Monday, December 16, 2013
Let's give this a try: I would like my entire class from this winter term to blog on three events that reflect back on a day in the life of you as a student in BPA 3010. Feel free to discuss anything that will enhance the educational experience as well as what might have improved your experience within the classroom. Please keep this professional and courteous to all current and future users. Thanks in advance and I look forward to all of you sharing your professional opinions. Here is some food for thought!
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Ok, so I'm not a student, but whatever that tasty looking thing is the first pic is? I want one!
ReplyDeleteToday is technically the 3rd day of BPA 3010 but it hasn't happened yet. Sleep is for freshmen. Freshmen that don't have intense labs and a job. But that's ok, after all for some people their best ideas and thoughts 5 hours before class right? Something to get in order for this class is time management. For instance, I had the choice of getting 5 hours of sleep or doing homework. While the homework wasn't necessarily due the next class it would mean it would create quite the hassle if I was to put it off...also if I sleep less than 6 hours I just feel like death and that's not fun. It would be a good idea to start the notebook as soon as you can. I spent yesterday typing up most of the formulas. It's tedious but it's a nice section to get out of the way. Yesterday was also spend wracking my brain for my rooster theme. It was a bit stressful to come up with a solid plan the same day you're actually shown what the project involves. My biggest concern for this it if the showpiece will match what I have on paper/in my head. One of the reasons I didn't get further on it was due to the numerous "once in a lifetime opportunities". By now I feel like I should have reached enlightenment even though I understand why they're needed. Hopefully everything comes together by the end of class on Friday.
ReplyDeleteA word of advice, if there is any way to not have a job during you P4 labs I would highly recommend it. There is a lot of work in these labs and it is very hard to juggle both at the same time.
DeleteToday was the third day of class, but really, the second day of production. Things went smoothly, for the most part. The first thing my group did when we got to class was mix the "pain rustique" , and this gave us the rest of the day to work on our miche. By getting the bulk of the bread work out of the way we had the opportunity to really get a feel for the dead dough and work throughout the day without much concern for time. Showing up at 6:15 also alleviated some of our concern about time. The pain rustique was stretched and folded, divided, and baked in a way that made it easy to begin making the decorations for the miche. All we had to do was stop for about 5 minutes, cover our dead dough that was in progress, tend to the pain rustique, and get back to work on the dead dough. Today also gave a sense of exactly what the dead dough was going to feel and bake up like. We fixed some of our errors from the day before by making sure the ovens were on and ready before we tried to bake, and the system of watching and venting the deck ovens went smoothly. I do think that I, personally, could have started the day with a clearer picture of what I wanted our miche to look like, but my partner and I were able to finish it and discuss exactly how we wanted it to look, with it right in front of us. By the end of the day we were able to finish the miche completely and can begin working on the rooster showpiece tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIt must feel good to hit that comfort zone and not stress too much, if you can feel this way for the rest of class you will have it made.
DeleteBlog Entry 1: Day 3 Date: 3/13
ReplyDeleteI have been working with dead dough personally now for a total of two days. This was always a piece of baking and pastry I wanted to try and dip my fingers. Allowing me to bring in my own creativity. Going into this class and this, I was worried that I would be super stressed with everything I need to get accomplished in the 5½ hrs of production we actually get. I found that going in with a clear mind and focus really helps the process. Each day I came in with an idea of what I wanted to get accomplished in the day, between my rooster showpiece and the yeasted bread being prepared for the day. I find that working as a team to get things accomplished really helps you feel less stressed and get more accomplished.
It seems through out this class, that I have found that I struggle with the complete picture and seeing the whole design in my head. Having drawn out my design two/three times now, I try and get an idea but then have a completely different picture in my head. As well as dealing with the overall design, colors tend to be a slight issue. The colors I want and the colors the dough bakes to our different, so I now have to take that into consideration to get my final image to come together. Going into tomorrow and the idea of assembling my whole piece is what I am concerned and feel worried about. I’m going in with an open determined mind to try and get exactly what I picture it to look like.
I truly believe that the process of design is evolutionary and being able to adjust will make the process of growth that much more rewarding.
DeleteToday was the 4th day of BPA 3010 and let me tell you, I am ready to pass out for a good 24 hours! Today was a very busy day for the whole class. My group had to make Miche, Rum Raisin Brioche, and finish our dead dough pieces. It was a very overwhelming day with a few mistakes here and there. While making the miche, we did not take in the fact that the started was in the fridge overnight, so we didn’t put the right temperature water in the mixer with all the ingredients. When you have a starter coming from the fridge, it is better to have 90F water instead of 75F like it says on the formula. Despite our water hiccup, our miche came out pretty awesome! For the rum raisin brioche I was in charge of mixing the dough and I am not very confident in the whole mixing process of breads and checking the window. So when it was time to add the butter in stages, I didn’t let the pieces of butter fully develop into the dough before adding another piece of butter, so we had to over mix our dough. Make sure when adding butter to this dough you wait for cleanup stage before adding more butter. I sadly did not get to put together my showcase today. I am a little upset because one of pieces came out crooked, but I think it’s better that I didn’t put it together because now on Monday I can look and think about what I am going to do about this situation. I am looking forward to sleeping this weekend, getting my head together to finish my showpiece and start the miche, and to prepare for day 5.
ReplyDeleteGood strategy, love the decision that you made about not forcing the gluing process since as soon as you stick things together it will become final and working with a clear well rested brain always makes for a better decision.
DeleteWow, this morning was interesting. My partner and I finished our Miche project yesterday so all we have to worry about now is the rooster and the marketing project. I went in early again at 6:00 AM and started scaling everything out. I hadn't realized we needed to do a HALF batch of Pain Rustique and I scaled a full batch for it so we made something we came up with the name as "slinky straw". It was funny that we got that name because I said it looked like a straw wrapper when you scrunch it up and put water on it.
ReplyDeleteOverall, today went alright in my opinion I just need to double check everything before following through.
In the production sheet it states to only do a half a batch :) good post on your next one I would recommended that you add a life lesson to your story otherwise it just becomes a retelling of an event that just effected you.
DeleteAfter day one of class I was a bit nervous and exited,it took me a little while to adjust again to the routine but I'm getting there. When chef said research I really didn't know what he was trying to say but when the time came to start building pieces for my rooster I finally realized what he meant. Day 2 and 3 were confusing and I think I lost too much time thinking about a theme. Once I got it, it was helpful for me to bring my own templates so I could have a better visual idea of what my pieces are going to look like. Try not to over do it with the theme because you can easily forget what the main focus of your piece is, which in this case is the rooster. If you don't know what chef is saying about the showpieces is better to ask, like in my case when apparently I didn't get what he meant with triangulation (learning experience)
ReplyDeleteLesson learned "If a term is mentioned more then once it is better to ask since it is probably important"
DeleteYesterday (day 4) was pretty intense. Ideally this would have been when I finished my rooster project but partially because I had to remake my column that didn't happen. I wasn't the only one who didn't finish and there was no penalty so that's at least something but I'm having doubts about the finished product. Chef showed us what I thought was a nice looking Miche that another group had made and it turns out that it was only C worthy. It makes me worried about how my rooster will come out since it's too late into the process to change tracks. At least for the Miche and market showpiece there's enough time to figure out how to do our best.
ReplyDeleteFrom a production standpoint everything went alright except for our rum raisins at the end we put accidentally put the crumb topping on right after the fruit instead of putting it into the proof box first. This made the crumbs soggy and damp and didn't improve after being baked. But I'm proud of myself because the baguettes we had made the day before were probably my best ones ever.
Lesson learned " It is not always the grade earned, since if the journey was rewarding and memorable the grade is just an opinion and not a life altering event. To attain an "A" You must stretch the boundaries of comfort and take a chance and follow the rubric and do your research"
DeleteDay four was a great eye opener for myself. Most things went pretty well, but it was helpful getting feedback from the finished miches because now I feel like I am headed in a better direction. My partner and I had finished our miche and our group made baguettes and pumpkin brioche. Production for the baguettes and the brioche went very well and since there was another group who also was making the brioche, we were able to team up with them and mix the dough along with finishes that product. In the end, the baguettes had wonderful color and the pumpkin broche turned out wonderfully. I enjoyed the fact that we got to make baguettes because it felt like forever since I made them last and it was a good refresher. As for the miche, my partner and I were able to get helpful insight on how we could have improved and used research to develop a design that wasn't so basic. I respect and appreciate the honesty and feedback we received because it was a great way to explain other ideas and now lets me see what I can do better on. I look forward to working on the next projects in class where I can do more research and have the opportunity to design a more in depth end piece.
ReplyDeleteLove the way that you processed the information and used it as an opportunity to grow!
DeleteAs I reflect back on our first four days of class, I can definitely say that they have been quite challenging and hectic. I never thought that I would be able to get myself up at 5 am and in class by 6 am, but so far that's been working out pretty well.
ReplyDeleteDay 1 was one of the less intense days of the other three because we were just given demos for the whole day. Although it was a lot of information to retain, I do feel like I learned many new skills and techniques that will benefit me.
Day 2 I can say was one of the days the probably stressed me out the most because, not only was it our first real production day and I have been in academics for the past two terms, but also our whole class kept getting called over to come see "once in a lifetime opportunities." My group personally had made one of those opportunities for the class to come over and see, we made the mistake of stretching and folding our baguette dough right before pre-shaping. At first it did feel a little embarrassing that we messed up probably one of the easiest things in class, but because of that I know for sure we will never do a stretch and fold again before pre-shaping. I feel that these opportunities of a lifetime will help us all to remember the mistakes that we made and we will for sure never make them again!
Day 3 was a somewhat better day for our group, we didn't mess up our production for the day, but we had to hustle and get most of our pieces done for our rooster showpiece because we needed to try and have them completed for the next day. I feel that my group does get along very well, we all have great communication and distribute the work equally together.
Day 4 was an intense but very helpful class. My rooster showpiece was finally complete after a long 5 hours of nonstop work, switching from the showpiece, to rosemary raisin suns, to miches. I thought it was going to be hard to complete that all in such a short amount of time, but my group and I did complete everything that needed to be done and it felt very rewarding at the end. After class I stayed to have my rooster showpiece evaluated and I felt that chef's critiques very extremely helpful and will be in the back of my mind to help me improve on my other show pieces. I never feel that a chef's critiques are said to hurt you, but to help you because that's what they are there for, to point out our mistakes and help up grow from them.
Overall, I am truly enjoying this class so far and am excited to start working on the other show pieces with my group members.
The term messed up to me means that you have not failed, but that you are going through the process of learning. In my class the more opportunities that you have to learn the more rewarding the experience will be and you are actually getting your moneys worth :)
DeleteDay four was a little hectic, my group had to make baguettes, pumpkin brioche and miche, thankfully nothing went wrong with the production. I was hoping that I could assemble my rooster but I couldn't make it, I'm a little nervous because I feel like I'm falling behind and also because I still haven't figure out how my rooster is going to stand on the tripod that I made for it. Today chef evaluated some of the showpieces and it helped me a lot to understand what I need to do for my next pieces and to dig dipper, research, think outside the box and try to get out of my comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteI like the last line of your post, if you can apply this to the next 9 labs I truly believe that you will not go wrong.
DeleteDay four was a busy day. My group had to do a 1.5X batch of baguettes, pumpkin brioche, the miche and work on our roosters. I arrived a little after 6 and got straight to work. Thankfully, even with everything going on, we were able to get everything done. It was very difficult though, because some timing was off and the lack of communication within the group caused us to fall behind but we were able to catch up. I think it would be somewhat beneficial to have a production schedule written out for everyone in the group to see. I usually write on some take on the bin what time the product needs to be stretched and folded or whatever else needs to be done, but it might be better to also have it written on some scrap paper. I was able to assemble my rooster project and complete it. I think the assembly went well, even falling behind due to a column that had been broken in half. All in all I am enjoying this class very much. I feel very challenged in this class and think it will help me better prepare for my future. Lessons learned: have clear communication with your group members, take good notes and times, be positive, and embrace challenge with open arms :)
ReplyDeleteProduction schedules are a must in all areas of our industry!
DeleteLooking back, day four was really hectic. I feel like I was in constant motion but nothing was getting done. At the end of the day the miche that Michael and I made was evaluated; Upon finishing the piece and setting it in the hallway my mind was flooded with "should have, could have, and would have" thoughts which were all too little too late. Once Chef presented our piece and explained the differences, I realized we could have done so much more if we would have researched more and applied a more in depth concept of Mardi Gras. I will definitely keep that critique in the back of my mind as I finish my rooster and start the marketing showpiece.
ReplyDeleteI know the critique was tough, but you took it like a professional and grew from it and your rooster turned out fantastic.
DeleteIt's hard to believe that today is already day 6 and we only have 3 days left. Time really does fly by. Reflecting back at everything my group and I have produced and made mistakes on so far, is really eye opening. I can honestly say I have learned alot from things we've done correct, made silly mistakes on and things we could have pushed ourselves more with. I highly suggest to anyone taking this lab that you are fully prepared in every aspect. Be prepared to learn, be prepared to amaze yourself, be prepared to be effiecient with your time management, be prepared to make mistakes and have things not work out the way you planned. But, most importantly be open minded to fast paced, new experiences that you will truely benefit from. I really like the way this lab is stuctured and taught, I've learned in all of the above aspects and plan to continue to do so as my group and I finish our rooster showpieces and our marketing showpiece.
ReplyDeleteNice and informative post!
DeleteAfter today, seeing my completed rooster next to the miche really made me realize how much more could have been done with the miche showpiece. It was hard seeing the two next to each other. I think in the back of my mind while creating the miche I was still more focused on the upcoming rooster showpiece. Just a warning for future students: make sure you treat both pieces equally; don't rush the miche just to get to the rooster because in the end they are both a representation of you and your work.
ReplyDeleteWell said!
DeleteI'm a little late for this but I guess now is as good a time as any to start blogging! Today was an extremely busy day for my group and I. We had to make two breads for production ( pumpkin brioche and foccacia), finish our mock marketing showpiece, and begin our miche. I honestly did not believe that we could get it all done today but we actually had time to spare by the end of the day! My group and I decided early on that we would split the work on the production of the two doughs then when it came time to divide and shape we would come together again and help each other out. This worked very well for us because in between our shaping and proofing we were able to work on our marketing showpiece. That was frustrating because we had to change and rework some of our design but with Chef Hitz's help we were able to figure out a design with no problem! Time management was a huge asset to my group today and with it I believe we were rewarded with the best finished product that we have had so far!
ReplyDeleteThe key to any successful day is solid team work!
DeleteToday I had to work on all the little details for my rooster on top of my group making baguettes and focaccia. It seemed like it had the potential to be the craziest day with the amount of work to do but it actually went rather smoothly compared to some of the other days. We were able to divide the work in a way that it benefited all of us without overwhelming anyone and I think our final products came out better than a lot of other ones we have made the past few days. We are still working out some details of our marketing showpiece but doing the multiple designs for it really helps a lot and will help us be more familiar with the details before we start.
ReplyDeleteThe Key to good design is be flexible and willing to evolve as the design process will continue until your showpiece is up on Monday at 11.
DeleteDay 6! Going off of what Rebekah said, I absolutely loved today. I had finished my rooster yesterday, Day 5, and told our group that I would take on whatever they needed me to do as far as our breads for the day. We had baguettes and Foccacia. I had done a lot of work outside the classroom which I would advise. I also had time today to double check and confirm that I had pictures of everything I needed pictures for. I recommend that you also not be afraid of asking Chef questions. I think the more questions you ask the better off you are. I staying after the first day just so he could clarify my concerns of the projects we had in store and he made a comment which was kinda funny, saying that nobody probably understood what he was talking about. The next day he announced that infact he said he had recieved several emails right after class about what was going on.
ReplyDeleteToday was Day 6 of lab and I felt it went very well. Our group made the Rum Raisin Brioche and we each finished our rooster showpiece. For the rooster, I was able o focus on doing my own thing while showing my creativity which I enjoyed doing. I was able to complete the rooster with a good feeling about my finished product. Next up is the marketing showpiece. My group has our ideas figured out, we just need to execute the example showpiece better so that we feel more confident with completing the actual marketing showpiece. I look forward to seeing how our group of four works together with creating our final marketing showpiece. With the rooster showpiece, I enjoyed it because I like to work independently, however with the marketing showpiece it is nice to get ideas from other members so that we can put our minds together and use our imagination. This lab seems to be flying by and only a few more days to go!
ReplyDeleteDay 5 of this lab was very productive and I felt like it gave me a chance to finish the details of my rooster showpiece and the overall concept of the piece. I had come in with my research and my sketch the day before, but it gave me a chance to really finalize the concepts I wanted to have, and what I felt may have been too much. I also felt that at this point in the segment, I had gotten very comfortable with the dead dough and working with it. As I was building the bases to my piece I didn't feel as apprehensive to try new things and I didn't feel the need to rush. I think the way each showpiece is set up (having three days for each) is very feasible, because it gives you enough time to work on the yeasted doughs, while also working on my show pieces.
ReplyDeleteDay 6 of the lab was the day that I finished my rooster showpiece. Today was great in terms of timing and work that needed to be done. As I've said before, the dough was no longer intimidating to work with, so today was mostly dedicated to building the showpiece. What I didn't anticipate, was the small touches that I wanted to play with on the finished piece. Luckily I had the time to do this, but after 90% of the piece was built, I needed those extra two hours to assess the finished product, and add details where I think they were needed. I had to bake, and paint some pieces of dead dough that I didn't even have in the sketch, but after seeing the piece, I could tell it needed them. Today my group also started talking about the marketing showpiece, and just speaking generally, it feels really good to start a new piece after one has been completed. The only issue I can see with this portion of the segment, is agreeing on a deign between four people. We all work well together and around each other, but after all, we are four different people, with four different creative styles. But by the end of the day I think we came up with a cohesive theme and design for the piece.
Day 6 was not so bad. I think my group has a good sense of time management and we all finished around the same time . The only think that gave my group trouble was the marketing showpiece . We struggled a lot with trying to pick an idea to really sell our product, with Chef pointing us in the right direction I think now our piece will can come together and flow and nothing looks out of place. I really like this class it has been a fun experience .
ReplyDeleteToday was an amazing day! It was time for my partner and I to work on our miche and we worked hard and fast. My advice for people working on this in future classes is to not get caught up in doing to much. Some times the simplicity of an item that is executed well is just as good as some thing that is elaborate but you don't have enough time to put it together. You will need a solid hour and a half to put it together, so listen to Chef Hitz when he tells you these things because he isn't lying. As for our miche, we did the life cycle of a wine using things such as grapes and wine barrels to showcase the beginning stages and then making a wine bottle with a cheese plate to show how everything all ends up. We made a few mistakes here or there such as turning the center piece upside down and building it backwards but we found it to be a comical mistake and learned from it. Now the only piece we have left is our marketing showpiece which we will work on from here on out! On to the next!
ReplyDeleteToday was a long but productive day. I think my group finally got into the swing of things as a whole. After multiple (and I do mean multiple) attempts at creating a design, we finally made a marketing piece that was more than "ornaments on a Christmas tree." It took a lot of thought and attempts to think outside of the box and transform the template into something of our own. All in all it was a successful day. Once we all put our research together we were able to come to an agreement. Just a word of advice, really dig deep in the research. It pays off in the long run.
ReplyDeleteBlog Entry 2: Day 6 3/18
ReplyDeleteI have finally completed both my miche and roster piece in class. Throughout this process I have learned different ways to look at the placement and cleanliness of the piece. Between the two-pieces I found that my miche piece was my favorite, this piece was well thought out accept a few errors. The errors were minor that could be fixed with better preparation and different methods of working with the dead dough. This piece was also much easier because it allowed me to experiment with the dough after already completing the rooster. This dough is very easy to add texture and different elements to tie everything together to make a cohesive piece.
As well as during these few days I have already begun to look at what chef would see and comment on as well as understanding where he is coming form in the critique. Everything can be improved and it’s a learning process. I also learned to be picky about the glue marks and strings, and the shellac does not help with the glue strings, one moment there all gone and then the shellac makes them stand out like a sore thumb, so its very important I’ve learned to go back and clean up the glue and the piece. Going into the final marketing piece the next two class days, we are really looking to incorporate textures, designs, and really make a mature piece for our Irish Soda Bread. So far our 3D drawing is coming out very well and if it goes as plan, I think this will also be a well finished piece.
