Puff Pastry

If Alton Brown says you should never bother making puff pastry, then you probably shouldn't. I was confused as to why, and how, we would attempt to make puff pastry. Puff pastry consists of layers of butter and flour. There are a total of 1,459 layers in puff pastry...again, you can see why someone would even bother to make such a thing. I am pretty sure no ones puff pastry consisted of that many layers but, who knows. I know mine didn't!

There were 2 types of puff pastry dough we made, full puff and semi puff. I made a full puff recipe. For this, you make the dough of flour, water and salt. Then, you cream butter until it is smooth. You put the 'butter batter' in the middle of the rolled out dough and wrap it like a package. Then, you roll the two out together. It's a long process because you have to keep putting the dough in the fridge to keep the butter chilled. To make the semi puff, you put the pieces of butting in the flour and water when you are mixing it. It's a lot quicker to make then full puff, but it's nerve-wracking because it looks like it's a complete mess, but that is what it is suppose to look like.

I was getting disappointed in my dough because the butter was coming through and the dough was sticking to my rolling pin causing it to tear. I told Chef Lisa that my dough looked like crap and she recommended throwing it in the freezer for about 5 minutes. What a difference it made. It looked fine, so I could continue with my recipe. I was making sweet Palmiers. My mixture included granulated sugar, light brown sugar and chopped hazelnuts. It was really good and really sweet! The day went really well. Next week, we have our first baking quiz. I won't do as well on this one because it's harder for me to understand the concept of baking. I am sure I will do well, but I just want to get these next few weeks of baking over with!!!

A couple of funny stories...Derek knows my baking class is the only opportunity where the quantities of what we make is so big, that we can take some stuff home. I have been refusing to do this since we don't need it and by the end of class, the last thing I want to do is look at the food we just made. He finally got so fed up, that he forces Tupperware into my school bag!! Also, Chef Lisa started of the class by asking how many of us went into baking hating it...guess who's hand shot up first! About half of us raised our hands. She's got a fun outlook on it though because she knows that we are in the PCP program, so, baking is not what we do or want to do. She said she makes it her personal challenge to change people over so that they are baking at home...all I can say is BRING IT ON! I cannot picture myself getting enjoyment out of baking.

Today's Recipes:Scallops and Shrimp in a Puff Pastry Cup with Fennel Puree, Sacristains, Palmiers, Savory Olive Palmiers, Napoleons, Palpillion, Vol-au-Vent, Cream Horns, Onion Tart, Fruit Tart