Practical #4 was preparing the Quiche Lorraine and was taught by Chef Benoit again. He ended up correcting me on a large number of things: my Lardons were cut too big "They look like they are on steroids!", and telling me that I was folding over the crust improperly. Unfortunately, I didn't pre-cook the crust quite long enough (my oven isn't hot, so I found out I should set it 20 higher) so the Quiche didn't turn out perfect, but the filling was great according to him. Since a quiche doesn't take the entire, I managed to turn 5 vegetables (two turnips and 3 carrots), but unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to evuter them long enough to get the proper glaze on them. I was quite happy when Chef Benoit said that he can tell I could be a good turner someday and I asked him if that was a compliment and he said take it as you will.
I showed up 5 mins before class for Lesson #5, and chatted with Chef Benoit en francais for a bit. I think he was impressed that I could speak French, so maybe that will help in the future. I'm not above greasing the wheels. I need all the help I can get!
Lesson #5 was again taught by Chef Benoit, and was on Pates Levees (or Poussees). The common ingredients are flour, water or milk, eggs, sugar, salt, fat (butter, oil, saindoux) and YEAST!
Yeast comes in two types, dry and fresh (levure de boulanger). Boulanger is french for bread maker.
NB: Salt should never be in direct contact with yeast, it will kill it.
Too much heat, sugar, salt will kill your yeast. Ideal temperature for water is lukewarm, 40C or so.
New terminology
Petrir - knead a dough
Faconner - shape a dough
rompre - rupture / break
pousser - rise or proof
Beurre Monte - a family butter sauce (up to 75% butter)
Lustre - to shine a crust with fat
Chef Benoit prepared Saucisson en Brioche, or sausage baked in a brioche (heavy butter bread), Pissaladiere (basically a French pizza, with compote of onions, anchovies and black olives) and tarte au sucre (french style).
Various notes: Kneading the dough should take 10-15 minutes at least as you really have to pound it to break the bonds so it becoms soft. As well, you need to let the dough pousse or proof in a warm place until it's 2-3 times in size. Cover with saran wrap or a wet towel. When cooking a sausage, put bamboo skewers in it to keep the shape.
I have a hard time paying attention to anything for extended periods of time, and since the demo had three different doughs, there was 30-45 minutes of kneading, which is repetitive. You are supposed to throw the dough against the table at the beginning, but after awhile even that's not that amusing. Anyway, I was sitting front row, and at one point it looked like I was about to nod off so Chef Benoit pretended to throw the dough at me and I just moved my head slightly to the side. He commented (to the class) that I barely moved out of the way, and I was about to argue about economy of motion when defending and figured that argument would surely be lost.
Pratical #5 was making the Pissaladiere, and I was actually quite worried about my dough. As instructed, I measured everything EXACTLY using my scale, and did my best not to add too much flour to my dough, but it wasn't coming along right away. I was one of the last people to allow my dough to pousser/proof/rise and before I put my saran wrap on, I had Chef Benoit look at it, and he said it was ok. Onto my compote of onions, which didn't turn out well. You have to cook the onions in some oil, then cover them to let them fully cook, then remove the cover and cook the rest of the liquid out, until it's a nice brown colour. I didn't cook mine long enough... I also chopped up some anchovies (disgusting) and pitted and sliced up some olives. At this point, my dough had risen, and it was time to add the fat (olive oil in this case) and then work the dough into a round shape. At this point, I added the toppings (including onions) and let it rise a second time. This was nerve racking, because I was definitely the last person to put my pissaladiere in the oven, so I wasn't positive I would have enough time to cook it. Fortunately, I had rolled out my dough properly, so it cooked evenly and quickly so I wasn't the last person to finish.
When I presented my pissaladiere to Chef Benoit, he immediately noticed my onions weren't quite done.. however my crust was perfect, in fact the best of the day! So take the good with the bad... Unfortunate because with another 2-3 minutes coulda had the best overall...
Tomorrow is only 1 demo, 1 pratical, and then a seminar with both the cuisine and patisserie classes.
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