Today we had to finish up our miche and it didn't go as planned. We were too focused on what to do on our marketing showpiece that we rushed the miche to get it done and I think we needed to spend more time in it to make it cleaner. Today there were too many ideas and I think we didn't have a good communication environment. Nothing seemed to come together correctly so we got frustrated a little(I guess that is a good thing because it means that we are thinking) but finally we decide what to do and started on the marketing showpiece. I'm very nervous about it and hopefully everything will be fine if we work as a team.
ReplyDeleteToday was day 8 which is also practical day. My team had to make Pumpkin Chocolate Brioche. We were very confident in making this and got the dough off the mixer before 7am and it really made the day go smoother since we finished making them so early. My team also worked on our components for our marketing showpiece. My team works really well together and we all help each other out and have similar ideas so picking what to put on the showpiece was relatively easy for us. For the pieces, I was in charge of making the basket that our bagels would sit in on the showpiece. Unfortunately I made the strips to weave the basket to thin and as I was making it, it started to crack. I covered the piece with a damp rag and it helped, until it was time to go in the oven. It was in not even 5 minutes and the whole side of the basket collapsed off. I got really frustrated and disappointed that I just spent 45 minutes on this thing and I felt like I let my group down. But my group members were really nice about it and said its better it happened today then Monday. They were really encouraging to not be upset and to work on other things. My group member Courtney wound up making the basket again and it came out amazing! It’s really nice having people in your group who encourage you and work with you, not just think about themselves. I can’t wait to see how are marketing showpiece comes out Monday because we have such amazing pieces!
ReplyDeleteBlog Entry 3: Day 8 3/20
ReplyDeleteGoing into the last day of class, the main focus is on getting our marketing showpiece completed. With this thought, so many thoughts are running through my head; whether or not we can get all the elements completed, if it will look the way we all imagined it to, and just how much work we have to completed. With this piece I know it will need absolute focus as well as team work to get it completed. I think as a team it will turn out the best we can all do because we all question what we are doing and making sure we all agree on what it looks like before getting ready to bake.
Today after class we completed our practical and overall I think it went well and we also had time to work on small elements for our marketing piece. The problem with our marketing piece is that the main focus on our piece is the big elements with lots of details but we need to wait to work on those making sure that they will not crack or break over the weekend. This is causing us to have to work even harder on Sunday when we go in and Monday because they need to be completed and the display needs to be set up by 10:30. This gives us 4 ½ hrs to get it fully baked and glued together. Gluing may become an issue because of having four people to give opinions and trying to attach things we may begin to run in to each other but it will also allow us to get different perspectives from angles to make sure things look on part. This final day is going to take a lot of teamwork and communication to get it completed.
Day 8. It's weird to think that there's only one day of lab left! Today, along with practical, my group and I finally finalized our design for our marketing showpiece. After much deliberation and thought I think what we have come up with, along with some of Chef's help (thanks chef) is going to be a beautiful, yet simplistic design. The main elements of our showpiece are the larger, more detailed pieces, which we have to wait until sunday/monday to do. This could cause some anxiousness, and push us to work even harder and have precise time management. But I think if we have good, structured team work and good time managment I have no doubt my team and I will be able to produce an amazing showpiece.
ReplyDeleteToday was Day 8, practical day. It was a very stressful and challenging day. I showed up nice and early and began my practical right away. After that I began work on the dead dough marketing showpiece. What was what I worked on throughout the day between working on my practical. My group had to do the pumpkin chocolate brioche. My group did not work very well today. We are all very opinionated people and I think it is starting to work against us. We can't seem to get much done because someone is always coming up with an idea and trying to change what we've already decided on. No one is willing to compromise in order to get the final product done. It was a very hard day for me and even made my think twice about every move I made. But after some wise and encouraging words from others I was able to leave class today feeling good about everything I did today. I know that I am exactly where I am supposed to be and nothing will stand in my way of achieving all of my goals. Today was a major challenge for me, and it will not be my last.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that 8 days have gone by already! Today was day 8, our teams had to make one of the breads that we've been working with all week for our practical. Yesterday one team member from each team had to pick a paper from a bag to see which bread we would be making, and my team made rosemary raisin suns. We each worked together to get them made as best as we could, and I believe that us working together and managing our time properly did truly help us to obtain the good grade that we hoped for.
ReplyDeleteAs for our final project, our marking showpiece we decided to pick Irish soda bread. I brought a recipe from home and thought it would be good for our showpiece, but after it was baked it just looked like a blob of messy bread with some raisins in it. Although it tasted good, it just wasn't what we were looking for, I was a little discouraged, but that's why we did a test day with are breads. I then asked Chef Hitz what he would suggest we should do, he contacted another chef, Chef Stamm who had an amazing Irish soda bread recipe and within minutes it was sent over and I started to make the new recipe. Everything about the new recipe I made was so much better and with the help of both Chef Hitz and Stamm we now have beautiful Irish soda breads for our showpiece.
From these last 8 days of classes I realized that no matter how frustrating things might never give up and keep going. We are in school for a reason, to learn from our mistakes and always put our all into everything that we do. There will always be somewhere there to help you our whether it's a chef, classmate or a friend. I cannot wait to see how everyone's showpieces will turn out, I know we all have been working hard and all that hard work will definitely pay off!
Coming into this lab I didn't know what to expect I had heard from other student that it was going to be. So on day 1 we watched the demo for both the miche and the rooster show piece, I really enjoyed that day because it was exciting seeing what we would be doing the next eight days for this lab. I also enjoyed not only on day one but all the days that there is no formal lecture or power point I don't find them very helpful and it gave us more time to work on what we needed to do. Our first day of actual production day 2 was a little bit crazy and felt very rushed. I think the reason for that though is because we haven't been in labs for so long and we had to start making our piece and figuring out a theme on top of making a type of bread and getting called over often to learn from others mistakes was distracting. It was just hard to get back into the mind set of what you were doing before we got called over but it was helpful seeing what not to do and I understand why we get these things thrown at us because out in the industry this kind of stuff will happen and we need to learn that now and how to work with it. After day two though the distractions seemed to get less and less to the point that we didn't need them anymore which I liked because it let us work on what we needed to get done. I like that this is the first class we got put into because I feel like we needed the fast pace environment to get us back on track and remind us or at least me just how busy labs are and that we do have multiple things happening at once and we need to learn how to work with it and balance it out. But when day four came around I was already use to the way the class was going so I feel like I got better at using my time wisely and was able to finish my rooster on time. Which was very stressful but at the same time kind of fun because we got to be creative and play with the theme and take something that we envisioned and make a model of it. I think the most stressful part about the rooster though was moving it from the room to the hall way for grading just because I was hoping I made a strong enough and well made structure. But all of your tips and points on the triangulation I believe helped me making my rooster piece stable.
ReplyDeleteGoing into this lab I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But leaving this lab I can definitley say I have learned many new and exciting things. My advice to future students is to make sure you divide you attention, time, and effort equally between all three showpieces. Reflecting back on how I placed my attention and creativity...it could have been divided more equally. Each showpiece is just as important as the other, and interest, creativity and time should be shared amongst the miche, rooster and marketing showpiece the same. Do not be afraid to ask question or make mistakes, after all thats how you learn and thats how my group and I came up with our funky "slinky straw" bread. Overall, I've gained alot from this lab and I know if you go into this open minded, willing to be taught and ready to try new things, you will too.
ReplyDeleteOnly one day of class left. Rooster and Miche are done so now the focus is on the marketing showpiece on which we are doing bagels. Things are going very well with it so far hopefully that continues. I'm unable to go to class on Sunday but my other group members will be there with the intent of getting the bases done. Speaking of getting things done, the notebooks of doom are due tomorrow night so that will pretty much be my day. I'm off from work and my roommate won't be home so that shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as I can remain focused. Not going to lie I didn't miss doing the notebook during sophmore labs but I've been trying to organize things as I go so hopefully it won't be that much of an ordeal. I liked making the showpieces, I enjoyed sitting down and making all the decorations and shapes out of the dough. I was afraid going in that the things I made would look like the work of a small child but that hasn't been the case. I'm happy with what I've made.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was day 8 and I can not believe that there is only one day left. This lab has been nothing like what I thought it would be. I have heard many stories about the class, and how hard it is but I do not agree with anything I have heard. There is a lot of work, and you have to stay on top of things making it a challenging course but Chef Hitz stays on top of every student making sure that we are all doing the best we can do. His "Once and a life time opportunities" are learning experiences that you truly wouldn't be able to forget even if you tried. Yesterday was practical day. My group and I had to make Rosemary Raisin Suns and work on our marketing showpiece. I was not feeling the greatest yesterday but I pushed through it and all in all I am happy with how my group worked together and had a very good practical day. We improved in our second attempt, learning from our mistakes on the first time we made the Rosemary Raisin Suns. We played closer attention to our proofing time and added more crumb topping before baking. These practicals are a way to show that we learned from our mistakes and can improve upon the products we make. My last word of advice to incoming students is to go into classes with an open mind and don't dismiss anything before you learn for yourself. Everyone has their own experiences and opinions so listen to other people but don't close your mind to quickly. I have truly enjoyed my 8 days in the class so far and with it, I take more experience on working with showpieces that may come in handy later on in my career.
ReplyDeleteDay 8 was a bit of a challenge but not for the normal reasons. Our roosters were already completed so it was time to work on our marketing showpiece. But because of the design, we cannot start much for it since all of our details are on the main structures of our piece. So aside from working on our practical breads, we did a test run of our base along with little things like making more dead dough. The real challenges will be Sunday and Monday when we will have a lot to do in not a lot of time. Our time management will be imperative so we can finish on time and still be able to include all the details we want.
ReplyDeleteDay 7 was one of the more stressful days for me at least because I felt like time flew by. Our miche was due that day and we had a product (pumpkin brioche and focaccia) so the whole class I felt that my partner and I were a little pressed for time. Also our miche was detailed with a little fence around the whole thing making it time consuming and a little frustrating because pieces kept snapping or they weren't being held on very well with the glue. And we had to keep stopping half way through gluing something on to shape or proof or bake our products. That was a little stressful and just made me feel like we were pressed for time but my group and I decided that it would be better for us if we did two breads that day, which was fine because at the end of the class we got everything done. And it felt a little bit more like a real industry setting that day so although it was stressful I enjoyed that class. Because at the end of the lab all of our products came out and looked nice in my opinion and we actually finished our miche. The fence and minor details that gave us a problem all worked out and didn't look too shabby. I also think time management played a big roll that day; we had to be able to manage these two products as well as finish little pieces for our miche bake them let them cool and glue everything together. I think this class has helped me a lot with time management and working with multiple things at once but planning out how everything will pan out. Over all production that day I think my group/my partner and I work very well together and we know how to get things done on time.
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ReplyDeleteI was really excited to start this class, I love showpieces (and to a certain extent) the pressure you’re under to complete them. Day one was packed with information and Chef’s demo made the development of a design concept and the assembly of the showpiece look effortless. Coming up with my theme was easy but now I’m tasked with the challenge of balancing all of my hard edges (there are going to be quite a few) with soft lines which will add more movement. Day two was a little stressful/pretty frustrating. Considering that our yeasted doughs should and do take precedent, there was a lot of stop and go. I’m sure that (I hope that) the amount of stop and go will cut down now that we’ve seen demos for most if not all of the products we’re going to make. I think at this point I would have rather started with the Miche piece. I anticipate that that showpiece will go much faster and will be less labor intensive. I think that doing the Miche through the stop and go of day two would be much less frustrating. Most of my stress today stemmed from the fact that I thought the Rooster showpiece was going to be due tomorrow, about 80% of it melted away when I found out that we could finish it on Friday. I’m still a little stressed on making sure that my showpiece has good balance. If I had advice for other students starting this class I would say to bring in as many pictures as you can find (I had 6 and I wish I had brought more). I also recommend making a double batch of colors that you anticipate needing the most because once you start rolling and cutting you won’t want to have to stop to make more. So far I think my group is working very well together. This is the first lab I’ve taken in the P4 program and I can already notice a different level of professionalism and great attitudes. I’m really excited to see how everything turns out.
ReplyDeleteBPA 3010; Day 2: Even after only two days in the P4 program, I can tell the bar has been raised for what is expected of us, and that the way my fellow students work is a lot better and more efficient than I've seen in others from previous classes. I'm very excited to see what the rest of the term has in store for us! Today was very productive, very hectic, and very beneficial. There was a lot of stop and go, which was frustrating. However, it will definitely help us over the next several days so that we will all know what the processes are for each project when our time comes to execute it. Our rosemary raisin suns turned out well, just a little on the dark/dry side. But the flavor was definitely on point! My roommates and I definitely enjoyed them! I am a little stressed about how my showpiece is going to work out, particularly because I just decided at the end of the production part of class today that I am going to add an entirely new tier to it. That's going to take a lot more planning and a lot more time. Always up for a challenge though, and couldn't be happier with my theme! I already have the entire rooster, small parts of decorations, and one base made so at least I have a start. I'm very anxious and excited to see how the rest of it goes over the next two days. Tomorrow we will be making pain rustique, which is one of my favorite breads to make it class here at JWU. The flavor to me is incredible and goes perfectly with whatever you need it to.
ReplyDeleteBPA 1030 Day 1-3: This is a very fast paced and intense course to start off with when coming back from the summer. After the first day being almost all demos, I was starting to stress out a lot. I had no idea what to do for my design. I was drawing different designs, but none of them were balanced. It was either top heavy or bottom heavy or just two separate pieces. Finally I found a theme that would work, California Vineyard. My original design was a column that was shaped as a wine glass. After putting some thought into this, I realized that if I put my rooster on top of a wine glass, the stem would snap! So after a little thought, I decided to make a wine barrel. I think this change came out beautifully. The barrel looks like a barrel and will be more than strong enough to hold the weight of my rooster. Like Kristina said, a lot of my stress reduced when Chef said the rooster was due on Friday. I cannot wait to see everyone's finished roosters!
ReplyDeleteBPA 1030, The beginning: The minute you enter this class you hit the ground running. Being prepared to automatically start thinking and creating is a must. I had a problem committing to my idea. I had lots of thoughts and ideas, but not one cohesive plan that I knew I could carry out. Don't make that same mistake. Come to class with a plan, and don't be afraid to go with it. The more time I took contemplating, and hesitating to get right into work the more work time I lost. Going forward I need to remember to pay attention to small details. That is what it going to make a show piece look stunning, and real life. I am still afraid that my piece will not read well all together, or that I do not have enough pieces, but I hoping that it will go well during the assembling process. So far for yeasted products I have made baguettes and rum raisin brioche. Today we tried the rum raisin brioche with apples on top, it was delicious. My group also made a batch with peaches on top today, I can't to try that combination tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteComing into class the first day, I was nervous and anxious. At first I didn't know what to expect, so when I had signed in & joined the blog prior to class starting, I became nervous going through the blog. I was overwhelmed by the end of the first and second day of class. Coming from a smaller campus, things are very different here. I think that this is a good class to start the program with because you hit the ground running from the moment you walk through the door. It also helps you get to know certain things that are expected in labs, which is good for transfer students. Day 2 was frustrating because of all the stop and go during class time. I felt like that took time away from my rooster showpiece. I had never worked with dead dough before, so trying to become acquainted with the dough while stopping and watching a demo or working with my own dough was extremely frustrating. At the end of today, I became more confident with the speed of the class and how everything works. I feel more confident with the direction my rooster showpiece is going in. I'm excited to see how my finished showpiece will look. Everyone's individual pieces look great and I can't wait to see them all assembled.
ReplyDeleteSo I will talk a little bit about the phrase "do not panic".
ReplyDeleteIn this class it is very important to have this phrase present all the time. There will be a moment in which you will panic and not know what to do, maybe even want to cry.
We started this class by doing the rooster first. The first stressor is when you have to decide a theme for your project, it is always important to take into consideration the time you have to make the piece. You only get 2 to 3 days normally, so don't go to crazy if you know you can't handle the time limit.
Once you start getting to the end and you see that people are starting to assemble their pieces and you are still baking, do not panic, breathe, close your eyes for a second and remember that this isn't a competition so do not try doing things faster and all messed up just because others are finishing.
Make sure you see the clock, if it says you have time, then do not panic. Take your time and finish it correctly.
Everything will be alright if you make sure you do everything in an orderly manner and you are sure of what you want and are capable off.
Four Days in the Proof Box!
ReplyDeleteThe past few days have come and gone by so quickly! On day one I felt like my mind was racing one hundred miles per hour. The information was so overwhelming! In addition to the text, the practicality of the course is quite intense. We all know how to make a baguette, for example, but this week; we learned Chef Hitz’s technique. The purpose of an education is to learn as much as you can. The P4 program has been designed for us to absorb as much skills and methodology from each chef we will encounter along the way. Chef often says that his way is not necessary better or worse than that of other chef’s who’ve taught us before; it’s simply different.
In a sense we all represent different colors of the rainbow. We originate from various background and our attitudes, behavior and technique differ. Yes, we sometimes make mistakes. However, I believe that someone somewhere had to get it wrong before they figured out how to make it better. Chef is able to relay the information in a simpler language that we all can understand. This is a great help at 6:30am when some of us are still trying to wake up and get going!
Overall, I’m enjoying the class thus far. It’s exciting to see the dead dough come to “life” in the showpieces we've been working on these past few days. It’s important that your team is all on the same page moving on to day five up to day nine. Together, everyone achieves more if they’re all on one accord. We all have a lot of work in the days to come but I’m positive we’ll get it done.
This entry consists of a recap from the first four days of Advanced Decorative Breads. As the week went on, it truly got better. Nothing makes the first day of lab more stressful than stepping in as a transfer, never getting the opportunity to talk to previous P4 students about what to expect and in a room, completely foreign. I would give the following advice to all transfer baking and pastry students: push yourself, if you doubt your previous schooling and skills then push yourself and work extra hard to build confidence in all accomplishments, no matter how small. Being in this program is an accomplishment and I don’t intend on wasting a second of it so I am working on building up my own confidence and retaining all that my brain can hold.
ReplyDeleteChef has reminded us multiple times to lean on each other, everyone has a specialty and a weakness but together we can all become better students, better pastry chefs, and better teammates. I sincerely apologize for leaning on others more than I should be during these first four days of class. I fully intend to return the favor anytime one of my peers needs. Adjustment is difficult and by the end of day four, my head can hang a little higher.
Jumping into an individual showpiece project, I wasn’t sure what to expect out of myself. I have very little artistic skills to portray on paper, yet with the clearer vision in my mind, I was happily surprised how the rooster came out. One thing I found that helped was the stream of sticky notes I make every night to tell myself which elements needed to be made and which needed more thought. I can’t trust myself to remember the conversations I have to myself before bed, therefore writing it down kept my days more organized and with a plan, I found the project easier to finish.
Friday was by far the longest lab day I have had since beginning culinary school. Seven hours in lab plus the generous overtime Chef allowed proved worth it. Whenever possible, glue a project after a short break, a chance to clear your head and prepare your hands for steady assembly. I stepped back from my rooster pleased and encouraged to fix what can be fixed for the Miche and the Marketing showpiece projects. I would like to gain a better eye for layering before the final assembly. The rooster base didn’t allow for visual appeal for small details I placed in the background. I will take advantage of the chance to have a practice round of the marketing project. With my group and the paper outlines we can all get a chance to understand our assembly and the intricacy of layering.
In conclusion, I look forward to another week of this lab as the future looks brighter and we can get through it together.
