Practically Speaking

Day 9... the last day of this class, final exam day, and the day we have the second part of our practical.

Today started with the written exam... I'm honestly not sure how well I did at all. I studied and knew what I needed to know, but once again got tripped up by how Chef asks the questions. I shall have to wait and see to find out what my grade is.

For the second half of our practical we had to make three things... all things that we have made in the past. Challah bread, a 4 strand low braid and a 5 strand high braid, as well as a bit of pastry cream.

The measuring went well except in a fit of lunacy I managed to scale the flour to the weight that the water should be and leave the water out of the dough. Thankfully my tablemate noticed and we were able to fix it very quickly and without any damage to the dough. Braiding the dough ended up being far easier that it was when we did it in class. I don't know if it was because I wasn't over thinking every step or because my practice with string all weekend had paid off!

After tucking the bread in the proofing box I used my spare time to tidy my workstation (a key part of working in a kitchen) and make my pastry cream. I remembered the instructions that Chef had given me when I made the cream for the chocolate pie, and tried not to make the same mistakes again.

My challah bread went from the proof box to the oven with a minimum of fuss and all that was left was to stand by the door of the oven and peek in the window and watch to make sure that the bread only turned a medium golden brown and didn't over brown. Whipping the bread out that the right moment is all in the looks... one second the bread is a pale dough color and the next it is a dark dark brown. Sadly the color needed is a pretty medium golden brown with shine from the egg wash.

With my bread out and the right color all that was left was to gather the two loaves and the pastry cream and place it on a tray to take to Chef for his critique. This is always a tense time, he is looking for perfection and I did know that there were a few flaws, but nothing that I could correct in the moment. His comments were that the bread was correct and could be sold, but that there were itty bitty lumps of starch in my pastry cream. That said I did pass my practical!

Next up... Soups, Stocks, and Sauces!