioche and pain au lait. All by hand. It was like slap slap roll roll laminate, next dough, bam bam fall down, next dough, cut cut shape egg wash. We left with big bags of fresh pain au lait, but the croissants and brioches were to be baked the next day.

Tuesday we prepared pâte à croissant and pâte à brioche again though this time we mada a huge brioche dough in bulk with a mixing machine phew... (cos it is so s t i c k y!). The brioche dough from Monday had to be shaped and to make the little brioche with a head.... turned out to be super tricky!!!

Actually to cut pain au lait into a navette shape with the little teeth... that was hard as well. It's ok if you can stand them being irregular and homey but I CAN'T! And sadly at the moment, my cuts are looking like a british bulldog's teeth.. different sizes and pointing everywhere. On the other hand my croissants and pain au chocolat were not bad!

Happy with the shape and how they look... when I cut in to check the crumb.. pretty good... so yes overall, happiness! I left most at school and only took a few home, cos you know no need to be greedy so early... Wednesday we made pâte à croissant again... and I think that's all but we each were given a kilo of brioche dough to shape into 5 different classic shapes : Parisienne, Nanterre, two types of brioches tressées, and a brioche feuilletée.

This photo of brioches feuilletées I love!

We baked the croissants from yesterday, this time all were shaped into croissants because they are the hardest one to master and disappointingly they all came out from the oven misshapen and looking all weird. Not just mine, but for most of us in general. My chef said the dough was too strong and so they opened up when baked. Boo... anyway this time I took them all home and gave most to the sisters.

Thursday we made pâte à croissant AGAIN and even though I had never had a perfect batch, by then the process became something almost banal and easy. I think a few in the class were a bit over it by then but I really love it and I think, for those who makes croissants even everyday it's always a quest for perfection... NO??
Croissants baked from Wednesday's dough turned out ok, when I cut them in half when we make them into croissants aux amandes I was quite pleased with the crumb.

Alright! Who burnt my almond croissants?? Sigh, anyway.. gave them all out but one, really good.

We also made a kougelhoph which we mixed in a machine thankfully... baked in a traditional clay mould which I had been wanting to get for years if not for it's bulk and weight. Once they baked, then they get submerged in a syrup flavoured with vanilla, cinnamon, star anise and then a bath in melted butter before finally get showered in cinnamon sugar and lastly icing sugar. It is seriously very very good! A long time ago I had kougelhoph in Alsace and it is no where near this beauty, after I tried this I really want to try Christine Ferber's.

Before we started cleaning, chef told us to make another .... croissant dough yes! So half class had to do croissant dough the rest puff pastry dough ready to be laminated tomorrow. On Friday the last day, let me tell you first what we made : 8 croissants and 8 pain aux raisins, 8 danishes, 6 chaussons italiens and I got the kougeloph from yesterday that I kept in the freezer. Chef swapped our class and so we started at 7, sanitised everything then we started rolling and rolling and laminate, then we shaped the croissants and the pain aux raisins, then the danishes. Lastly the very unassuming but very yummy chaussons italiens made with puff pastry rolled in sugar then filled with a mixture of choux pastry and crème patissière and rhum soaked raisins. I brought everything to Accor to share with some colleagues I know and they also said kougelhoph and the chaussons italiens, THE tastiest. As my chef who is always right would say, NO FAT NO FUN. Oui chef!

Hours and weeks really fly by... this week honestly had been the most tiring and physical but my most favourite so far! Sometimes I still feel that it's crazy after only a month all of us can pull things out like these like little machines... especially when we lay out all the stuff that we had made for the chef to inspect and for us to take photos I can't help to feel a certain kind of pride. And even though I may not seem that I was.... (cos you know.. i'm mature and all that), I sometimes feel that I could burst out with happiness.

Melinda xx

Week two puffed like I never puffed before

Week two was going to be dangerous for me... I love the things that we were going to make, and having them so accessible and available was not going to be good for my waistline. Our pastry lab would be in the afternoons which means that we can sleep in woohoo!! French, techno and wine class do not start until 9-10am so it's not bad! But as usual I still manage to stress myself. I live less than 10 minutes walk from the school and you can see me running the streets like a mad woman to arrive just in time. I'm in group Pastry FA (F for February) with chef Stévy and I sure don't want to come in late for his lab and class.

So, on Monday I learnt how to do pâte feuilletée CORRECTLY without battling against the butter and having a minor breakdown when butter starts to seep out everywhere and it was GREAT!! The air con was blasting cold air and the pastry lab was like a walk in fridge but woo I never enjoyed making puff pastry as much. We made my ever favourite Chaussons aux Pommes and a bande de pommes. I made chaussons before but Argh! this time they look quite presentable!! and the pastry, light and flaky... and the bande looked a bit rustic to me but also tasted great.

Tuesday we repeated the pâte feuilletée and we were to make a pithiviers, a dartois and a jalousie. In the past few years, I made galette des rois on several occasions and although they always tasted great, lookwise they were all rustic and homey. I made effort to score it the best I could and waited with bated breath to see how it turned out as it came out from the oven. And well well.... it baked quite nicely and the scoring, not bad at all.

Wednesday and Thursday we made different things based on pâte à choux, a Paris Brest, some individual Saint Honorés, some religieuses and éclairs... and did I make some frustrating minor stupidities like I forgot to stuff in the second pastry wheel into my Paris Brest!!! and my little choux for the Saint Honorés were too small!!!

This photo I took after I realised that the wheel on the left was to go in before I did the piping... my chef said it's not a big mistake but it's just the cost of my Paris Brest would be more, but I was more disappointed that it looked a bit smaller and less generous than it should had been. *Sigh*

Come to think of it, those were my only complaints, so not too bad over all... and on the other hand I was well pleased about my glaçage for my éclairs because it came out shiny, and the heads of my religieuse I thought, look quite proportional and so when I piped the colerette, they ended up quite a beauty. YAY!

On Friday the pace was a bit relax... we were only to make one thing and one thing only, a Millefeuille... which was something that I had always been wanting to make but never did.

The pâte feuilletée we made was the inversed one with butter envelopping the détrempe, which had been my go to when I make pâte feuilletée at home. It's amazing how much I had learnt already in these two weeks.... I realised that at home, I was doing too many unnecessary turns. My mindset is that I would forget what I had ever done at home as if I had been reset to zero and learn the correct techniques for everything... I am such a stickler for correct techniques and no shortcuts so I am so born for this :)

Honestly I am loving my life right now and I have no remorse whatsoever leaving Sydney... except that I miss you my friends!

Melinda xx