Days 1-4: As the first P4 class, I was naturally nervous on what to expect. However, after Chef Hitz went through all his demos I became a little less nervous. He explains everything in detail and makes sure no one is confused or left behind. Now we are already halfway through the class and I feel like it was just yesterday that we were taking notes on how to build a rooster showpiece. Looking at my finished rooster showpiece, there are some things that I wish I did differently. For starters, when Chef Hitz mentions to do research and print pictures to use during class, make sure you don’t simply google some images and print. Make sure that the pictures you use are accurate. For instance, I had one cartoon picture of a brick oven which was not illustrated correctly. If I did more research, I would have realized that the cartoon image I chose was not right and research more on how a brick oven works and typically looks like. When building your bread showpiece, you want the pieces you bake to resemble objects correctly. In addition, I recommend when sketching out your rooster showpiece to remember to think outside the box. Make sure that you make your whole showpiece flow from top to bottom and have the rooster as the main focal point. If you were to cover the bottom half of your showpiece, does the top half illustrate your theme and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteComing into this year as a P4 student, I was equally nervous and excited for the labs I had ahead of me. I knew this year was going to be quicker paced than previous years, however I did not expect to be challenged to design, create and assemble 3 showpieces in a 9 day lab. Day 1 consisted of demos galore, and reassuring thoughts as Chef Hitz flew through the rooster showpiece AND the miche showpiece in less than one class period. We spent the rest of the class making our dead doughs and preferments needed for the next day. I went home and began to develop my rooster's theme, did research, and sketched out my plan. I came into class the next day, ready to go, but seeming to forget that I was NOT Chef Hitz; it was going to take me much longer to complete my showpieces. Balancing the day between working on the dead dough showpiece and daily bread production seems like a do-able thing, however, it is much more difficult that I was expecting. Having to stop production (whether it is the showpiece or the bread production) to view mini demos gets challenging, but it is very beneficial. Every mini demo has information that will make us better bakers and informs us on issues that we might not necessarily be focused on. So far in this class, the time crunch has driven me to work quicker but keep the quality of my product at a high level, because no one strives for a sad looking showpiece.
ReplyDeleteMy team experienced a bit of a rough patch on day 4. We came in at 6am, ready to go. We scaled out our ingredients for our pumpkin brioche and our pain rustique. It was almost our turn on the mixer, so I went to find our preferment for the brioche... I searched and searched but could not find it. It turned out that we forgot to make the preferment the day before, leaving us with a preferment-less pumpkin brioche. Chef suggested that we used our sourdough culture, and used the extra cultures of other groups to feed our culture. So we did. The brioche turned out pretty well in my opinion; I could pick out a more acidic flavor in our brioche than the other groups' brioche, but all in all they were decent. Now for our pain rustique. The autolyse was on the mixer but something was not right. It was clumpy and was not mixing in. So we called Chef over again and he thought there might have been too much water. We adjusted the other ingredients and had Chef over our shoulder the whole time, directing us on how to care for this mystery bread. It ended up working, but it was definitely no longer pain rustique. Instead, we had huge pillows of madness that turned into decent looking bread. Day 4 was a learning experience. A frustrating, but constructive learning experience.
ReplyDeleteThis entry covers days 5 and 6 in Advanced Decorative Breads. Though I had completed the rooster showpiece day 4, the critique was on day 5 as well as the critique of the group miché project today, day 6. I learned a great amount from both and fully intent to apply both to the final project and future projects. Overall, the rooster did very well incorporating the Parisian theme and came together in a very clean manner. Among the concerns was the function of supports. Remember that if the support is at all visible, try to find another purpose for it and make it a decorative detail. For my piece this was the two wedges behind the Eiffel tower. If I had incorporated the crisscross pressed pattern from the feature into the visible supports, their presence would be immensely more inviting. A large component, the hand-made roses were a concern due to their lack of necessity. Chef discussed that though they are pretty, they don’t carry on the Parisian theme and the space could be better utilized by more iconic Parisian elements, such as baguettes. I advise other students to contemplate their pieces several times before final assembly. Ask if each component carries on the theme, is necessary to the piece, and if it distracts from the primary piece.
ReplyDeleteThe miché showpiece critique was harsher and expected. As a group, we didn’t work together on the planning phase as we should have. Our ideas were all in our heads and three heads working together on a piece resembling an American holiday resulted in a showpiece that didn’t have a cohesive story. Individual elements were cute and on their own told a story, yet as a whole, Easter was underrepresented. Among the biggest concern was the combination of cute baby animals with a slab of ham ready to serve. It was said to be almost morbid. If the idea of the ham had been properly executed with a formal platter and dining set, it would have worked better with the other sides of the miché which wrote the story of a cute Easter egg hunt.
Going into the final showpiece with these critiques, we can only be more prepared. There is more understanding of individual elements and their purpose as well as a much more expansive planning process which I believe will lead to a cohesive final piece.
I will begin by saying that I have never have had a very good experience in any bread lab. My previous bread lab was a disaster at best. So, coming into this class at the P4 level completely terrified me. The only aspect that made me less nervous was that we were to be making sculptures. I could relate the bread sculpting to cake and it made me feel just a little bit better. But as I predicted, there were a few mishaps that threw us for a loop. On day 4 we were missing a preferment which messed up our ability to mix. Luckily we were able to use our sourdough preferment that we had prepared for our miche to make up for the missing preferment. Then we were able to use another group's leftover sourdough preferment to feed and keep going for our miche. Also on that day we mis-scaled our pain rustic so we had to change it into a science experiment. Chef had to stand with us while we mixed to try to fix everything that was wrong. That was very embarrassing; to be in P4 and have to have our chef hold our hands the entire process. However, I do believe that we have grown from the experience. We did have a slight mishap on day 5 from another scaling issue. We did recover a lot easier, and today we had no errors! Hopefully we can keep up the good work tomorrow for the practical.
ReplyDeleteFirst lab as a P4 student is very nerve wracking wanted to prove my skills that I have gained throughout the years. Starting with this lab definitely puts your skills to the test having to do three showpieces in nine days while do production at the same time. Do production and a showpiece can get a bit annoying at times when you have to stop and walk away from your piece. While this can be frustrating I like having the pressure on to make me a better pastry chef to learn to organize my time and work faster but still efficient and high quality. This class will always keep me on my toes making sure I have my preferment made for the next day and everything needed. In my rooster showpiece I came into problems realizing proportion issues not measuring correctly as well as not being realistic in making the rooster to be able to stand. I learned that need to plan better before building and need to learn how to make a showpiece flow better all together. Having too much can look like chaos but too little will just look pathetic.
ReplyDeleteDay 5 and 6 were the days me and my partner were able to work on our miche showpiece. Since day one we had top keep our starter alive so we could make the sourdough. So everyday we had to "feed our baby". In doing this we had to have time management because the starter had to sit out for five hours and then go into the cooler. If we didn't make it in time to put away during class we had to make sure to leave a note for the incoming chef, to see if he could put them in the cooler for us. Then the weekend came a long and one person in our group had to take the "baby" home to feed it and keep it alive. All in all keeping the starter alive was a success and making the animals and all the pieces to go on the showpiece was also a success. Second time around was easier planning out proportion sizes which made our showpiece in the end look much better, even though we only had two days to do this project it went much smoother.
ReplyDeleteDays five and six we not strictly just for our miche we also had to be thinking about our last showpiece with our group. First we had to agree on a type of bread that we wanted to do. Then we each had to come up with 20 pictures to help us build ideas for the piece. Difficult part with this was that coming in we realized that we had a lot of the same pictures. There is only so much you can fine on one bread which we chose Irish soda bread. With the pictures that we brought in we picked five main ideas or picture to bring out into the showpiece. Once we did that we had to make a model and get together after class. This model is made out of a foam board and the decoration out of foil. This made it much easier to imagine what the final piece will look like instead of guessing how big to make something or what color it should be. I doing a showpiece I recommend to make a model or some sort of sketch so you have an idea of where you are going with the idea in your head, before you run into problems when it is too late to fix them.
ReplyDeleteChallah!
ReplyDeleteIt’s Day 6 and my group has decided to market Challah bread in our final showpiece. Our design is a “Farm to Table”, “Baking 101” concept that highlights all the ingredients involved in the bread making process. I think the challenge we face in the design of this piece is creating the textural elements that mimic the actual ingredients. Overall, I think the model is very elegant and the concept is clearly defined.
Our Miche showpieces are coming together slowly but surely. I think our time wasn’t managed very well today. We spent too much time on details and the discussion of our marketing showpiece. Although all aspects of the class are equally important, some of those little details are better done at home. Overall, I think we’ll be fine as we near the end of class. I’m looking forward to the finished products!
It's Rooster building day! And of course nothing goes as planned. I feel like this is a never-ending battle between myself and my creations. My rock column did not bake all the way through so it is being bent, twisted, and crushed underneath the weight of my rooster. I am flipping out a bit here but I just start taking baked pieces from my surrounding and try to keep my rooster from toppling over. Out of shear luck I had some left over pieces to keep parchment paper from flying everywhere while I bake some other pieces off. And they just happened to go with my showpiece. My swing broke so I used some of those pieces to eradicate my predicament. Like I said nothing ever seems to go the way I want it to on these days. But that's okay because I get a lot of experience thinking on the spot. In the end my rooster turned out well. Obviously it could have gone better but that's alright, it builds character...or something like that.
ReplyDeleteIt is day seven and I look back at what I have accomplished this past week. Never before in my lifetime would I have expected to make a rooster out of dough! In the beginning of this program, as freshman, you make bread all day. But now we are not only producing full batches of bread but we are also working on our showpieces. Today was one of those days that nothing likes to happen like you want it. My partner, Geshann, for the Miche showpiece had this great idea to do a "seasonal" wine theme. With grapes, leaves, wine, what could possibly go wrong you might ask. Well we were distracted by everything that is going on and we over-baked our leaves and our wine bottle. So we switch directions with our theme, like I do so often, and decide to go with an old vineyard look. Which became a fantastic idea! But with Geshann's grapes looking just absolutely beautiful compared to the disaster that is our wine bottle, it did not really fit the theme. Chef gave some great advice though, as always, next time possibly add a broken rake to make the "vineyard" look more rundown. To me this is just another great learning experience, and I am sure there will be more to come.
ReplyDeleteIt's day seven and to tell you the truth I was internally freaking out. My partner and I did not finish our miche but the amount of detail work in our pieces is great. I felt very stressed all day between trying to achieve finishing the miche and working on the pumpkin brioche. I wasn't comfortable with the time situation. Luckily all that is left is to glue the pieces on and shellac the final product. Having gotten a head start on some of the finer details for the marketing showpiece, I am confident that will help us in the long run. The team decided to have a schedule for tomorrow and Monday so we have an idea of how our day is going to be. Dividing the work through each members strengths is the way we decided to do it. Megan and I are going to be working on the finer details and small accent pieces of our showpiece, while Geshann and Cody will be working on mixing the doughs and making the large structure pieces. This is a larger showpiece, so we have to plan for things to not go as planned. Hopefully, we will have time to fix the things that go awry. These past 7 days have been a great learning experience.
ReplyDeleteWhat a stressful class this has been! We've completed out rooster and miché and I sure have learned a lot! It's sad to see the roosters fall after all of the hard work we've put into them. I thought my rooster came out beautifully. But after talking with chef, I saw what I could have changed. I did not put enough texture into my showpiece, so it is missing a component that adds so much depth to the finished project. Also if you make a mistake, find a way to roll with it. On my wine bottle, the text ran a little bit and chef told me that I should have rubbed "dirt" onto it to make it look like an older bottle. I thought this was a great idea to give another texture the the project and fix something that is unfixable. For our miché, we were able to do a rework. Before gluing everything down, we called chef over to take a look at it. We talked about it and we felt it was like a diorama and that we should do a redesign. He advised that we play with the size of objects and make the piece more fun. So that's what we did. We added a large skewer that held up a hotdog to connect out piece and make it feel more cohesive. All of these tips that Chef gave me from the past two showpieces will help me to do my best in making the final marketing showpiece. I look forward to making this with my group because we are doing an Egyptian theme and our bread is a triangular sourdough with hieroglyphics on it. I cannot wait to see our final product!
ReplyDeleteFor the last two days my partner and I have been working on our miche piece. Our original theme was first thanksgiving, but as we built different pieces our theme slowly turned into a harvest theme. While we were building and gluing the showpiece together we ran into a problem. Our miche was slightly higher on one side, and we were going to use this to our advantage, however we looked at our screenprint upside down. What was at first an advantage quickly turned into a disadvantage. We now had a small space to build the "scene" we wanted to in the back of our showpiece, and rather large open space in the front do our showpiece. I don't think that we realized soon enough how big of an area in the front we were going to have until too late. Luckily after a critique with chef we were able too really see the open space, and came up with a way to try to cut down the open space. My partner and I both agreed that if we had realized before we would have repositioned the left side of our show piece to bring it into the center more. Looking back on it I now realize that when you are doing a project like this there are always going to be bumps in the road and decisions that are going to have to be made. Sometimes the right decision is made, and sometimes a better one could have been made. What will make or break a show piece is how you deal with the decisions that you made, and continue on. Chef also opened my eyes to a different style today. I have always felt like I have been told to make sure that everything is in strategically placed to create motion in the piece. Today chef told my partner and I to take a chance and place something somewhat randomly on our piece. If it is done right, is the right piece, and on the right showpiece it can enhance the overall piece. In our case it helped us to further cut the open space in the front of our piece.
ReplyDeleteDay 5 and 6 were a little crazy. Over the weekend I had taken home my groups sourdough starter, while it was a bit nerve racking, I like the amount of trust and responsibility that is given to us as students in this course. My partner and I spent a good amount of time designing what we wanted our Miche showpiece to look like. This helped with getting started on the piece (even though we ended up changing it a bit). I love detail oriented work but let me tell you, making little corn kernels for 4 hours is not something that I want to do again. I think our piece came out nicely (I died a little on the inside after making 9 corn cobs and only using 5). There are still some things which my partner and I wanted to edit but we had to choose between starting on our marketing showpiece or continuing with the Miche; overall we were satisfied with our piece and decided to direct our attention to the final showpiece. My group met up after some schedule arranging on day 5 to put together the model for our showpiece. We had spoken to Chef about the 20 images each of us brought in, chosen the ones we wanted to focus on and took off running. I think we may have stumbled a bit at first, we tried to put everything together in one piece and left it a little fragmented feeling. We had the meeting with chef on the showpiece model and got some good notes. This meeting before the redesign is (in my opinion) the most important one. We received a fresh perspective and more much needed focus. Pay close attention to this meeting!
ReplyDeleteDay 7 was one of the craziest days for me, not because there was the most work, or because it was the most stressful, but because it felt like we were running in slow-motion and the clock wasn’t. We had our next meeting with Chef about our showpiece model and there was still a lot of changes to be made. I wish that my group and I had taken more time to find additional pictures of the ones we had chosen to focus on. The cartoon images that appear very often are not as accurate or detailed and your final piece should be. Find as many pictures as possible! Through this next meeting I learned the importance of making everything to scale (and all of the large elements out of foam board not foil. Not only should everything fit this way, but its also a good idea (and pretty important) to include where you are going to put your structural supports. It seems like there is a ton of work to do for this piece but four people should make quick work of it. Now that the kinks are worked out, I think tomorrow will be much more productive and we can focus on actually making a dead dough version now. After the final exam, all of our focus will be on this showpiece and I’ll be able to relax a bit more!
ReplyDeleteDay 5 was miche mixing day. When it came time to stretch and fold, we discovered how dense the dough was. After weighing out the dough, we came to the realization that we were 1000g short of water. Chef came to the rescue once again. We scaled out more water, made our way to the mixer, and slowly added in more water. It took awhile, but it finally turned out. The miche that I had scored had a big bubble seam that seemed to have burst when baking, right in the score mark. Part of me thinks that it was because of my scoring (the cut didnt seem deep enough so I went back in with the lame and recut it) that created this issue. Overall though, it came out alright. Day 6 is when we started to assemble the miche showpiece. After screen printing and baking our pattern onto the dead dough, we realized that the way that we were seeing the image was upside down; the grapes were defying gravity. This normally would not have been an issue if the image were right in the middle of the dough, however it gets more challenging when it is off center. We decided to take the risk and turn it "right side up" and then start gluing the pieces to the surface. The top of the miche was crowded, leaving a lot of empty white space at the bottom when we were done decorating. We shellacked the showpiece and brought it out for Chef to see. He had critiques about that white space; it was visually unappealing. He brought to our attention that we could have done one of two things: rotate the miche so the grapes were hanging the right way, but risk the emptiness, or we could have left it the way it was, thinking that most people won't notice, and spacing things out better. After thinking about it, I wish we would have kept the grapes upside down because it just worked spatially. However, Chef was kind enough to let us add some more amenities to the piece and it looked much better. It was fuller and more rounded out, even though there was still one slightly large empty space near the center of the miche. It was an awkward place and we didn't know how to fix that situation. Chef told us that sometimes you can just put a decoration there and make it seem like it fell into place. For example, our theme was harvest, so we had acorns, pinecones, feathers, squash, pumpkin, indian corn, etc. Chef suggested to place a feather (one with movement) right in that open space, or an acorn that seemed to have rolled away from the bunch. I have never really thought that it was okay to just place things there to fill the space, if I didn't have a plan. Chef really opened my eyes in this experience and I will be sure to remember to not be afraid and to play around with those kinds of things more often.
ReplyDeleteDays 7 and 8 have been as busy as ever. I believe the long days and the stress of this final showpiece have everyone’s emotions on edge. For my group, we find it challenging to agree on the small details. We have a very good plan as to what elements we are adding to the structure and where they will go but there are still a lot of decisions to make such as colors and texture. I find it important to hold a professional attitude so most of the time I agree with my groups decisions, whether or not I like it. I would advise future classes to find a good balance between voicing your opinion and subduing it for the sake of the group. Don’t get so stomped on by natural group leaders so the piece no longer resembles your personality.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the daily production, that is where our group has hit our flow. Today’s pain rustique was wonderful, thankfully also our practical final. We worked together making sure timing during the whole process was on point and it paid off as we pulled a full batch from the oven with even coloring and great taste. Though nervous for making our hamburger buns on Monday for the first time, I think we will comprehend the recipe and produce buns worthy of our American Party showpiece!
This weekend is no easier than the last, with several elements of our showpiece that we are making at home as well as putting together Journals. With a few good nights’ sleep, Monday will come together as needed with the chance for each group member to sigh with relief.
So we did our first tryout for the bread we will be using in our marketing showpiece on Wednesday, we thought it came out perfect. First because it is very exciting to so breads in other shapes other than round and logs, we did a triangular shaped bread. And we also put a stencil on it that we thought it looked very cool, it is an Egyptian eye.
ReplyDeleteBut we redid the bread on Thursday and definitely when you do something more than once and get some practice it is so much better. We loved how our second batch of bread came out. Especially since the first we didn't score so they kind of exploded on the top.
My suggestion to you is try things more than once, don't think that just because you think that is was the best the first time is the best you can do. You will perfection it if you keep practicing.
"practice makes perfection"
I would like to talk a little bit about or marketing showpiece. When you first choose a theme you have to make sure that everybody in your group not only agrees with it, but also is excited and understands the theme. In my teams case we all fell in love with our Egyptian theme. We thought that making this old looking marketing showpiece was going to be very interesting and it has been. We have been working very hard on making the pieces with a lot of texture and making it look aged. It is important to always be looking at what your teammates do. It is true that you have to trust your group to be able to execute their task correctly, but what if that person isn't? That's when you have to correct and give your opinion on it. Always make sure that the group is working at a decent pace and not just wondering around making believe that they are doing something. Time is limited in this class and if you don't finish on time you will not get the grade or get a low grade due to an incomplete project.
ReplyDeleteTrust yourself by thing that you can do something right and do not stress so much. If you do it will just block your mind and not let you work as good as you can.
For me the biggest challenge about this class is the group projects. It can be a struggle to get groups of people to collectively agree on a topic or direction, and not everyone will necessarily be willing to put the same amount of effort and heart into it as you. Chef Hitz assigned groups, but I got pretty lucky with my mine. We all came to an easy agreement on our topic for the marketing showpiece project and are all excited about how it is going to come out. When you work with other people the work will get divided up and it is very important that even if it is not "your job" or "your part of the project" that you are happy with every single detail on the showpiece, because in the end your name is going to go on it and you are going to have to stand there and present it to the Chef. Communication in group work is crucial. The group needs to be able to communicate what they want to achieve and work together to do so in order to put out the best showpiece that you can. If you have extra time try things twice. Even if you are super happy with your first go, you will probably like the results of your second try even more. I experienced that several times in this segment. Never settle for anything in this class (and in life). Alway push yourself further and further to see just how far you can get.
