Laminated dough *love*

Happy Wednesday! ..It is Wednesday, right?


 Today we did more laminated dough! We did danishes last rotation, and now we are learning about croissants. We made Pain au chocolat yesterday. *drool* SO.GOOD! I could easily eat these every day, but don't do that. Bad for the heart.

 We made our dough (which is super sticky) then we chilled it down. And we made our butter. We take 500g of butter and blend it with 50g flour and 5ml lemon juice (I knew that from memory, impressed?) Then we shape it in to a square and put that in the fridge to harden.

 I'm not going to get in to the rolling and technical stuff - I don't think I could explain and describe it in a way that would make any kind of sense to you. The important thing to know is that ALL that butter gets put in to the dough and we roll and fold and roll and fold until there are beautiful layers of butter everywhere.

 Yesterday the rolling procedure for the pain au chocolat was quite simple. And I aced it. So proud of myself. Chef said they looked exactly like what he use to get in France and they were perfect. *pat on the back* He took two home, one for him and one for his wife. I found out today he ate both and gave none to his wife. lol. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her!" haha.

Pain au chocolat. 

So beautiful

Seriously. Look at those layers.

Today we made almond croissants. The rolling procedure was different. It was hard. We had to cut triangles (sounds easy) but we had to use the width of our fist as a measurement. So While I have my fist on my dough, I'm also sliding my sharp knife around attempting to make a stupid triangle.  "Don't cut off your fingers...Don't cut off your fingers..."

 We have talked about my inability to make a simple shape. This was no exception.

 I got a few done. Then we had to make a 1 inch slit in the top and pipe some of our almond cream on to it, just under the slit. We then pulled the "wings" out to the side, covering the cream and then pull on the bottom and roll it up. The first few I made sort of looked like bats that had broken wings...not pretty.
 My next few looked awesome! or I thought they did. Nice and big and even. Chef started laughing about how its something that you would find in a buffet. "If you can eat the whole thing you get it for free!" lol. My next few I attempted to make them "normal" size. They turned out mini. *sigh*

 The ones we did yesterday were such a success. I was getting frustrated that these weren't as easy to do. In the end the fact of the matter is, I'm learning. This was my first ever attempt at them and in the end I was proud of what I made.

 Chef looked at my dough before we had started rolling them out and he said it looked bad. I told him I flipped it over like he told me to yesterday. He looked at the back and said "yeah thats bad too.." and I looked at him with a smile on my face and said "well, at least I'm consistent!" lol. Got to make something good out of something negative. And when I say negative, its not. I never feel like I'm horrible in class. Chef has a way of insulting you while making you smile and laugh. Its an impressive talent he has. Really is.

I think these were my two best ones.

What else did we do today that I wanted to tell you about? Oh, I burnt myself. Grrr. I just barely touched the edge of the deck oven when I was putting some muffins in (oh yeah! we made muffins today! Apple Cinnamon) I just ignored the burn at first. Holy crap the pain. The redness went half way down my arm and just wouldn't stop burning. Burn Gel is the best thing ever invented. Man alive. When it finally let up a few hours later the burn was a lot bigger than I thought it was. Good news? I will survive! haha. Just a little wrist burn.

ouch

 So yes, we made apple cinnamon muffins, and we also made these carrot cake cookies with cream cheese filling. SO GOOD! I don't believe I got a picture of these. Trust me, they were so good.

 I spent the rest of my afternoon running around gathering tax information and packing materials.

 My husband has been offered a job, so we are moving out at the end of the month. I actually love to pack - maybe not right away, but once I get going I love it. So my life is turning in to a sea of boxes.

I almost died this morning when I stumbled around the dark apartment at 5:30am and crashed in to AND OVER a big pile of boxes that I forgot to move out of the hallway. On a positive note though, I found out where the cat vomited when I fell. So I was able to clean that up. *eye roll*

 Thats my day in a nut shell.

 Here are some pictures of the bread rotation and some random cakes. I only did 1 day in bread because I was out sick.

 Enjoy and have a great night!

Jelly roll thats been cut and lined in a ring

Now its filled with raspberry mousse..

Mocha cake!

German bread. Don't even ask me the name of it...

Bagels. That look like little assholes. 

Italian easter bread