Croissant and Danish

We started off the baking class with a quiz. I got a 100. It was a lot easier than we were all expecting. We were expecting questions like what are the steps in making a pate au choux, but instead it was 10 simple short-answer questions. I'm wondering if they take it easy on the baking exams since that's not our concentration.

We started our lecture on croissants and danishes. It was ok. Nothing to spectacular in the lecture. The process is very similar to doing puff pastry like we did last week. Chef Louise demonstrated the making of both pastries. She put her ball of started dough in a big bucket of room temperature water. The point is to show that the yeast is alive. The yeast starts releasing carbon dioxide and after a while the dough will rise up to the top. With the yeast on the market today, we don't ever need to do this test, but she thought it would be cool for us to see.

The recipe I was given was Chocolate and Raspberry Stuffed Croissants. Companies actually make chocolate 'sticks' that are meant only for stuffing croissants. They are very good! Anyways, I started making my dough and really enjoyed it. I think it's because I like to eat croissants. My dough was smooth and made so well...not like the disaster that was last week. The only issue is that I cut my dough too big. The croissants were giant, but I didn't mind. Once I rolled the filling into the dough, I had to put them in a warm, moist environment which in this case was a proof box. They were in there for about 45 minutes to rise. They got HUGE! I put them in the oven to bake. During the middle of my baking time, the fire alarm went off. We all headed outside and gathered with the rest of the school in the little cramped parking lot. I kept kidding with everyone that I made the croissants so big because I knew that we were going to have a fire drill and that I allowed for the time!! Chef Louise was so freaked out about every one's stuff burning that she kept going back into the building to take them out! Nothing got burnt because of her. I have to give a special shout out to the Cambridge fire department for their response to our fire alarm...it only took them 15 minutes to get there. Too bad they are right across the street from the school. You would think they would be over in less than a minute since there is the chance for some free food! Anyways, if there were a real fire, hopefully they would be there just a little bit more quickly.

So, once back in the kitchen I saw my croissants out of the oven. They looked almost like footballs! Everyone was making fun of them, but I liked the size. Why do they need to be only 1 size, that gets boring after a while. Today's class was fun. It still didn't make me like baking though!

Today's Recipes:Chocolate and Raspberry Stuffed Croissant, Pineapple Danish, Lemon Curd Danish, Chocolate Pastry Cream Danish, Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Croissant, Blueberry Croissant, Swiss and Prosciutto Croissant (the best of the day!), Spanikopita Croissant, Chicken, Broccoli and Cheddar Croissant