ReplyDeleteThe class has been very eye opening. It make you look at things in a different perspective and make you wonder if it could be better. You get to think out side of the box and really create. It was a great first class to start with because it makes me excited for the classes to come. I've learned so much from making these showpieces and I hope that I can use the skills that I've learned using dead dough and apply them to other mediums. I feel very lucky to be in the group that I am in. Working with a group on a project is not an easy thing, but my group is very dedicated and we have a great idea. We're working hard towards a common goal and we're all excited to see the final product!
ReplyDeleteWhat I've learn the most is to ask for help if you need it. We're all here to learn and Chef is a huge help. Never be afraid to ask for help. Some people are embarrassed to do it, but if you don't ask you may never get help.
Group work. The scariest words any chef, professor, or leader can mutter. Group work will have you running for the hills unless you are one of the lucky few who end up in that group with your friends. In this case, I entered the classroom knowing only two people, and as soon as chef said that we were only doing one individual project and the other two were with a partner and the group we were sitting, I was scared. Usually I like to take a leader position, but I didn't know how any of these girls worked and whether or not we would butt heads. Luckily for me, my group has gotten along very well and we all just assumed positions within the group. However, there are still internal struggles that I have been dealing with within the group. For instance, if a different member has been assigned a specific portion of the project, I have a hard time not criticizing what they are doing in my head. I'm sure that everyone does that about what I am doing as well. I just have a hard time letting others do the work in their way. Working in the group for this class has lessened that voice in my head though. As bread was never my thing, letting others take responsibility and do things the way they see fit has been easier. Hopefully that will continue within the rest of the tri.
ReplyDeleteLet's go back to day one, shall we friends?
ReplyDeleteAh, my old nemesis... We meet again. Ever since my enrollment I have been plagued, trapped in a cyclical nightmare of confusion that seems to drag me back to it's depths after another narrow escape.
Yeasted products.
They are my bane, my curse, my kryptonite. I've even hopped continents but could not be free of it's doughy clutches. There has been no other place that I have felt more confused and alone than a bread lab.
I blame the relentless variables. Air, water, friction... I just can't understand it. Dough speaks in a foreign language all it's own and I can only get bits and pieces of it. Judging by Hitz's affinity towards it I would have to assume that language has Swiss roots...
But I'm ready this time! I've done the reading, I've ironed my uniforms senseless and my knives are primed. Get ready, 6:00am, I'm coming for ya!
The very next day...
6:00 am – Dammit dammit dammit, hold the elevator!
6:05 – How do we wear these hats? Bangs in or bangs out? If I tuck them in I'll look like a man. In, out, in, out, in out... Out. Definitely out. It's a demo day I can't be alone on this...
6:06 – I'm the only one with my bangs out, aren't I?
6:10 – Chef Hitz! Hi! Over here! Remember me? You know, freshman breads? Viennoiserie? I worked with you for 18 days? I drew a cartoon of you for my notebook assignment...? Okay so zero people know me in this room...
6:30 – Alright lecture time. This powerpoint doesn't seem too big, how long could this possibly take?
9:00 – Kill me.
What is time? – Hold up, which showpiece is this for? What's that? What's this? WHO TAKES NOTES THIS WAY?
What is life? - I haven't taken a single picture this whole time. Better take twelve of whatever is happening now.
1:00 pm – Oh geez this is gonna be a lot of work.
For Future Bread Minions...
The most important thing anyone needs to know about day one is this: Be prepared. Set your alarm, make your coffee, and read those handouts. Everything said on the first day is a brief glance at the materials you need to print, so if you want to follow along you better study up. Take pictures of absolutely everything along the way, even if that means bringing a charger to class. All of the techniques visited on day one will need to be in your notebook so it's better to get them now than slow down to take them when you're in the middle of a task.
Day 2 - Ish not gud
ReplyDeleteDon't.
Don't say it, don't even think it. Don't even think of thinking it I do NOT have the time for another...
“Everybody gather round, once in a lifetime opportunity!”
[Insert brain aneurism]
For the full effect, repeat this cycle every 20 minutes or so. Bonus points if you're in the middle of something. This is day two, the absolute worst day there is. Not only is everyone getting acclimated to the class as a first production day, but this is another demo day. Anytime any group needs to do something to their dough, everyone needs to stop and bear witness. Every blessed step. Every shape, every fold... Get your camera ready, assuming you'll be able to see anything. The most important thing about this day is to keep calm and don't get too attached to whatever it is you're working on. The dead dough can wait, just stay in the moment and be ready to take notes because oh boy are you going to depend on those later. Remember to breathe and bring some ibuprofin, it's going to be a long day...
As my group has been working on our marketing show piece, we have run into some trouble executing our plans and ideas. For example making the dome of the Taj Mahal. This element of our show piece has to be very accurate. It is a large item on our show piece, and if it is not done properly, it will drastically hurt our show piece. So far we have tried to model it a few different ways. At first we were cutting the shape and then trying to mold it over a bowl. We now think the better more successful way to do it, will be to mold over a shaped foil piece, and then cut the edges. We have been trying to incorporate and present many different colors and textures into our piece. The nice thing about working in a group is that someone is always there to check and discuss the decisions being made on the piece. For example to talk about the colors, and making sure that there isn't too much of one color or a similar color in on area of the piece. We understand that every part of the piece should flow, but at the same time we need to interject different colors. I am trying to take what I learned from the mistakes I made on the miche piece as far as color is concerned. It is important not to have the exact same color next to each other. We also ran into an unusual problem where the bottom of our base peeled off onto the parchment paper, after we baked it. It may have been because the dough was too wet when we were using it. We believe that if we bake the base again Monday it will still be okay to use, but if not we may have to make another base.
ReplyDeleteDay 4 - That Damn Rooster
ReplyDeleteIt's assembly day everybody and you know what that means: Megan is panicking.
This is the worst mistake you can make when assembling your rooster, or any showpiece for that matter. The second you start comparing your progress to everyone else in that room it's over. You're done for. Mistakes are going to be made.
Now I've spent maybe three days (and nights) sculpting things for this piece. Teeny tiny things. On day four I finally finished baking at around 10:30 am.
Only 10:30? Plenty of time. Surely the bread gods have smiled upon me this day...
Spoiler alert: They didn't.
Here are some tips to appease them the next time 'round:
1) Use the right glue gun. The big ones. Those cheap little guys from Walmart simply won't cut it. The glue comes out not nearly hot enough to hold together heavy things for such a long time, especially if the stuff is vertical.
2) Triangulation. It's not just a word, it's a way of life. If anything in your piece touches, even in an area that you don't think is important, glue that sucker down. Wheat stalks, rocks, grass... glue it glue it glue it. A little extra support goes a long way.
3) Beware of treated surfaces. I had a barrel. A beautiful barrel with individual planks and woodgrain stained a delicious shade of coffee brown thanks to my new best friend Trilibit. I made doubly sure that every edge was evenly coated so that no raw surfaces would show. This was a mistake. Stuff doesn't like to glue to Trilibit. Either leave that surface bare or score it with a knife before gluing.
4) Bake your pieces COMPLETELY. You're smart. You're capable. Why do I need to tell you this? Because no matter how many times Chef Hitz stressed the importance of baking things through, and no matter how many times I've told myself the same thing, I still didn't do it. Not that any pieces were raw, mind you, but when I baked my base and column I wasn't 100% sure if it was solid. I had only baked them twice. The edges were dry but the centers were warm and soft. I should let them cool, I said, I should bake them one more time to be safe, I said. But then I made the mistake of looking around the room. Look at all those sculptures! How can they be going up so early? People are glazing? People are grading? People are already CLEANING? I started assembling. I was lucky, the thing held up but it shouldn't have. Don't be a hero.
You guys are young. You have your whole lives ahead of you. Don't let stress force you to make bad decisions.
Day 4: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory…
ReplyDeleteI'll admit it…I got a little glue gun happy. That glue is everywhere, oozing out of the oompa loompa's body limbs, all over the back of the rooster, the rocks under the bridge, the little detail ornaments, just EVERYTHING. It was such a long day, 6am-5pm with only an hour break in between. Dead from exhaustion and a couple burns from the hot glue gun, I'm overall really happy with the way the showpiece turned out. I may have been a little too ambitious with the chocolate river flowing from top to bottom, especially only working with this medium for the first time. It broke my heart a little bit to watch it crack and rip the way it did, but it was fairly repairable. I some scenes of the movie for research again because I haven't seen it in years (the original with Gene Wilder) and I think I got a pretty good depiction of it. I just wish I could've made it a little cleaner.
Also, being able to take the quiz home is the biggest life saver ever. If I had to stop production today to take a quiz it would have instantly fried my brain and frazzled me when I had to start working again. Especially since we had to make two yeasted breads today. I love baguettes but hate them at the same time. I've made them several times over the last three years now, and I still can't get the hang of scoring them. Feeling a little defeated about that, but on the upside, the pumpkin brioche were amazing! Best treat for me and my housemates to enjoy.
So as we creep up on the end of this lab, I can definitely say it's been constructive and high-pressured. The miche was a pretty good experience. My partner and I seemed to have a pretty good understanding of what we wanted it to look like. It took us a little while to sketch it out on paper, even though we changed it slightly while building it, the sketch definitely helped send us in the right direction and get a jump start when it came time to start glueing. A big issue we had was proportion size. All of the dead dough components were in proportion to each other, but they weren't necessarily in proportion to the miche. I felt awful that my partner spent so much extra time and lost sleep making more of the corn on the cobs than we needed, but they looked great along with the rest of the showpiece. I think we were both really happy overall with the outcome of the piece. But as soon as that was over, I feel like I didn't really get to breathe at all because we just went straight into thinking about the marketing showpiece. That thing is giving me such a headache and anxiety. I'm not a fan of group work, especially with large groups. Last year my breads class was kind of a disaster because we had a group of 8 and practically nothing got done, or done correctly. I think my group has things more under control than the group from last year did, hands down. But it's still very difficult to make sure that everyone is on the same page for how we expect this large piece to come out and how it's being constructed, while collaborating with chef's ideas. I think we've changed the design on the piece like 3 or 4 times now. Theres just a lot of stuff going onto this one showpiece, and still being unfamiliar with the medium I don't have the biggest trust/confidence in it's strength. But if chef says it'll hold up then I believe him. It'll be bittersweet when this lab is over, relieving, yet a little sad. It's going by so fast!
ReplyDeleteAs we approach the end of this segment I would have to say that this class was not that stressful to me. Even though I was in a group of three it could have been worst. At times it did get a little bit stressful but with chefs' help he got us back on track. However, as I leave this class I have learned a few important things that can help out new students in the future. Firstly, the Journal is important so make sure you take pictures that are needed for the journal. Read what is required before class starts and take the necessary pictures earlier on than waiting last minute like I did and then have to ask others for pictures. Secondly, make sure you take your pre-ferments out of the refrigerator before you leave class because if you leave it in the fridge overnight that can effect your product the next day. We made that mistake but luckily for us it turned out good. Thirdly, when taking care of your Miche baby be sure that your whole group understand the care of the baby. Make sure you ask each other questions before doing something as you can mess up for the entire team. My group member had never made one before and though chef said not to refrigerate until 5 hours after making she forgot and but it into the fridge immediately. Next, be sure to make your pre-ferment the day before if not there is nothing that can be done. It is to late the next morning moments before you need to use it. Lastly, always take votes because as individuals you will all have different perceptions of what a product should look like for your showpiece but as it is a group showpiece majority always rules this is America so follow the democratic system. I get that people want to include their personality into each piece but the piece needs to recognizable to everyone not just you. This is a class where the group is more important than the you so you do what makes most of the team happy, if it makes sense and is understandable, even if your are slightly unhappy. Hopefully, the last day for us goes smoothly and do not have to come back and blog again after the class is done.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I can not believe that Monday is the last class for this segment already! Secondly, the nerves are definitely getting to me for Monday and finishing the marketing showpiece. We are taking a lot of risks with our showpiece and I am really hoping that they are all going to work. One miscalculation and the whole showpiece can fall. A lot of our elements are really heavy in theory and I am hoping that the base pieces are going to be able to handle all of the weight. I know that we all have the talent to put the piece together and make it look really good. It's just the structural element that I am worried about. I think we should have done a trial of the piece, maybe on a smaller scale on Thursday. That way we could see if it would hold in that size, so we could just replicate it on a larger scale on Monday. It's too late for that now, but I am recommending for future classes that you are definitely prepared in all aspects before you start on the final day. Now I'm just going to be sitting here worrying about this showpiece for the rest of the weekend. Hopefully everything will play out correctly on Monday and my worrying will have just been a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteDay 8! I can't believe that our miché is finally completed and it looks beautiful! The final showpiece is way more elaborate than I imagined in my mind. I wish that all the pieces we made could have been used but unfortunately not all of them made the cut. Small details of the final marketing showpiece were almost all made on Thursday but some details do have to be made at home. All the petals for the three different sized sunflowers are being made over the weekend. I am a bit nervous that the large pieces are not going to go as planned on Monday morning; but when do things ever go as planned for an important project? As long as the showpiece stays together and doesn't fall apart, I'll be okay! I honestly can't believe that Monday is day 9! I'm surprised it went by this quick. I'm excited to see what is in store for the rest of the program.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThings Fall Apart. . .
ReplyDeleteTime has flown by so quickly! I can’t believe Day 9 is on Monday! Thankfully we have a focused agenda in regards to our final marketing showpiece; well as of Thursday that is.
There’s always a challenge when working in groups. Everyone has great ideas but sometimes we aren’t always able to communicate them effectively. We as human beings can be very sensitive and our feelings get hurt by those around us. It’s hard to remain objective when we all are so passionate about our craft. However, I’ve learned from past experiences to not take things personally when you are working with other people. We all have strengths and weaknesses and it’s vital that you emphasize your strengths for the benefit of the group. Everyone can’t be a leader, some of us have to follow; and that’s okay. Everyone has a part to play; none bigger or smaller than the rest.
My partner Cody and I took two days to finish our Miché, but we got it done! We had great intentions; however, things fell apart; literally! I over baked the wine bottle so when it was time to release it from the glass bottle, it cracked! To make matters worse, the barrel pieces that I tried to “curve” were not uniformed. So, when it was time to put it together, things didn’t line up. Luckily, we were able to make it work. Our theme changed from a beautiful fall wine vineyard to an abandoned, dilapidated wine vineyard. All in all we were able to piece together a pretty decent showpiece, despite our mishaps.
With that being said, sometimes we just have to make the best out of the worst situations. There’s always a silver lining in the cloud. I think we’re fantastic as individuals but we all have a lot of work to do as far as group dynamics are concerned. In a perfect world, everyone would get along, right? However, this is reality! There’s one more day left and I think we can all put our differences aside and build a beautiful showpiece to finish this first segment strong!
Days 5-6: Miche all done! Finishing our second bread showpiece today, I was surprised how much we have learned / completed by day 6. Doing the miche, was easier and a little less stressful than the rooster showpiece. It helped that we got to work with a partner. I believe that next time this class should start with the miche rather than the rooster showpiece. You and your partner come up with a theme and get to work together to finish a miche. I’m not sure if I found this project less stressful because I've already completed the rooster and knew more on how to work with decorative dough. When you and your partner discuss / plan what you are going to put and do on your miche, make sure you think about how much room you have on there. After we finished putting the pieces on the miche, we realized that we had a few other pieces that we couldn’t fit on there. However, having extra pieces is not always a bad thing, in case something breaks or there's an empty space you could use those extra pieces. After finishing my rooster showpiece I realized that the gondola should have been bigger compared to the size of the rooster. When my partner and I were working on the miche, we tried to keep everything relatively in correct proportions to one another.
ReplyDeleteDomonique SturrupSeptember 13, 2014 at 5:45 PM
ReplyDeleteSo it is Saturday night and I am sitting in the dorm working on pieces for my groups Miche showpiece and thinking about the first week of Decorative doughs. This week was a little hard for me, being in a group of three. Each person in a group of three needs to carry there weight plus 1/3 of the weight of the other person they would have had if they had four people. I find that this up coming week I am going to need to push myself a bit harder to complete everything. I realize this because I am probably the only person that will be gluing there showpiece on Monday. Luckily my group is understanding and they are letting me work on most of the Miche showpiece pieces this weekend so that when I come to class on Monday I can glue my Rooster showpiece together first thing. Working in this class in this group requires more effort but I feel this will just make me stronger as I move on in the field.
Domonique SturrupSeptember 16, 2014 at 5:52 PM
ReplyDeleteToday as a group of three we completed one Miche showpiece. With three people this made it kind of hard because we had an idea and concept but we all had a different views of how it should be. We should have sketched the design but we didn't so we took the components and just kind of placed it on the the Miche randomly with no concept or direction. The Miche did not turn out badly because the skill of the products on the miche were nice but they just kind of looked random and out of place all together. Chef said you could tell it was several people trying to put all there ideas into one showpiece. The advice he gave us is when working with other people always sketch the idea before completing the task ahead. This blog should be read in advance because this is important stuff to no before coming in and doing the class.
The final day is almost upon us. These past few days have been a real challenge for me but I am so glad that I have had this experience. Day eight was practical day for the group and it felt nothing like a practical I have ever had before. I was so calm while making the chocolate pumpkin brioche. Maybe it was the fact that we had just made the brioche the day before or maybe it was because we had four people working on it, which is something I am not used to doing on practical day. My confidence has greatly improved with dead dough and I can say that I cannot wait to see how our showpiece is going to turn out with all that we have learned. I'm sure there will be a few mistakes but that is the whole point of school. Chef's have always told me to make mistakes while you're in school because the consequences are less severe than if you make them out in the industry. Plus making mistakes, I feel, truly allows you to learn about the product you're making. I hope we all have a wonderful last day together in BPA3010.
ReplyDeleteWhen Chef says this class is like a roller coaster and make sure to buckle in, he isn’t kidding. From day 2 you jump right into production and from that day it goes by so fast. So make sure that you start thinking of the next project as you finish the first one. In addition, I would recommend to start the journal assignment as soon as possible. Just like freshmen and sophomore labs, the notebook assignment takes some time. Rather than procrastinating, it is easier to work on it a little every day so when you get towards the end of the class you don’t have to worry about pulling an all nighter. Also, definitely remember to TAKE PICTURES!! As I was working on my journal, I realized I didn’t quite have all the pictures I wanted / needed. I recommend to remember to take pictures during Chef’s demo and during production. After we finished the rooster and miche bread pieces, you get into groups of 4 and begin to plan the marketing showpiece. When doing research and finding the 20-30 pictures, make sure to get a variety of images because in most cases your partners will have the same ones. When it comes time to building a model of how the marketing showpiece will look like, make sure to think as if your an architect. Although it’s a little annoying to have to make the model to replicate the final showpiece as close as possible using aluminum foil, foam board and glue, it is a really important part. While my group and I were building the foam model of our marketing showpiece, we ran into some trouble when it came to supporting the big cross and one of our Irish soda breads. We did some research to see how we could support some of our pieces and then made the final adjustments to our foam model. In the end it will help make sure that the showpiece does not crumble and breakdown by day 9. After the model was complete, I feel as if things ran more smoothly. Since we knew the size and what pieces to make and are working in groups of 4, making all the dead dough pieces went by much faster.
ReplyDeleteFor days two and three we worked on and finished our miche. Through this process I made several mistakes that will help me when I make the other two showpieces. After day 2 I took dead dough home to make pieces but because I didn't have the miche as a reference I made the pieces too big. This resulted in us having to make more pieces in the last 45 minutes and we weren't able to have all the components we wanted, like the wreath. Another thing that I learned was the less is more. We had a lot of pieces including mistletoe, snowflakes, lights, acorns, a stocking, candy canes and peppermints. It made the piece look crowded because there were so many pieces in such a small space. It was also hard to find a focal point which could be confusing for anyone looking at it. In addition, the brown color of the branches, the crust of the miche, the acorns, and the string lights made the space look smaller and very dark. We had some color from the lights and the mistletoe; however it wasn't enough to contrast the darkness. Furthermore, there was a lack of texture. The only items with texture in our piece were the mistletoe leaves and acorns. For my rooster showpiece I will definitely add more texture to make the pieces more interesting and realistic. When adding the coffee coloring to the branches we had put them on foil to give them movement but when we baked them a second time with the string lights I removed the foil so that it wouldn't damage the strings. This was a mistake because they started to lose their shape. I tried to fix a few by adding foil underneath them but I ended up snapping some of the branches off. Some of the good points on our miche were the colors and the stencil. I am really excited to get started on the rooster showpiece!
