Advanced Baking

I didn't take as many pictures in advanced baking. I don't know what I was thinking. I learned how to make croissants, danishes, puff pastry, ice cream and sorbet, gourmet chocolates, petit fours (which is pretty much any dessert, but bite size), pulled sugar, and plated desserts, where every dessert was comprised of 10 elements on the plate. Here are a few pictures. I probably don't have any pictures of the danishes because they never lasted long enough for me to get my camera out. Just ask Julia or Jamie. They can tell you how those babies last before being consumed! Here are a few highlights from the things I learned.

Danish dough, croissants, etc. are considered rolled-in dough because you create a block of dough and a block of butter and roll and fold, roll and fold, to create the fluffy, airy layers when baked. The butter and dough have to be the same consistency or you will ruin it. Hence, you probably don't remember waking up much to your mother making danishes from scratch. However, the dough freezes really well so it's my lofty goal to make some and freeze them so I CAN have fresh croissants or danishes anytime I want. Yeah, I'm sure I'll make them at home, since I'm so good and updating my blog!

Pulling sugar burns your fingers. Just try to pull and shape sugar by hand over 300 degrees without burning yourself.

I need to invest in a $7000 ice cream machine. Rock salt just doesn't cut it!

When you make graham cracker crust in advanced baking you first have to make graham crackers from scratch! The recipe is actually quite simple and really delicious! It was sad to have to crumble it right after I made it.

The orange macarons are not hamburgers. I just didn't think ahead as to how they might look. And yes, I meant macarons, not macaroons. Macaroons are typically a coconut cookie while macarons are almond-based.



All in all, advanced baking was a fun challenge for me. I really enjoyed it and will always value the experience it gave me.