ReplyDeletenow that the winter break is over, it's back to work. our class is starting the rooster showpiece. at first my idea was going to center around paradise, you know, palm trees, ocean, drinks & etcetera. but as I was walking around, there were other students doing the same idea. so I had to change it. so now my theme is going to be outer space. I am so excited. I am going to place my rooster on the moon. ahaha.
ReplyDeletemeanwhile, while building our rooster showpiece, we had to prep for our chocolate pumpkin brioche & produce baguettes. today, we also needed to work on our marketing showpiece which is going to be challah bread. it's hard to come up with a theme since the bread derives from the jews. we had all these symbols such as the menorah, the chai, the star of david & many more. but those symbols don't really express the bread. so now, our group has to change the idea by tomorrow.
what I need to work on for my showpiece that will make it better than the miche, is color, texture & placing different things so they are not crowded & it doesn't look so busy.
today was the first day since literally my freshmen year I started school, is when we made baguettes. they didn't come out horrible. we need to be consistent. especially with the dividing. what I know I need to work on is my scoring. I need to go more straight down the bread rather than straight then go towards the sides.
other than that, today was fun. I enjoy this class more & more when the day goes on & on. (:
The first three days of this lab were exciting. I mean, we had three days until Christmas break! And completely one showpiece? We can totally do it! Those three days were somewhat relaxing; all I had to do was focus on the two miche showpieces my group had and nothing else.
ReplyDeleteNow that we're back from Christmas break, class has been extremely busy. I assumed it would be like the first three days (low stress-zone); but boy was I wrong. Chef was not exaggerating when he said that we would be thrown back into production and it would be crazy. It's only the second day being back and it's craaazy! Our rooster showpiece is due on Thursday. Okay, no big deal. We have another full day to get our decorations done. What I didn't expect was how much work the marketing showpiece was going to be.
Transitioning between the rooster showpiece and the marketing showpiece can be quite stressful! While working on one showpiece, I'll come up with a great idea for the other showpiece, and stop to write down those brilliant ideas I have (ha ha). All of these spontaneous ideas have led me to change the designs multiple times for each showpiece. Tonight as I was working on the decorations for the rooster showpiece, I heard Chef's word resonating in the back of my head- "Sometimes less is more." My rooster showpiece is a sports theme, so I had the idea of incorporating all of the little things, like shin guards, gloves, mouth guards, etc. Thinking of what Chef had said previously in class, I decided to change that idea, and go with the bigger pieces (lacrosse sticks, soccer ball and scoreboard). These items are what people are going to point out first on the showpiece, so I really need to detail them and give them the respectable textures. I definitely think "less is more" is going to help put me on the path of least resistance. I'll be able to focus on those bigger pieces and stop stressing out over the little items that I keep thinking about adding to the showpieces.
As the days go on, I have begun to realize how serious chef was when he said in the later days of class that all of the days would become difficult. We are now in the second week of class, after a long break and I honestly can say it took be by surprise. The first week my group was the only group of 3 in the class and we decided to accept the challenge of making two miches instead of one. I learned a lot about time management just in the first week! I learned that spending to much time on little things for one miche really hurt our group when it came to executing the detail on the other miche. Little details do matter, but in reality less is more when putting together bigger showpieces. If you can execute detail on the bigger parts of your showpiece the fill ins are not needed to a certain degree.
ReplyDeleteMy rooster showpiece changed a lot to be honest, just passed of the principle that I just explained. I first had my Yankees player rooster the focal point of my showpiece while depicting new York on the smaller end of the base. I then realized that making a larger than life bridge and propping my rooster on top of it, would give me an opportunity to really show detail, as well as bring the whole showpiece together as one entity rather than two separate parts. I am extremely excited/stressed out for the next couple of days and I cant wait to see what everyones product final turns out.
THis class has open my eyes already to many different things not only that pertain to building showpieces, but to everything in the pastry world. When I enter the industry I want to have a sense of urgency and have exceptional time management that will hopefully help me achieve my goals. Im starting to love this class and I cant wait to build our final marketing showpiece.
Today’s production went really well. When we first arrived at class we began with making the dough for our pumpkin brioche. Then we began our prepping for tomorrow’s production. Once these things were done we began working on the pieces for our rooster showpieces. While I was working I realized I didn’t really have a lot of pieces for my showpiece so I started thinking of more things that I could use for the showpiece. Once I made all the new pieces and put them in the oven I figured I would help another student with gluing down the rooster. When I finished helping I went back to my group and made sure that we would have everything that we needed for the next day of production. Then we began cleaning up the table to ensure that we would be done cleaning on time. At the end of class when we went over our pumpkin brioche Chef pointed out that some brioche had too much powdered sugar on them while others were just perfect. Chef then asked if we knew the three reasons that powdered sugar was, we knew two – one was sweetness, the other color. I then looked at Chef and asked him what the third reason was. The answer was that the powdered sugar is what caused the cracks in the top of the brioche. I just thought that this was an interesting fact!
ReplyDeleteThe first day of class we learned about a rooster project we would need to do, and I was excited to start thinking of possible themes. As I sat at home thinking of what to do, I realized that many of the themes I wanted to do wouldn't have flow, and would look forced. Eventually I came to a natural them that would work better as a showpiece. Th advantage to brainstorming ahead of time is the time it provides to really think about one's design. It allows one to enter into a project with confidence after having allowed oneself the time for revision and a full thought process. When it came time for mine and my partner's miche project, we decided to do a full wreath around the outside to frame a central image. The wreath had 77 leaves, and the Miche had the wreath, three ornaments, a reindeer silhouette, and some holly berries. Our sculpture had zero texture, and not many different elements. I would advise future students to expand their showpiece to show many different techniques. All we showed was we were good at making a lot of leaves. On our second day back from break, we made pan rustique. I struggled to divide the dough evenly, and ended up with multiple different shapes for our rolls. I advise future students to pay more attentiontion to how they divide, and really try to keep a consistent shape. It's just strange to have rectangular rolls.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I learned a valuable lesson from a simple mistake my group and I made. Chef Hitz doesn’t give us his formulas just because he wants to us to waste some paper. He does it because he has spent the time and energy to test out these recipes and he knows what needs to be done for the product to come out correctly. Chef told us all at the beginning of the class that since we have the availability to use the spiral mixers we should use them, except for the focaccia. He said this because he knows his formulas and products like the back of his hand, and he knows the products will come out the best by using the spiral mixer.
ReplyDeleteMy group started to mix our rosemary raisin suns in the 20qt mixer – which was a big no-no. Chef came over and asked us, “What is the only dough I told you to mix on this mixer?” It took us a minute, but then we remembered – focaccia. He then began to tell us why bread is so much better off when mixed in the spiral mixer. The 20qt mixer is like a bar room brawl where the spiral mixer is like a gentle massage. Like a bar room brawl, where punches are just being thrown back and forth, the 20qt whips the dough from one side of the mixer to the other, beating it up. You wouldn’t want to get beat up, so why should your dough. The spiral mixer gently massages the dough back and forth, more similar to how bread was made before these mixers were invented. It mixes the dough much gentler and quicker than the 20qt.
So let me end with this – would you rather get punched repeatedly or have a nice, relaxing massage? I know which I would pick.
I, like a lot of my classmates, am a perfectionist. I don’t want to send out a product that is not up to my, or Chef’s, standards. This class is challenging for us perfectionists. I assume most of us have never worked with dead dough. It’s new to us, which makes it hard to make our showpieces up to our standards. Working with the dead dough is a guessing game. Yes, we have an idea of how to work with it from watching Chef’s demos, but it looks a lot easier than it is. Because of this, we end up having to build a particular object a couple of times until we get it right. This is a great learning process, but it can be frustrating as well. I know I put a lot of pressure on my self to make the showpieces look the best they can, which means spending a good amount of time on some pieces and remembering to add details to the pieces.
ReplyDeleteI have found it to be really helpful to bring dough home with me. This was I can focus on details and not have to worry about time constraints, timers beeping, and other people sharing tools and dough. I can sit at my counter and watch Netflix, while I am making pieces to my showpiece. The first day we started to work on our roosters I was incredibly stressed. I just didn’t know how I was going to get it done, the way I wanted it to look. After bringing some dough home for two days, I wasn’t as stressed. I knew that I could get the pieces done and all I would have to do the next day is finish them with some white paint, if needed, and bake them. I strongly recommended taking some time out of your afternoon to work with the dough to feel a little bit more accomplished, or even just to try something out before you do the final go of it in class the next day. It is much easier to add detail when you are not stressed and this way you can focus on getting the pieces the way you want them to be.
Starting this class was something I was nervous about since the trimester began. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was intimidated by the idea of finally getting to build these amazing showpieces that we were in awe of since our freshman year. Despite the nerves, I was beyond excited to begin, with the hopes of everything going smoothly.
ReplyDeleteIn the production of the Miche Showpiece, I got a small taste of what making one of these pieces is like. My partner and I got along really well, and made a "college christmas list" surrounded by a wreath with lights and snowflakes. For a first showpiece, it went very well. The bow looked amazing, and my partner's handwriting for the list was great! We also had some bumps, like the use of too much silver paint, making our snowflakes look more like ninja stars.
Before the break, My group also produced Rosemary Raisin Suns and Baguettes. Our baguettes had a nice crumb, flavor, and texture, but some of our scoring could have been better. Chef told us to avoid having the cuts diagonally cross the loaf, and they began looking better. The Rosemary Raisin Suns went much better. They had an overall nice bake, and we didn't face many complications.
Despite the warning from Chef about returning to chaos after break, I left feeling confident that the rest of the segment would go as well as the beginning.
The Marketing Showpiece has already been more stressful then I could have imagined, and we haven't even touched a single piece of dough to make it yet. Our original idea, before break, was to build a castle out of Pain de Mie. This idea was created with the wrong mindset of the theme. We were wrongly under the impression that the bread just had to be showcased in the piece, not that the theme had to be based on some aspect of the bread itself. Then, when we learned that we had to use one of the 3 pre-made skeletons, the castle idea was gone, and our new idea became making a spring theme with a basket of Pain de Mie to showcase it. This was still with the misunderstanding of the theme going through our minds. When we finally began to understand what the assignment was asking of us, our bread changed to Hot Crossed Buns, so we could have our continue with our spring theme.
ReplyDeleteThen, the roughest part of the process so far was our last meeting with the foam model. We all struggled in the beginning of our talk to really see eye to eye on certain aspects of the showpiece. As the conversation went on I became more and more stressed and frustrated, and I spent what felt like 10 minutes of this talk with my eyes locked on the floor. It took a while, but I began to really see Chef's point of view. As stressful as that conversation seemed, I was more than thrilled by the time I applied the changes we discussed to the final foam model.
Of course we all know Chef has our best interest in mind, but in those stressful moments it can feel like you're ideas are getting put down, but THEY ARE NOT! After taking some time away from the conversation, I got to calm down, really think about the changes we discussed, and the reasoning behind them. My lesson-learned from that talk is that you need to be open to new thoughts and ideas. Someone seeing something differently that you isn't a personal attack at your creativity. For the first time since the beginning of the process, I feel as though this showpiece has transformed from something that I saw and thought, "Oh, that'll be pretty" to really looking at it in awe, and with real excitement, and that's thanks to the ideas we were all able to brainstorm and discuss together. Hopefully, as we begin production, this new showpiece will come to life even better than imagined.
So it's taken myself a little bit of time to figure out where to post my thoughts about this class. Honestly one of the most remarkable things I had learned during this class had nothing to do with the bread itself. It had to do with how Chef Hitz used the glue gun when he put the new glue stick in he first put some of the heated glue on the end of the new stick and attached it to the back of the old stick. This was just something I had never thought about and just found it amazing and wondered how I had never thought of doing it before.
ReplyDeleteOther then that the class is turning to be partially what I was expecting. I thought that it would be a difficult, demanding and stressful class because of the time and effort it demands of us everyday.
The first day of class we mainly had demos and Chef makes building a showpiece look easier than it is. He has a great deal of talent and he is very helpful when you come to him with problems. Mainly because he makes us think of why the problem or situation occurred and helps us reach the solution on our own. I like his form of teaching because I remember what he says and what he has helped me realize on my own. I know my posts are all over the place but that is where my mind is sometimes in this class. I am constantly processing new thoughts and ideas of what I need to accomplish.
So it turns out you can be allergic to rye flour...I found that out the first day we started working with the dead dough. I have baked with rye flour before but I guess constantly kneading and handling dough that contains it is a little different. When it first happened, I didn’t really know what it was but my hands were burning and splotchy – fun stuff right? After I took some allergy medicine I was fine but it was just something I was going to have to work with for the rest of class.
ReplyDeleteThis isn’t horrible, at all. I just have to remember to always wear gloves when working with the dead dough. I sometimes forgot to, when I was really focused on a particular item, but then my hands started to itch. The moral of this story is that nothing is going to go the way you planned it to go, but you just have to learn how to roll with the punches and keep working. Learning is about the challenges we face and how we go about handling them.
The end of this week concluded with the finished rooster showpiece. Phew! I thought making the two miche showpieces was easier than making this one individual showpiece. This showpiece taught me a lot about time management. It is a crucial part of the industry, and these past few days have shown that. I'm a perfectionist (I think the majority, if not all, of our class is!), so I want to spent however much time on a piece to make sure it looks real and genuine with lots of details. Achieving this goal meant that I had to take some dead dough home with me and work on decorations for the rest of the day. Spending those extra hours on the decorations proved to be worth it in the end as my showpiece came together.
ReplyDeleteWhenever we have a dead line in class (the rooster showpiece was due at 11 AM on Thursday), I make it a game like situation in my head. Being an athlete, I find it easier to take a situation and mold it into a soccer or lacrosse game. You have to be consistent throughout the whole game, and make those quick decisions if something doesn't go as planned. I told myself starting Thursday at 7 AM - you have to complete the big decorations by 9:15. Finishing the pieces on time is like scoring the goal that pulls your team ahead before half time. My "half time" was working on the rum raisin brioche and getting that onto sheet pans and into the proof box.
Completing the showpiece on time became a big confidence booster for myself. I felt like I scored the winning goal in the lacrosse GNAC championship! Chef gave us a deadline and I believed and pushed myself to meet that standard that was set. The reward of getting a good grade is important, but I think the satisfaction I had with my showpiece was really what was important to me.
When I viewed my schedule online before I began classes here, I thought to myself.... wow!! I’m surely going dislike my first month or so here in providence since bread was going to be my first 2 classes. As the days went by, I realized, here I had an easier time understanding bread since the chefs here taught it in a much simpler way and this allowed for me to not be as frustrated. The first 3 days before winter break where we began making the miche and actually putting it together, I was and still is somewhat intimidated when putting together a showpiece, far less for a bread show piece; something that I have never done before as well as through a medium that I am not too familiar with. I must say, it was definitely a challenge but these challenges will make me into a better pastry chef. Our miche was holiday themed putting us into the holiday mood before our Christmas break. The miche however, was simple yet very holiday. The lights on it was a bit symmetrical but otherwise the piece perfect. Our production for day 2 and day 3 was focaccia and pain rustique. I have made focaccia but with this formula our focaccia was exceptionally good in my eyes since it was soft to every bite with that hint of herbs.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday I finished my rooster showpiece. At first I struggled with the theme. My first theme was a farmland type of thing, I even built my rooster for it and everything, but I just wasn't feeling inspired, something just wasn't clicking. At the end of the day the legs of my rooster broke because I didn’t pin down the parchment paper during baking and it caused the legs to stick straight up. Thinking that the dough was still warm enough for me to readjust it I tried to press the legs back down and they just broke right off. Anyway, this was a blessing in disguise because it gave me another night to think about my theme. That night I decided to switch my theme completely. I ditched my ugly farmer rooster and swapped it out for my new Rasta rooster to match my Jamaican theme. Choosing a theme that was close to my heart really helped me because instead of just wanting to get a good grade I also wanted to represent my country the best I could, and it inspired me to do better work and push my creative boundaries. Constructing the showpiece went fairly smoothly, and there is no greater adrenaline rush than picking up a high showpiece for the first time to walk across the room with it! I was so proud of my rooster on completion and the look on my parents faces made it worth all the stress.
ReplyDeleteDAY 4!!! Back out to school after a lovely warm vacation at home. Today was not as hectic since it was kind of finalizing the rooster show piece and cutting out the model for our marketing showpiece as well as making the preferments for our breads for the following day. Day 5, when I finally settled on my rooster showpiece I began making pieces for Thursday when I will have to face my fear of assembling it, this time on my own. This day we also made pumpkin brioche that was so delicious. Pumpkin is something in Trinidad that we use more on the savory side rather than sweet. So the brioche was perfecto! It also reminded me of an Almond rouge brioche I had in France. On day 6, my group and I made another variation to brioche, which was the rum raisin brioche topped with either peaches or roasted apples and crumble. However, we placed them into the cooler to garnish and cut on day 7. Day 7 after it came down to room temperature, the peach topping on the brioche was a little too moist on top, thereby absorbing all of the dusted powdered sugar on top.
ReplyDeleteThe final day of the rooster showpiece was pretty much a blur. My strategy for this showpiece was to glue together the main components the day before, so I could use the morning of the final day to make some last minute accent pieces based on the overall showpiece. I, for one, struggle with drawing. I can see what I'd like to do in my mind's eye, but getting it onto paper is a struggle for me. Assembling my main components as I envisioned them the day before the showpiece was due helped me because it gave me a "skeleton" of my showpiece, and I was able picture more specifically in my mind where I would want certain smaller decorations on the showpiece. Once they were all made, I was gluing and baking, and it went very well! Assembly went smoothly, and moving the rooster from the room to the hallway was easier than I thought. Besides Alice's kinda creepy face (haha), I am very happy with how my showpiece turned out! Hopefully the last two days go just as smoothly!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteTomorrow we will be going in to class to get started on our final marketing showpiece and to work on our practical yeasted bread preferment. This showpiece has already been quite frustrating to deal with because at first my group and I didn’t fully understand the assignment. Now that we do understand we’ve already committed to a difficult theme and it’s too late to change anything, so things are getting a little hectic. I feel confident that we can physically execute whatever we decide to do as I am now quite comfortable working with dead dough. The difficulty is in conceptualizing a good way to represent our bread while tying it into the theme in an attractive and structurally sound way. This part is taking more time and creative flexibility than I’d anticipated. It makes me a little nervous that we only have 2 days and three people to pull this off, but at this point in the class I think my groupmates and I understand each others strengths and weaknesses so it shouldn’t be TOO stressful.
On Sunday we will be going into the classroom to prepare our preferments for Monday. My group is making the pumpkin brioche on Monday for our practical. When we first made it, it came out great just some of them were not baked as dark as Chef would have liked. This eases my nerves because leaving them in the oven a little bit longer is a simple fix. However, I am a little nervous because there are a lot of components that go into the brioche so it will take up a lot of time that may take away from our final marketing showpiece. However, I have faith in my group and believe we will be able to accomplish it if we set our selves up for success.
ReplyDeleteFlash Back Saturday! (to the first week)...I find it crazy to think that going into this lab on the first few days I felt like I had no chance in succeeding on these showpieces. Reflecting on those first three days now I wish I could have told myself that it's not as scary as it seems. With the help of demos, preliminary web research, sketches, opinions from others, and then actually being required to accomplish these showpieces in a timely manner, showpieces always end up coming together and you usually end up pretty proud of them. Aside from the showpieces, all I remember from the first few days was day 2 was when my group ended up making foccacia soup instead of dough. But with the help of the all mighty Chef Hitz, we were able to revive the dough and actually ended up with a product that would be 'sell-able'. It was intriguing to see how simple it is to just 'experiment' with a dough that had been scaled wrong based on the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteDay 7. Dun. dun. dun. I think it was my worst nightmare. The due date of the rooster showpiece. Prior to this day, days 5 and 6 were very tedious. I didn't finish my rooster until the end of day 6. I already felt overwhelmed and behind. During class on day 6, I was able to complete my bases, stoppers, and rooster. Since my rooster entailed a "farm theme" I decided it was a great idea to put a sh*t ton of spinach and black cocoa powder to resemble a farm field. Once I completed this, I asked Chef's opinion and he said "you might have trouble gluing on those surfaces." The thought was placed back in my brain. I spent the afternoon in Chef Lumi's class getting the rest of my pieces finished. I had a couple more things to finish, so I decided to complete them day 7 which was a poor decision. Once day 7 arrived, I didn't realize what I was getting myself into. Time was going by very quickly, so I started the gluing process around 9:30. I got everything I needed to expedite this process. I started gluing my base, but had to run back and forth to complete the rum raisin brioche. I was in the process of gluing my second base to my first. It wouldn't adhere to the surface. I panicked and Chef came to me and helped me out. Now the thought came back into my brain when Chef Hitz said "you may have a problem gluing." Chef knows best, and I felt very frustrated that I didn't realize this in the first place. One thing that I need to be more aware of is to always ask Chef's opinion. If i asked him what I was thinking of doing, he would have given a suggestion to not pour a ton of spinach powder/black cocoa powder all over my bases. Lesson learned. Ask questions. I wish the assembly of my rooster went smoothly, but it didn't. It was a very stressful process for me because of the weight of my pieces. I made the bases to thin, and the bottom base was warping. I was very appreciative of my chef, and my classmates stepping in when my rooster was completely falling backward right before it was going to be graded. So thank you class! For those who stepped up to help me, it meant a lot for me. In the future, I need to be utilize my time better while assembling a showpiece. If all my pieces were done by Thursday, I would have been in much better shape. This extra time allows space for mistakes to happen if they arise.
ReplyDeleteAs there second week comes to an end, I feel as though I have developed skills that will help me in my future in my profession. The last 4 days have really taught me to control my stress levels and really dial down and get things done. I’ve learned the true importance of a deadline and even though those 4 days might have been the most stressful days that I have had here at JWU, I was able to finish my showpiece the way I wanted to and I was done about a hour before our deadline. Good preparation and the use of production schedules really helps you stress less and do your best work. I’m excited to make the big marketing showpiece with my group member MG and casserole, because now that I have worked with dead dough I am more comfortable with testing the boundaries and attempting to experiment and do some really cool things to showcase my groups and my skills. Ive realized that in order to be happy with your final product, especially as a perfectionist, you must put the work in to really achieve something unique and special to not only yourself, but to others that will see the final product. Hard work does pay off in the long run and if you put the time and effort into anything you will be able to accomplish it and possibly just blow it out of the water. The last two days, not including Sunday, are going to be some very high paced days and in order to get this showpiece done in time, my group members and I are gonna have to kick it in the butt and put the time in to make our showpiece a showstopper! I am both nervous and excited for the rest of the class. I also can’t wait to turn in this project!
ReplyDeleteMy group came in at 1:00 pm to prepare for our practical and marketing showpiece on Monday. We made our preferment for the pumpkin brioche, we scaled the final dough. made pastry cream, and chocolate glaze. This will help us tomorrow because we are ready to mix immediately when we arrive in class. My group also made all of our dead dough that we will need for our marketing showpiece. I am glad that my group committed our own time to come in and make sure we are in great shape for tomorrow. Since our mise en place is in order, I have full faith in my group to create a amazing marketing showpiece.
ReplyDeleteI would like to begin by saying: I like my Rooster. It has texture, flow, color, and neatness. What it might be lacking is structural integrity. My cylinder holding the rooster up ends up getting somewhat tilted at the top, which I was told would be a problem for taller pieces. Luckily nothing of the skeleton has broken. However, my base is covered in chili powder to look like dirt. It's convincing, but I assumed that it would be no problem gluing light pieces to it. I was wrong. The cat tails I attached to the base ended up ripping up and falling back. The pieces didn't break, but I did learn that no matter how light a piece, if it's not glued properly with scoring to help it along, it's not going to stand.
ReplyDeleteToday two of my lovely group members went in to make the preferment and dough for our practical and final marketing showpiece. I feel a little stressed because I wasn't able to be apart of it due to work but i'm sure that upon arriving to class tomorrow things will start out well. We are making rum raisin brioche for the first time as well for our practical which is a little frightful but by following the super awesome directions Chef Hitz provided as well as using our bread senses I'm sure itll at least turn out edible. I'm excited to start our marketing show piece because of the unknown look our showpiece holds due to it being in mostly black and white. (also our theme is donuts in new york, and who doesn't love donuts and new york?)
ReplyDeleteDay 4 was crazy for my partner and I. We have made all of our pieces for our Holiday Miche Showpiece. I enjoyed working with partners because we can combine ideas and make the showpiece that much better that I could not come up with. I learned that we should be aware of where we are placing the pieces to make sure that it can be placed correctly on the showpiece. Also I learned it became stressful towards the end getting the pieces onto the bread, I know now its always good to make extra pieces just in case the other breaks. Overall I was very happy the outcome of our showpiece and I was very proud my partner Andrea and I.
ReplyDeleteLast week was focused on our rooster and making the model for our final showpiece. The theme for my rooster was Winnie the Pooh and I was very excited to get started on it. Once it started I realized that I had put a lot of detail into the sketch and in order to finish in time I would need to take dead dough home and make pieces. The only problem with this was that I made pooh bear too big so he won't fit without covering the rooster. When I was gluing together my pieces I had made one of the back branches slightly too short so it looked awkward when I placed it. I didn't have enough time to make another one so the flow was slightly disrupted. When I was spraying my showpiece I was a bit nervous because I used spinach powder on my base and the spray made some wet spots where there was too much. This didn't take away from the overall appearance of the showpiece but it was not how I intended it to be. The final product made me very happy! I was disappointed that pooh bear didn't fit but other than that I think it looked great. One other critic was that because the showpiece was so detailed and colorful the rooster didn't stand out as the focal point. Had I made my rooster a blue and white marble it would have stood out more.
ReplyDeleteI came in on Sunday to mix a preferment for focaccia and to make dead dough in preparation for Monday. I looked at my showpiece and noticed that the base was cracking. This may be due to the temperature but it also could have been because I didn't bake my base long enough so it wasn't as stable as it could have been. I look forward to making pieces for our marketing showpiece but I am nervous about the limited time we have to make them. We also have to make focaccia tomorrow but I am confident that my group can pull it off!
This Sunday afternoon, my group went in to prepare the preferment for our practical tomorrow, as well as put some finishing touches on the marketing project model. We are making pain rustique for our practical. The first time we made it, we accidentally scaled for a full batch instead of a half batch. For the practical, we have to scale for a full batch. So I guess it's safe to say that we were just preparing ourselves for the practical (ha ha)! Other than that, I think we did a very good job on the sizing of the loaves for the pan rustique, so I am very confident making them for a practical grade tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteGoing into the lab without Chef there was so different! I felt pretty cool that I was in a lab without supervision (rebel, I know). A handful of our other classmates were there so we all put on some music and worked on what we needed to. I think going in today definitely helped me to get my mind back on track for tomorrow, and keep the wheels spinning in my head for lab mode. Having only two days to complete a big showpiece like this is a challenge that I can't wait to complete. All of the tips that Chef gave us on time management, as well as reminding us to be more urgent workers with different work speeds, will be repeating in my head throughout tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to tackling this showpiece!
Day 7- Chef Hitz was not kidding when he said this week would be a blur. I was happy it was Thursday but I still needed to make pieces for my rooster showpiece then glue. I took some dead dough home the night before to make roses because I knew that they would take a lot of time to make. It took me up till about ten thirty to get all my pieces baked off which caused me a lot of stress and panic because I knew I had to finish gluing by eleven thirty, which I was late on. Also my tray of pieces were knocked over which was my own fault because Chef Hitz told us not put our trays underneath the table on top of the bins. When that happened I felt panic rush over me and I knew if I were to panic I would not think straight. Therefore I took a deep breathe and stayed positive because that's all I could do and just work harder an faster. I learned working on the rooster was a lot harder than the miche dough. I enjoyed doing the group project better because you had help. I was not happy with my outcome of my rooster, I knew I could have improved on certain things but I did run out of time( which was my own fault). Gluing was another mess for me as well some things did not work out as I had hoped. But after doing my first rooster I now know my strengths and weaknesses which will make become better in the long run.
ReplyDeleteToday is day seven and my group and I did our Pumpkin Chocolate Broiche for our practical. We did run into a small problem though, we might have over mixed our dough but our final product did not show any signs of it after it came out if the oven. We also started making our pieces for our marketing showpiece. i was very impressed about our brick for it. All the pieces look great as well! We only have a few more pieces to make and bake off tomorrow. I'm confident that the showpiece will come out great. All of pieces so far have been coming out awesome and I'm impressed with our teamwork. Chef Hitz talked about our final test tomorrow which I am nervous about just because it holds a lot of weight to our final grade but I will study and try my best and hope I get a good grade.
ReplyDeleteAs this lab comes to a close we are finishing our marketing showpiece. We have a lot of pieces to still make tomorrow along with the assembly; however we don't have any other production so the focus will be on the showpiece. We made our own challah today which ate into our time but they came out great! Because we made the challah in class we weren't able to get all the base structure pieces finished. I attempted to make a braid out of white and blue dead dough and sheet it out so that it could be put on top of the first heart shape piece. This didn't work out how we wanted it to but it didn't look terrible. We were able to make the torah piece and the bowl for our ingredients as well as some eggs to put in the bowl. We also made the bee hive and honey stick today. Because we didn't finish what we wanted to, we all took home dead dough and will be making one or two pieces.
ReplyDeleteAs for our practical today it didn't go very well at all. Our plain foccacia was pretty badly burnt because our timer was turned off and we weren't informed about it. The other foccacia that we made were dark but still edible. We could have put more cheese in the corners and should have had an additional timer on so that we could have avoided burning them. This was a real bummer because before this I was doing well in the class but obviously I will not be getting a very good grade on this practical, which is 15 percent of my final grade. I'm still looking forward to tomorrow and seeing our finished showpiece. See you bright and early!
It's the last day of the week. Thursday. Day 7. Yesterday I made sure that I had all the pieces I would need for the showpiece. Today all I have to do is put it together. I grabbed a glue gun and got to work. On top of taking breaks to get our Rum Raisin Brioche done I finished my showpiece. As I stood back to observe it, I couldn't help but think that it was missing something. But what? I asked my group member to help me figure it out. Maybe it was a height issue? Or I didn't take up enough space? I finally ended up adding some height to it and I loved the entire idea of my showpiece. I went to hall and took pictures and overall felt confident in my piece. Sometimes all you have to do is take a step back and look again at what you are doing.
ReplyDeleteDay 8. Today went alright. We started the day making our Focaccia. Then we made our Challah. We also began working on our showpiece items. Because we had to stop so much for the Focaccia and the Challah we didn't get as many pieces as we would have liked to done today. On top of that the Practical was today - the Focaccia - and somehow the timer on the oven was shut off and we were not told about it so our plain Focaccia was burnt pretty badly. Not the day to burn something. Because we didn't get many pieces done on our showpiece we decided to each take home some dead dough and work on pieces at home. Tomorrow we will be showing up to class even early in hopes that we will get everything done with the final.
ReplyDeleteDay 7 & Day 8: Final Marketing Showpiece & Rooster. So far both projects seem to be in relation to each other in terms of how their production goes. Both had a side project of our daily produced bread, (today's was rum raisin) as well as mentally planning out which pieces to complete first. For the marketing showpiece my group completed many key elements such as bases, structural shapes, key themed pieces, and the other required stenciled elements. This was the opposite of my rooster, lesson learned being it is better to get the required and structural elements finished and baked first in case time runs short so no added stress occurs. As for tomorrow we plan on arriving early to finish off baking bases as well as complete other small but important elements that add to our theme. As I make each piece I consider all of the feed back from the miche and rooster assignment to better the final result.
ReplyDeleteThe making of our marketing showpiece has begun! I can actually say that working with this dough the past couple of weeks, I am more exciting to make this showpiece rather than stressed out. My group came in on sunday and made all of the dead dough that we thought we were going to need, our pre-ferment for todays practical, and we also finished up our final model for our marketing showpiece. By doing all of this work, I felt less stress coming into today, knowing that I had all the dough to make the bigger pieces for our design. I took some dough home tonight also to be prepared for tomorrow, which is going to be hectic! Also today my group went out and bought some bagels. Chef recommended us to make them because they were easy, but to save time/stress levels, we decided to take the easier way out and by bagels at Bagel Gourmet here in Providence. I am exciting to see everyones showpieces tomorrow, and I can not wait to turn in my homework project! Final done, but sad to say that this class is almost over for good.
ReplyDeleteThe day our group made foccacia, all went wrong. A simple mistake in scaling, looking at the wrong number for water, messed our dough up. We had to work in extra flour, salt, yeast to get it to a texture that was close to what it needed to be. After waiting all the time for it to proof, we then forgot to weigh each sheet pan with the dough, so we ended up with two good sized foccacia and one slightly smaller one. Now we learned to take our time when scaling and preparing our dough more carefully.
ReplyDeleteDay 7- Wow this week went by fast! Four days flew by and before I knew it, my rooster showpiece was done. Towards the end of putting it together I was worried I wouldn't have enough stuff to put on it and fill up the space. As I worried about it, I realized I didn't even have time to make more pieces and have them cool so I decided to stick to my original plan, with only the three separate elements in addition to my rooster. It turned out to be the right decision. With just the addition of small pieces like rocks and grass, the entire piece came together and I was actually happy with it. Now I hope we can pull off the marketing showpiece!
ReplyDeleteToday, my group made pumpkin brioche for our practical. There was some doubt about the dough being overmixed, but the final product wasn't affected. I tasted the final product, and it had great texture and flavor. My group finished all our key components of our marking product. My group communicated well about what pieces we all were working on throughout the day. I am nervous about creating a olive oil bottle for our piece, so I am going to brainstorm tonight on the best way to execute that idea. I am excited to finally complete this marketing showpiece, cheers to day 9, let's do it!
ReplyDeleteAt least we have reached day 9. The feeling is bittersweet as we are only looking at assembling our marketing showpiece and that is it. Day 8 provided us with an opportunity to really figure out what we wanted to put on it. While the base pieces and the main structure were pretty strait forward, the little details seemed to evade me as the day went on. Making a donut truck turned out to be harder than I thought and once I had finally gotten it, it cracked, so much for that. As I tried to make a giant coffee cup, that wasn't working either. We didn't like the shape on the first one, and despite our efforts to grease the mould, the second one stuck and we ended up breaking it, not a good start. Hopefully tomorrow will be better and we can get everything together and make a beautiful showpiece!
ReplyDeleteToday was the first day of constructing our Final Marketing Showpiece. It was stressful because of the two day time period we have. We got most of our components made and baked, tomorrow we will finish it all. We also made the Chocolate Pumpkin Brioche today for our practical I think in general it came out very well only a slight error in the way we piped the chocolate glaze we could have been a bit neater and closer to the center. However, it came out well and tasted great! I know tomorrow is going to be stressful and nerve wracking, but I know my group will succeed. Hopefully with minimal obstacles in the way.
ReplyDeleteToday, our second to last day of decorative breads, we produced chocolate pumpkin brioche for our practical as well as did most of our decorative dead dough for our project. The base of our showpiece is to represent that of a brick wall/ brick oven. We cut individual little rectangles and laid it down on top of a precut back piece. We then used a damped cloth and lightly wiped the back. Afterward, we placed each individual piece of brick onto the back piece, then trimming the excess off. Different techniques were attempted to get the brick textured backing. One of them was using a brick mat used for fondant to achieve that. However the texture we wanted was not obtained from using that medium. Chef showed us to lightly brush some dark cocoa powder on the baked brick pattern to get a rusted sort of “used” look. Today class just went by so quickly. Now it’s just the anticipation of putting together the entire showpiece tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday I finished my rooster showpiece. I was very happy with it in the end but making all of the individual pieces for it was stressful. None of them were turning out the way I wanted them to. I am a perfectionist, like most of my peers. Since I've never worked with the medium before this lab it has been difficult forming what I imagine into the dough. I'm very pleased that my chef has let us take home dead dough and other tools so we can work on techniques and pieces for our showpieces. It took a lot of stress off me when assembling today. I finished my showpiece by 10:30 and of course I wished I did something different. But Chef Zelenski reminded me that I am my worst crtic, and even if you are upset with your final product never show that to others. I always forget that and I think it's very important for my peers to know that.
ReplyDeleteDay Two was rough my group was making focaccia and if you’ve ever made focaccia then you know that the dough is very wet and should have little structure to it. It wasn’t until the first fold that we realized there was a serious problem because there was no showing that a fermentation process was occurring. After investigating what the issue was my group realized it was a simple measuring mistake. Once we realized this chef helped us blindly fix our dough and we handled it from there. It just goes to show that even though you’ve made it many times before and you have been baking for a long time you are bound to make a mistake. You have to be open to discussion and open to ideas for solutions. I also recommend following his demos. He does them for a reason it’s so important. In the end our focaccia was fine, we know what we did wrong and now we know how to fix it. We finished on time and it was really delicious.
ReplyDeleteSunday me and another group member went in on Sunday to prep for Monday. We made a quadruple amount of the dough we knew we would need and prepped our preferment and toppings for our rum raisin brioche. It was a smooth and it took off a lot of stress knowing everything was prepped for our final showpiece and our practical. Tomorrow we start constructing our showpiece which should HOPEFULLY go well. We aren't expecting it to be too hard but we are perfectionists and like to consider each others opinions for all of the decisions we make so it may take longer than expected but it always helps if you have good communication.
ReplyDeleteI always try to do my best and when I can’t I learn from my mistakes. However when working in a group, I know I can be less forgiving. This morning my group member made a mistake and accidentally scaled too much water for our foccacia dough making it foccaia soup. I was furious, I’ll admit. It was such a simple error that should not happen. But we are only human and I couldn’t stay mad at my group member for that long. Chef Hitz, being out fearless and kind leader, took us under his wing and taught us everything that you shouldn’t do while making bread. He took the foccacia soup, placed it back on the mixer and began to add some salt, yeast and flour to make up for the very over hydrated dough. Thankfully, we were back on production schedule.
ReplyDeleteIn life, especially in a culinary atmosphere, you have to roll with the punches and learn to think on your feet. You can’t let one thing ruin your entire day or else you will just be miserable. All in all the foccacia ended up tasting delicious, and you could hardly tell that it had been soup earlier that morning. Learning to think on your feet is one of the most valuable things that you can learn. When Chef Hitz was presented with the bread soup debacle he didn’t hesitate and he just fixed it without a worry. Hopefully one day I can be the fixer of all bread problems. Culinary school has definitely taught me not to take anything too seriously and to just accept things as they come.
Stress and anxiety are things that go hand in hand in BPA 3010. Most of the time you are worrying about putting together a showpiece. (Which is the most nerve-wracking thing to do). Not that I don’t believe in how well I built my pieces or triangulation, but I’m always worried the thing is on its way down.
ReplyDeleteToday was the day we built our final rooster showpieces and it was crazy. I thought I wasn’t going to be done on time because I realized that I was missing a few support pieces and that I hadn’t really though about how I was going to glue this thing together. I kept running into the same problem of “this looks good here, but how do I get it to stay there?” I ended up having to break one of my extra poppy flower stems to use a support pieces to hold the other flowers in place.
As soon as I placed my tornado (my piece is Wizard of Oz themed) on my piece I realized that it was a bit of an eye sore. Now you may be thinking, “Melissa, how pretty can a tornado look?” but it was really throwing my showpiece off. I thought that if I could detach the tornado and shift it so it was more in the back it wouldn’t be so bad. One problem: the tornado wouldn’t detach. I called Chef Hitz over and he told her that there was no way that thing was coming off. But he told me to use some of the flowers and try to make the piece blend together more. This worked. The more flowers I added the better it looked and I was very happy with the final result of my showpiece. This was another lesson in learning to role with the punches and learn to make what you got look its best.
Whenever I have a bad pastry day I always have to remind myself that this is what I am supposed to be doing. I honestly couldn’t picture myself doing anything else. This program (P4) allows you to use the most technologically advanced baking technologies, equipment, and utensils in order to create amazing showpieces and other pastries and confections. If allows to push yourself to places that you never though were possible. The other day as I was called out to hear the critique on my rooster showpiece I was really nervous. Chef Hitz is a really strict guy and he doesn’t give you’re a good grade unless you truly earn it. Although I didn’t have anything to worry about I was still nervous walking out to the hallway. But to my surprise I received the best compliment I have ever gotten (food related) Chef Hitz told me that I was the type of person that he would hire. This meant the world to me because sometimes I find myself questioning why I chose to go t culinary school. I can’t forget my passion. We all should never forget our passion: what brought you’re here. I believe that pastry is art. While artists use paint and a canvas, pastry chefs make their plate a canvas. Being able to create beautiful desserts or showpieces that showcase your knowledge and talent gives one such a rush. This post is just to remind everyone to stay positive and never give up on your dream, because one day your dreams will become a reality.
ReplyDelete(:
DeleteToday was day 8. The atmosphere was weird.Our group had a lot to do today. We had to produce focaccia bread for our practical, make challah bread for our showpiece & also work on our marketing showpiece. Throughout the day time went by slow & time went by fast. It is time consuming & tedious working on the marketing showpiece because I want each element to be perfect.
ReplyDeleteOur focaccia bread turned out horrible. It was burned to black, it was drier than the desert & not the best. The tallest one out of the 3, had to be the plain one, the other 2 had to be roasted red peppers & cheese & the third one was caramelized onions with cheese. We would of avoided this, if we all knew it was in the oven & paying attention while doing other projects at the same time. It's not all about the showpiece but also the production of bread also.
Our challah came out pretty awesome. I am excited to place it on the showpiece. Tomorrow is going to be hell. People coming in at 5:30, others at 6:00. We need to finish our marketing showpiece as a group & also take the final exam.
There was so much detail & information in this class, I can't wait to use it in other classes & in life. Knowledge is power.
Our group came in on Sunday to get our Hot Cross buns and preferment made. We ended up having a lot of down time, and so worked on pieces for our showpiece. I spent a good amount of time making little buds for willow branches. The following day, I spent even more time making green for the buds. Another good chunk of time. Eventually the sheet pan with my willow buds, my partner's tulip buds, and a few other products made their way into the oven. My partner also spent a good amount of time on the tulip plants. The sheet tray did not find its way out of the oven until late in the day. We didn't realize where they even were at the end of the day until we thought to check the oven, where we found very brown pieces. I know I was crushed. Other group members volunteered to help remake items overnight so we could have new items for the final piece. The event was so stressful I ended up going home sick with a headache and needed to sleep it off. The lesson here is to make certain that none of your product gets left in the oven, and that it is good to have somebody in the group to maintain optimistic energy during a crisis.
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ReplyDeleteTuesday was the beginning of this class (decorative breads) I was a bit nervous for it because I heard "rumors" that this was one of the most difficult labs, especially considering I have not taken labs since Fall of 2013. I have never worked with dead dough or have made a bread showpiece, so I was also pretty excited. The first day was not bad but I realized how much bread knowledge from the past years I had forgotten. Once Chef started Demos much of the information was slowly coming back to me, but I knew I had a lot of studying to do that night. We did a bit of production the first day to prep us for a lot of production the second day. The first yeasted product we made was Rosemary Raisin Buns. The dough was good and the fermenting, proofing and shaping went well. As for baking it; we should have made them a bit lighter in color. We started the Miche showpiece first so we could work with partners and get a feel of the dead dough before diving into the individual rooster showpiece. Stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteToday was Day 3 and things seem to be running very smoothly. At first, I was nervous seeing that our class had the generous amount of 8 people but it seems to be working smoothly. Oven's aren't backed up, clean up is easy and dishes aren't a nightmare. On top of that, each of us gets more time with Chef Hitz and future instructors which will help build a better connection between staff and students in order for both of us to benefit and grow.
ReplyDeleteNow, onto production. Today, we made little Pain Rustique rolls and they turned out well. What our group needs to work on is learning how to control fermentation, size consistency and scoring. We had rolls of varying sizes and crumbs. In order to get a consistent product, we need to be more aware of how to care for our bread. Overall, I'm happy with the way the class is running.
Friday will be day 4 in class and it has been crazy to get back into the swing of labs. Day two was the first production day and the start of the miche showpiece. My group and I wanted to scale out for day 3 production but did not read the formula all the way through. We missed in the instructions that the mixing included an autolyse and we scaled the salt in with the flour, which you cannot do with an autolyse. From now on I consistently will read a formula thoroughly before scaling anything in class. This will prevent the wasting of ingredients and prevent extra time for scaling. Day 3 went more smoothly except for the fact that my partner and I forgot to set a timer on some of the miche components in the oven and they turned out a bit too dark and need to make new ones to keep with our theme of spring. Always set a timer even if you are sure your partner has set one as well as this will prevent burning or losing the desired color of a product. I feel much more confident going into day 4 and am hoping for a smooth production day. The first few days gave me an insight into how I need to use my time to complete the showpieces and other production items.
ReplyDeleteThis week is going by way too fast because, suddenly, it's Day 4 and our Miche Showpiece is done! With very minimal exceptions, I'm really happy with the way our first showpiece turned out. Certain things like tulip petals and a more organic flow would've made our piece better but I don't think it was that bad for a first try. As far as production outside of the showpiece, I made the mistake of adding the fat too soon to the Rum Raisin Brioche. The dough itself was very warm and it seemed to take a long while to ferment. The crumble also could have been more chunky as opposed to sandy. However, I'm glad I made these mistakes because now I'll never forget them. That's what learning is about, right? I'm excited to get started on my rooster.
ReplyDeleteOn Friday my group partner and i finished our first show piece, the miche. We picked a spring theme, but more specific a mothers day theme. We wanted to express this theme with a heart chocolate box, a banner, flowers, butterflies, and more hearts. We were pretty content with our first attempt at a bread show piece, but defiantly learned things through the process that will help us improve for our next show piece. Like how to hide the glue better, and make different textures. Chef gave us amazing feedback, that i will apply to my next show piece. This feedback included, how to make things more realistic. Such as for butterflies to marble the wings, and for flower to make sure you rub down the edges. Chef also gave us pointers on how to make things more fluid looking and not as angler. With these tips i have faith that i will be able to put together a better show piece, next time.
ReplyDeleteFriday my partner and I finished the Miche! It was a fun and knowledgeable experience! I am glad we chose to do the group project before our individual roosters. The Miche came out well considering it was our first time working with that medium. We learned that we need to scale main objects more accurately and have a 3rd main object so it does not look like you can cut the miche in half and have two separate stories. We had a good theme that flowed through the piece. Now as for the rooster I have everything planned out for that, and i have a general idea of how i want to lay it out. I am pretty excited about the rooster project mainly because I really like my theme I chose which is Harry Potter, It was so many iconic symbols that many people will understand. What i will need to focus on is making the piece not choppy with all the objects i want to include. It needs to go with the flow.
ReplyDeleteToday was day 6 and it was a bit crazy. Human error occurred while making the pumpkin brioche and they tasted bland. Everything was supposedly scaled correctly and somehow it did not turn out correctly. The decorative dough colors were running short today and I had to improvise on colors for the rooster showpiece. The color change on some of the main items has little to no impact on the final showpiece. The group I am in just needs to make more dough to complete our final marketing showpiece. What I can take away from this day was expect the unexpected and find every possible solution to when things happen. Using a different color for a barrel in my rooster piece does not matter to the over all showpiece but I need to think quicker on my feet for back up solutions to when issues arise in a kitchen and just to keep moving forward with production.
ReplyDeleteTuesday my group made Foccaica and it was interesting. Things were going good until we went to grab our foccaica out of the proof box to put in the oven. Apparently the tray, with the plain foccaica, was bumped and since the 1/2 sheet tray the dough was in was well oiled it slipped tight out of the pan and wrapped around the back of the proof box and partially cooked. When we rescued it from the the proof box we noticed that the heat started to cook some of the starch. We're shaped it to the pan and slowly spread it out all over again while (carefully) proofing it again in between. Once the dough raised to the lip of the tray again we put it in the oven. Through this process i also learned how to spread out the dough with out damaging it and the importance of putting the cheese on every exposed piece of dough. I definitely feel like next time we will be able to execute the foccacia much better.
ReplyDeleteAlright so I'm going to be posting in flashbacks. Tuesday we made pumpkin brioche. Somehow (human error of course) we scaled the salt wrong for the dough. We didn't notice too much at first. I thought the dough was a little tacky/sticky when we first started preshaping rounds but we didn't know until we saw it in the proof box. The final product tasted fine but ascetically our error was noticeable because the brioche didn't reach full volume/height. For the brioche we had to make several components: the chocolate glaze, the pastry cream, and the nut topping. It just goes to show that you need to pay good attention when scaling because you waste time and money just by messing up on one ingredient.
ReplyDeleteFlashback number 2: Day 7 Rooster Assembly proved to be interesting. I had several sketches of my final showpiece composition but after accidentally putting my rooster back too far on my base it would have helped to make a 3-d model to help make my life easier (and improve my composition). Also having a 3-d model might have made assembly a little easier (and me a little calmer) so maybe I wouldn't have put the triangle piece on my rooster backwards, which caused him to dangerously lean back too far. After finishing my piece I was trying to find away to fill all the empty space on my paint palette base since the rooster was placed back too far. A quick fix involved making paint splotches which added some much needed color and filled the space.
ReplyDeleteThis segment has flown by way too fast! Two days ago, we finally finished our rooster. After so much stress, I finally got mine done and was pretty happy with it and impressed with my own abilities. The rest of the class cranked out some pretty neat stuff as well. There were a few things to note that I wish I could've changed about my rooster: use a dough that doesn't have such coarse spice in it for flowers because there was a significant amount of cracking in my poppies, my top base was too flat and didn't have a good flow which caused my lombard street to have to jut out awkwardly, when using sharpie to write on the dough- be sure not to spray that area because the alcohol will evaporate off and cause smudging.
ReplyDeleteThere were also a few errors to note that happened with some of our products. Our pumpkin brioche turned out pretty flat and Chef came up with the conclusion that it might have been the salt content. If I had to guess, maybe the scale wasn't zeroed before scaling out the salt or maybe it was accidentally measured twice.
My group and I started our marketing showpiece. In the beginning, we didn't get much done but after delegating who was doing what we finally were able to crank out both the yeasted product and a decent amount of our showpiece elements. I think most groups in general just need to delegate and communicate better.
Overall, the class is going pretty well! If I could, I would tell whoever the top dog in charge is that smaller classes mean more success. Chef Hitz is able to give us all the attention we need and there isn't the added on stress of oven clash, piled up dishes or tool/ingredient hoarding.
Well it is now after day 8 and day 9 is Monday. This class has flown by so quickly and so much has been accomplished. It has been two days since I completed my rooster and it turned out better than I thought it was going to. The stencils I did at home were helpful and made going through making components so much quicker. I do wish I could have added some detail to the flatter pieces in my rooster showpiece. After putting it all together I realized that they stood out as a plain piece while everything else had texture and flow to the piece. It has been interesting to see the rooster come together and to know that I did it all alone.
ReplyDeleteThe marketing showpiece will be the last thing we do in this class and my group and I have really been able to go through and make so many piece already because we have been good at communication and delegation. Those two things are keep to get a group moving together and to finish on time.
I cant believe we've already started our marketing showpiece. Friday was day 8 and we finished everything we wanted and more. We cut and half baked all the swirls, the 3 bases, the extra swirls, the cross, the crown and Spain. Our group is still going in on Sunday, from 3-6 pm, to finish more details. We hope that coming in on Sunday, for the extra 3 hours, will destress our day on Monday. On Sunday we hope to finish the bases and put the mosaic on them. As well as finish the crown, and the swirl with the dress. On top of those big things start little details like the anise seed flowers. This will allow us to focus on gluing, the fan and vines on Monday. Since my group has made a game plan for each day, and doesn't mind coming in at 5 am (if that what it takes ) i feel pretty confident with our marketing show piece. We just need to make sure we keep a good line of communication among each other and delegate favoring each others strengths.
ReplyDeleteSo on Day 2, my group was producing Rum Raisin Brioche. When we were mixing the dough everything seemed fine. The dough was mixed correctly and had the correct gluten window forming. As we placed the dough into the proof box, I had placed the bin of dough on the bottom of the proof box. Later on Chef Hitz had realized that we had the dough on the bottom of the proof box. He then took us over to the outside window and told us to put our arm on the window The window was cold where our arm touched but the other part of our arm was a s warm as the room. This is what happens when the bin was on the bottom of the proof box. The air cannot circulate the bottom of the dough, thus causing the top of the dough to become proofed and warm, while the bottom was colder.
ReplyDeleteThis taught me to ensure the proper proofing of any dough, you need to have the proper circulation of the warm air.
Over the next couple days it became a little stressful, Rolling out all of the dead dough and cutting all the miche pieces out. Shaping the dough and baking it was tedious and interesting. It was my first time creating a showpiece like this. It was a little nervous when gluing it all together. Making sure each piece fit together perfectly. Once the miche was finished I was so proud that it came out the way me and my partner (Kendall) wanted it to come out. During this time we made baguettes. everything was fine with the dough. We came into problems when we were final shaping them and scoring them. When scoring them you need to go in at an angle to the side and an angle up so that you slice the dough sideways and into the dough to ensure proper rising in the dough. To practice scoring you could easily use a pen and paper or write on a dry erase board.
ReplyDeleteOn Day 6, My group was producing Foccacia. the day was fine and we had the dough correctly and while it was proofing we came into an issue. One of the doughs fell into the back of the roof box. We had to them reshape this dough and proof it again. That was not the issue. the issue came when we had to place the cheese on top of the dough. When placing the cheese on the dough we did not put it all the way to the edge. This made the edges of the bread become dark and almost burnt. Chef Hitz then explained to us that we had to or else the dough would burn. The other main point was made that if we are selling this the person would get all the good stuff if they got a middle piece. If you got an edge piece it would be more of a pizza then a foccacia.
ReplyDeleteSince day 9 is tomorrow I'm going to talk about our group marketing project. We built our first model a week ago and kept making corrections and updates day to day. So far we have baked all of our bases and some other components but we have yet to attempt making our yeasted product (pretzels). Since we're going in today to work I feel confident that we will be able to get far enough ahead that we will have enough time to tackle any obstacles that pop up tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWhen I found out I had this lab first I was both nervous and excited. The best thing about this course is that not only is it an even playing field among the other students in the class but I can test myself with something I have never tried before. I am very grateful we did the miche showpiece first because it brings up the different obstacles that you need to think about when making a show piece. When making a show piece color is very important. When picking out your colors for your decorations you need to watch out for making it too boring by keeping the colors all the same. But also you need to watch out for making your colors too bright and un-natural because they could easily become cartoonish. Also another problem we ran into is our bread was not baked until after we started making our decorations. We struggled with the size of our decorations. Some were larger than others and although we had a rough idea of what size the bread should be we were still hesitant. Thankfully we were able to play with placement of our decorations and chef had told us that we could make our bread flatter and wider rather than taller so that we could fit our decorations on less awkwardly. After finishing the miche show piece, I was beyond proud of my partner and me. I am very critical of my work and although I could name things I would have done differently or should have done, for our first show piece we surprised ourselves.
ReplyDeleteShow piece number two is complete. Having no partner for this show piece tested me and I thought this rooster was going to be the death of me. This was a little different than the miche where you could talk about placement and you had a partner to shut you down if an idea didn’t work. Although I had a sketch and placement was decided ahead of time I think that the only way to make a perfect showpiece is through learning and experience. No matter how many times you stare at something you will not know how it will look until your show piece is fully complete. After finishing the rooster I can look back and learn how to fix my errors in the future. It is critical to have flow. Sometimes it is better to keep it simple and go back and add more later if you think it is too simple. Although it is important to tell a story sometimes it is good to have subtle hints rather than it being directly in your face. And lastly I learned that it is possible to make a stable product without loading it up with glue. Although sometimes it feels safe you need to trust that your dough was made, baked, and handled with enough care that it will be strong by itself. After everything is said and done. I am content with how my rooster showpiece turned out. I trusted myself that I could create something appealing to the eye. I am excited to see how my marketing project turns out having two bread pieces down and one to go.
ReplyDeleteNot having labs for a year really throws you off. Although I work in the industry its nothing compared to a JWU lab. Throughout the week a few technical fouls occurred. Simple bread 101 skills that we should know. First mistake, we made the rum raisin brioche, and everything was going great… until we realized our brioche was not moving. Of course being concerned we asked chef Hitz and he made us put our arms on the window. Very confused we all did as we were told. Thankfully he reminded us kindly that our brioche will not proof if it is flat on the bottom of the proofer. I will never make this mistake again. Mistake number 2 focaccia. If you have ever made focaccia you know how oily the process can be. Somehow while our bread was in the proofer resting it wound up out of the pan and attached to the fan in the back of the proofer. Not really sure what to do we scrapped it out and put it back in the pan. We were all very confused as to how this happened even chef but he told us to go with it. We started the proofing process over again and to our surprise it came back to life. It rose the amount we wanted and surprisingly looked the best out of all three. Remember to keep an eye out for not only your product but other groups products too. Mistakes happen and it is better to fix them when they first occur rather than later. Lastly, Baguette cuts. Two things matter when making baguettes. How when you prepare the dough and take care of it and looks. Appearance is everything when it comes to baking. Cuts more specifically. We did not make that great of cuts and we should have practiced. Next time I will practice using pen and paper or on the board.
ReplyDeleteTomorrow is the last day of this lab, And time flew by!! The whole 9 days were full of production and construction, there was never down time and we even had to meet outside of class multiple times to feel on track or ahead of the game, I finished then rooter on wednesday. I was rather proud of it, but i learned that i need to pay more attention to detail of the objects on the showpiece. Though I had good composition ( placement of the pieces on the showpiece. We are starting and finishing the construction of the marketing project. We have almost all of the pieces made and ready, but it is still rather nerve racking.
ReplyDeleteLab Day 2
ReplyDeleteToday in class my group made focaccia. Something that we have all made before but this time was different. We made the preferment the day before, coming into class this morning our preferment had barely any movement. There could have been a couple of reasons why, one we didn’t scale correctly and there wasn’t enough yeast or not enough flour. Two the water we used to make the preferment was to cold and stunned the yeast allowing the dough not to ferment, you should always use room temperature water. Three we used the wrong flour, like pastry flour that has a low percentage of gluten proteins. In breads we always use bread flour because of its high percentage of gluten proteins. And four something got into our yeast and deactivated it, something like salt that kills yeast. We allowed our preferment to sit in a hot water bath for about an hour before we mixed, to speed up the fermentation process. While mixing we bumped up the hydration and during bulk fermentation we kept it in the proof box to further help fermentation. But this dough was not budging. When 3 hours was up and we had to divide chef made a courageous decision to place the entire amount of dough into a large sheet pan and bake as is. As we baked it started to look like the focaccia we know and love. But once we added the toppings and took it out it collapsed in the center and had a cakey like texture. This is were we though we might have used pastry flour instead of bread flour in the formula. One learns more from their failures than their success. And I sure learned a lot today. Making this a lesson to learn from in the future.
Today was Day 2 and it was not as hectic as I thought it would be. I was worried that it would be chaotic and confusing but that was not the case. Our team started mixing the raisin sun bread dough right away, which went well overall. There were a few mistakes. We forgot to incorporate the pine nuts in the dough. Instead, we combined the pine nuts and rosemary crumble together. We also struggled with our preshaping; the membrane of the shape was not as tight as it needed to be. Chef Hitz showed us how to improve our preshaping methods. The final product was delicious and a fairly sweet bread. If we make this bread for the practical, we were advised to watch our baking color. It was just slightly on the darker side. We also made our miche for our sculpture. It turned out well. In between making both breads, my partner Holly and I worked on pieces for our miche sculpture. Our theme is the fall season, so we made pumpkins, leaves, corn, and hay bales. We accomplished a lot of work today and should hopefully be finishing our sculpture on Day 3. Overall, I thought it was a very productive day and I hope each day continues to be the same!
ReplyDeleteEliana Aponte- Day 2
ReplyDeleteToday was the first day of real production in class. Chef Hitz had told us that day two was going to be hard, and that it was. This class started quickly, on day one we leaned about the class and how the following days will go, as well as had a lot of demo time. We then got a schedule of what sculptures we were to work on first, and my groups was the rooster. In an effort to make class easier the next day I did as much research as possible, which included the hardest part, picking a theme. I go into class with my ideas thinking today will be a good day. Although, after the first hour of class that quickly changed. On top of the sculpture work, we also have daily production. The item of the day was pain rustique. This formula required that you scale the salt and yeast separately as well as only a .5 batch. Fortunately we scaled the proper items separately, but we did not do a .5 batch to all items. The poolish was scaled as a .5 batch, while the final dough ingredients were scaled to a full batch. Since a poolish needs to sit and ferment over night, we could not just the missing half in. As a result we had to do a completely different process. The one good thing is that the error did teach our group a lot of lessons. The first being that communication is key, talking to your partners through every step, even scaling is very important. The other lesson is the importance of scaling. Bread is usually a several day process and messing up at the beginning could affect days later. The final being problem solving. We faced an issue, and with Chef Hitz’s help, we tried to turn out usable product, since it was needed for dining room. In the end the formula was changed, and we don’t know how we did it, but our rolls came out tasting and looking good.
Lab Day 2
ReplyDeleteAlthough day one was overwhelming, production started off smoothly. Since my team was chosen to go first for our rooster we decided to start off our morning with mixing the dead dough. As I researched ideas for my showpiece, I found picking a theme was challenging. In order to make production run smoothly and maximize productivity, my advice would be to pre sketch your design and do extensive research on your theme. On day one my group scaled out Pain Rustique and the pooish for day two. We also scaled out the yeast and the salt for a half a batch since it was an autolyse mixing method. Unfortunately while we were mixing we found the dry ingredients were scaled for a full batch. This was a problem because our poolish was scaled for a half a batch. By this point when we mixed the process for this dough was completely different. From this careless mistake we learned that communication is a large aspect of group work. With the help of Chef Hitz we worked together to find a solution and save our dough.
I was nervous to start decorative breads because I've only worked with dead dough twice before this class and that was quite some time ago. Day 1 was mostly just demo so I didn't feel like we had actually started yet, but we were able to work on our first showpiece on day 2, and it wasn't as stressful as I'd expected it would be. Like a lot of students, deciding on a theme and design was the hardest part, not the actual production. Alexa and I decided to go with a spring theme for the miche project and we each came up with ideas at home and shared them in class to agree on a design. We made various spring themed items like blossoms, ladybugs, birds, and bees to assemble on day 3. I think we should have decided on one object to focus on though because I'm still not sure how everything would come together on the miche, since we have so many ideas but no definite way to harmonize everything. Making all the components were fun though, because I'm a huge fan of arts and crafts and I love to make things with my hands. I felt like I was just playing with the dough instead of stressing about how it's going to turn out in the end. In addition to the miche project, our group also had the rosemary raisin sun breads to make. We were a little stressed out in the beginning because we couldn't find our toasted pine nuts and chopped rosemary that we had prepared in day 1, but after we scaled out new rosemary and mixed the dough without the pine nuts, we found both of our original ingredients in a different place than we stored it the day before. It turned out fine though because we gave our original rosemary to group 2 so they could use it, and we mixed the pine nuts in the streusel so it was still included in the product. Another problem was the proof box. Our dough had a lot of butter in it so it had the risk of melting in the proof box because it stayed at 90 degrees even though it was set to 75F. We figured out later that the upper right proof box had a problem and wouldn't cool down properly, so we moved them all to the lower proof box and they turned out pretty nice. Day 2 production was overall nice and relaxing for our group without any major issues and I can't wait to put our miche showpiece together on day 3 because I think we have some pretty good ideas; we just have to figure out how to organize it.
ReplyDeleteLab Day 3
ReplyDeleteProduction in lab today was Pain Rustique. They turned out good, great crumb and good color. But the dividing stage got us. Next time we have to cut them much smaller, they are designed to be small dinner rolls not sandwich rolls. Chef explained that if we served them at a restaurant: 1. The restaurant would be losing money because the big ones were basically the size of two. 2. With big loafs the server would have to cut for every table they serve. A busy restaurant doesn’t have time for that and if you cut in advance the bread will get crusty and hard. 3. If people have too much to eat they won’t order dessert, and as pastry chefs we don’t want that. These rolls are just meant for snacking to get the taste buds going, three or four bites max.
Day 3 was a busy but an accomplishing day. Today our group had to make Pain Rustique. The bread turned out well with a nice color, but we had an issue of having a variety of sizes and no consistency. Chef told our group that we need to be careful while dividing and make sure each piece is the same size. There was also an issue with the crumb structure in some of the loaves that could have resulted from over mixing. Holly and I finished our miche sculpture today too! We were so happy with the way it turned out. Tomorrow we begin our rooster, and I am a little nervous. I have my idea set but I hope the execution goes as well as the miche sculpture did. I'm also a little nervous for tomorrow because we have to make baguettes and pumpkin brioche, so we have to manage our time wisely. I hope we can accomplish everything and still have plenty of time to work on our roosters.
ReplyDeleteLab day 4
ReplyDeleteToday we finished our chicken showpieces. Mine is coming together but I had to take some stuff home to work on. There is a lot going on in class to try to get everything done there. In this class you have to be on your game, ready to tackle the day and whatever it throws at you. I would write a production schedule for every day. And you always have to be one day ahead. Making sure preferment’s our made and dead dough syrup. You have to have your stuff together and stay organized. Also plan on coming in early, you might hate the idea of it now but once you get in the class you’ll be bagging for more time. 7 hours isn’t enough. One suggestion I have regarding the chicken sculpture is make sure you don’t over bake! Baking to long makes your piece brittle and weak. I can’t stress this enough. You spend so much time working on each piece don’t waist it by baking it to long and having that piece go to waste. Rule of thumb its always better to under bake than over bake, you can always put it in for longer.
So far in this class things have been a bit rocky. There hasn't seemed to be enough communication or actual teamwork within my group. We have had one too many mistakes happen, the aggravating part is that they are the simplest mistakes that could of been avoided so very easily. I know I can not say that I am not to blame just as much as my other three group members but it is no less frustrating. So far we have had to make three products and we have only gotten to make 2, which one of them wasn't even made correctly because it was one of our screw-ups. The one product we did actually make with no fuss were our Baguettes. Other than needing some more scoring practice and some proofing errors they came out fairly well. For our individual Rooster show pieces, for me everything went fine. I got all my pieces done and ready to be put together the day before and finished the piece with a couple of hours to spare. I am happy with the piece but of course I will admit to the errors that came up, after all nothing is perfect. Chef gave some much needed and sensible critique. I really needed some more texture and 3-dimensional appearance on the piece. It came out more flat looking, like Chef said it looked a bit "Cartoonish". Of course I know it had it's flaws but luckily I have now made these mistakes and I know what I should and shouldn't do. Clearly, I need to have a discussion with my group members about better communication and team work so we can have smooth sailing from here on out with our production. For the showpieces I now know to create depth, texture, and 3D aspects of things. With all of the slight chaos that has happened I can't say that I haven't learned from it and am ready to move on and work towards a better rest of this segment.
ReplyDeleteDay 4 went smoother than I thought. My group had to make baguettes and chocolate pumpkin brioche, as well as start on the decoration pieces for my rooster. This class doesn't have to be stressful with the proper preparation. Doing the research definitely helped with the miche showpiece. My partner and I both came up with a theme and did our own research. We then designed the showpiece and knew exactly where to put everything and how we wanted the final product to look. One critique about our miche is that we really don't have a focal point. We have many details that keeps the eye busy, but lacking the center point. Hopefully I can take that critique and use it to my advantage for the rooster showpiece. My group and I are meeting at the library to come up with the design and discuss everything that we want to put on it. If everything is properly planned, putting together the showpieces should be the easy part. The only trouble with day 4 was trying to clean up because people were still finishing their roosters while others were trying to get the kitchen cleaned. I'm hoping this week's clean up process won't be as stressful.
ReplyDeleteDay 4 my group and I made pumpkin brioche and baguettes, along with working on our roosters. At times it was hard having to jump back into production while I was working on pieces for my rooster.I would get in the work zone and suddenly would have to stop to take care of our production. Everything came out really good. The pumpkin brioche is so far my favorite thing we have made. It is very flavorful and the pumpkin pastry cream is delicious! Really hope my group can make these again for practical. Our baguettes came out pretty well too. The only thing we need to watch out for is making each baguette identical in length. There were a few that were too long. But our scoring and coloring on the baguettes were good. Next week is going to be a lot more hectic. We have our rooster to finish, production, and our group showpiece to work on. My group and I are meeting up today to put together our model and come up with a clear idea of what we want to build. I'm really excited to see our ideas come together to create a showpiece!
ReplyDeleteOn working with partners on a group showpiece...
ReplyDeleteIn my Decorative Breads class I am both privileged and handicapped by being in a group of three; or at least people could say our group is handicapped.
I suppose we are handicapped because we are three people doing the work of four people when it comes to production. As for our decorative work, we were privileged enough to be able to work on our miche decorative bread as a group instead of pairs. That meant we had an extra set of hands to do more work. As a result, we were able to split up the work and mass produce all the decorations we wanted to put on our final product.
One of the things that I learned was that communication is definitely key when working with other people. It's not that we have had any disagreements or anything, but without clear and open communication, we probably could have. By communicating we were able to divide the work (both decorative and production wise) and put together out edible products and our decorative products with little problems.
When we assembled our miche on day three, even though we started when we only had 45 minutes before clean up, we were able to put together a cohesive and impressive piece. We talked to each other; giving options, opinions, and even helpful criticism to help in putting all the pieces into place. We worked as a team effectively and efficiently, and were able to finish our piece a half day ahead of schedule (given that we were allowed to work into day four if needed).
This communication is important because our final project is another group piece. We have only started on the design phase, but once again, communication is key. With three minds that are all full of ideas, it is important for us to express our ideas and opinions to each other so we can accomplish what is bound to be a monumental feat. It is even more important when we are also working with three separate schedules that aren't aligning as ideally as we would like.
I am realizing and reflecting a lot on the human aspect of this class. Because the formula and procedure for the breads we make and artistic aspects can be spot on, but it would be human error that alters the final result. To reduce any of that hypothetical error, clear and open communication is the key. I am thankful and less worried about the days ahead knowing that my group has good communication already.
Melissa G.
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ReplyDeleteHi everyone!
ReplyDeleteSo I can truly say that this lab, even with all its challenges of being something I have never done, is one of my favorites. I am a decorator at heart so being able to work with new product for decoration may be the highlight of my tri. However I can say that there is still frustrations with the lab, mainly trying to keep track of the product that is being made as well as working on the showpieces. When the showpiece is in its beginning stages it was not so hard however on assembly day things became a bit more difficult. Once you have your showpieces started and you stand the rooster up you simply do not want to leave it, its scary walking away from something when you are not 100% sure that it will not fall down when you move. Also the time constraints on it make you more nervous as well, assembly day was defiantly a bit overwhelming for me. The best part though was once my rooster was standing! I had such an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment once I was done and my showpiece reflected what I envision in the beginning and this makes me look forward to the remaining parts of this lab.
Day 4 gave our group a chance to stay a little ahead on our rooster project because we were done with our miches by day 3. We were able to work on some details for the rooster showpiece so that we could build our bases on day 5 and we could have some of the small pieces already done and ready to attach. This worked out for me because I have a lot of time consuming little parts that I need to do. I have lots of roses and peacock feathers to make so I need all the time I can get. I think I should have considered more about the time limit on the project though because I knew that we only have 2-3 days for this and I also knew that roses would take a while to make. I'm not quite sure if the peacock feathers would be able to stick stably on the rooster tail because each feather would be supporting the weight of all the other feathers below it. I've seen cakes done in a similar way though so I have some confidence that the idea would work. I think I will keep stability in mind though for the next project because if this idea doesn't work then I would have to experiment with other methods to see what works and that would just make it more stressful than it needs to be.
ReplyDeleteDay 5 was very successful in my opinion. My group was able to make foccacia, mise en place for tomorrow's production, which is rum raisin brioche, and make a lot of components for the rooster. Our foccacia came out nice. The onion one came out the best, it was nice and full and baked well. The roasted red pepper one was not as full as the onion but still looked good. The plain foccacia was the weakest one because it didn't have much volume to it so it looked sad. It's best to have the plain foccacia the fullest since the toppings on the other two will hide the lack of volume. I'm pleased with my decorations for the rooster, however the rooster itself bubbled and made it a little deformed. It's not that noticeable so I should be able to hide it with decorations. So far this week started off well, I'm hoping it doesn't get too chaotic by the end of the week.
ReplyDeleteDay 6 was a little nerve racking because I had to assemble my rooster showpiece. I had everything ready and only had to bake one sheet pan of items. When it came to gluing it together, everything was solid and sturdy when I started. Once I finished gluing, I noticed the rooster was leaning to one side and the base was a little flimsy. The humidity in the air made the baked pieces soft, but it wasn't like that before I started so there was nothing I could do except support the top as much as I could. The main reason that the rooster was leaning was because the marks I made on the base were weak points and the humidity plus pressure made them sink, taking the rooster with it. As of right now it's still standing, but I won't be surprised if I walk in tomorrow and it collapsed. This is a learning experience I can use towards the marketing showpiece so I won't make the same mistakes again. Although it probably won't make it, I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I could have made the column a little shorter and the decorations smaller, but I did what I could with what I have and I think it looks pretty good. My group also made rum raisin brioche today and it turned out well so far. We didn't have any issues with mixing, proofing, or baking. All we have to do tomorrow is finish it up with some powdered sugar and cut it to serve.
ReplyDeleteDay 7 was a day to practice one of the breads that we made as a group during day 1 through day 6. We chose to do the pain rustique because when we did it the last time, we over mixed it slightly and the sizes were pretty inconsistent. It was hard to make it all the same because there isn't a specific measurement, and each person might flatten the dough out more or less and they might have different finger sizes, etc. There’s also no specific time for the mixing, and the formula tells you to mix on second speed until the gluten is developed, so that was a variable as well. I think it turned out better today though, because we did it once and we knew what to watch out for. Other than production, we had our group marketing projects to work on, but we couldn’t start it until we got the model approved by chef so we spend a while trying to improve the paper model. One thing we had to work on was trying to transform the basic structure into something else, instead of just decorating it. We also tried to add more dimension to the showpiece by staggering buildings instead of just putting them in the background and building a bridge that connects the three layers of the structure. We were able to make improvements and start working on the little pieces, so I think today was overall a productive day.
ReplyDeleteToday our group finished our Miche project. Once it was finished we realized that we maybe should have stuck more to our season of choice. Our season was spring and we had sunflowers and lavender on it which are technically summer flowers. Overall we are proud of how the Miche turned out. We also mixed, shaped and baked our bread of choice for the day which was focaccia. Previously when we had tried to make focaccia the preferment was not working, we think it may have been miscaled but are unsure. Although, today our focaccia turned out great with a very nice open texture and flavor profile. We also started making components for our group showpiece and made the sweet dough for our Bienenstich.
ReplyDeleteThe day of the rooster project I was pretty stressed. It took me a while to regain confidence until I realized that I had the components I wanted to include under control. After that I was ready to assemble with plenty of time to spare. Once my rooster was finished I was relieved but at the same time pretty proud. It wasn't perfect but it pushed me to go out of my comfort zone. There were a decent amount things that I wished I could redo on my piece given more time. I needed more detail work to fill up a lot of empty space that I had. I also needed to pick a more specific story line. My theme was pretty broad which made it a little difficult to follow. Overall I think it was a great learning experience.
ReplyDeleteDay 1 was a lot of information to take in but had a lot of tips that would be a key to making successful showpieces. Once we were shown several demos on how to mix, cut, shape, bake pieces of dead dough we mixed our own doughs by hand. After that Chef continued to make his showpiece. He took his baked pieces and showed us how to assemble the piece in the best way possible. We talked about the requirements needed for each of the 3 showpieces. I feel like I was properly prepared to start brainstorming and sketching out ideas.
ReplyDeleteDead Dough and Rain // Humidity
ReplyDeleteSo, in the past couple of days, my group has moved onto our individual rooster showpieces. The making and baking of the pieces seemed to go pretty well, that was until a fog rolled in one morning and it was raining the next. While the culinary building is fairly climate controlled, it was still very humid in the room. Seeing as the dead dough is made of rye and buckwheat flours and syrup, it absorbs a lot of water from anywhere, including the air. It is the sugar (a hydroscopic material) that draws the water in. This is good for tradition baking or cooking so food is moist and succulent, but when we are trying to make structually sound pieces... not so much. The best way for us to get around that was to rebake pieces (especially anything structural) again before the final assembly. It seemed to go well, even though I feel as though I rebaked things the same amount of time today as I did yesterday to make sure it was solid and firm. Unfortunately, that meant a lot of the bright colors were lost because of the second bake. However, loss of color is a small sacrifice to make sure the piece stood.
Another thing that seemed to be happening from the humidity is that some of the previously assembled are starting to come apart. Originally we thought it was from painted pieces (whether it was coffee extract or other food coloring), but I am wondering that since the pieces are obviously not shellacked where they are connect with glue the pieces are absorbing water through those critical points and falling apart. It does make sense. I also wonder if pieces could be individually shellacked before assembly if a longer lasting product was desired. Of course, it is bread - a food product, and as such isn't supposed to last forever, even decorative.
I am only hoping it doesn't interfere with our final product considering its supposed to continue to rain through the next few days.
Melissa
Day 7: Today was a learning lesson as usual. After going through the rooster project we started to figure out how long things would take, and I quickly realized we would not have enough time. We had to redo the final project, make and assemble miche project, and get daily production done. Since we had errors the week before we needed to redo items and that resulted in a production overload. The miche was put aside because products are more important, but this was something that we knew would be hard to bounce back from. There was also the issue with our final showpiece. We had drifted away from the theme and forgot that we are trying to sell our bread not the flour in it. The result was completely redoing the idea, which happened two days ago. Then yesterday we needed to work out the big pieces, which still needed major changes. By the end of the night we had a completely different piece then what we started with. With everything coming all at once it was hard to get through this week. Although, this is making us more focused on the tasks at hand. Today we figured out every color and most details of our final project. We also are ready for our final production item, which is pumpkin brioche. In the end it showed me how things will have a chain reaction and once you fall behind it is hard to catch up. Also, being able to start something completely over for a better result is not easy, but smarter.
ReplyDeleteDay7
ReplyDeleteToday my partner and I finished our Miche project. My partner and I did not really have enough time to put all the decoration on our showpiece we wanted to put on. We realized that the few times my group had messed up making our bread it took a lot of time making it the next day. That meant we had less time to work on our showpieces. Also our group was behind on our group final project because we didn’t have our model ready until mid class today. So while everyone else was working on their group project, my group had to still figure out minor changes on our model. We also had to make two breads today since we messed up on day two and that took up a decent amount of time as well. This week was really stressful since my group was always behind everyone else. I learned that for this class you never want to be behind and always try to avoid making minor mistakes.
This class by far has been one of the more challenging classes. I do however like it a lot. Being able to have creative freedom on the show pieces while staying within the guide lines is great. It can get frustrating at times. It is a bit hard to focus on working on your showpiece while also doing production. Timers are a great asset. Our group has had a couple of mishaps on production but we get better everyday.
ReplyDeleteAs this class went one I felt that it went a lot smoother. Making the rooster while doing production I found to be the most stressful time during class. I love how my rooster came out. I had a vision and it came out better than it. I understood the comments Chef made about it and worked on applying his comments to the miche and the marketing project. Our miche came out great. It went a lot smoother than the rooster. We choose to do a fall theme for it. We made owls that had scarves and hats. It was super cute. For our marketing project we made a list of everything that needed to be done and who was to do what. It made the past two days a lot easier and we were able to get everything made or prepped to put together on Monday. I have learned that planning ahead is best for this class. Always plan to be ahead because you never want to get behind.
ReplyDeleteFor our practical we are doing Rum Raisin Broiche. I am happy and sad at the same time about the product. I wish we were able to do the pumpkin brioche. The first we made this it did not go all that well. We had a few mishaps with it and it was not to the best of our capabilities. This time it has gone a lot smoother and so far the mishaps we had the first time have not happened. We finish it on Monday so hopefully it comes out perfect.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes down to assembling any piece you have to have great mise en place and origination it helps reduce the anxiety. I found that having a sheet pan right under you with all your components that you have so that everything is right in front of you. That way you won't forget a component or waste time running around looking for your pieces. It can be very stressful but remember just breath, its going to be ok!
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