Some new choux

It has been way to long since my last post. Never planned on taking a long break like this. It has been a busy time, both personally and professionally. Unfortunately something had to be put on the back burner, and this was it.

Since my last post I competed in Lyon in The Coupe du Monde (4th place) and Dubai in the World Hospitality Championship ( 2nd place and gold medal). We completed a photo shoot for the 300 pictures that will go in my text book, The Advanced Art of Baking and Pastry. All of my writing energy was focused into completing the manuscript for the book.

Most recently I was one of four candidates taking the CMPC exam in August. Taking the exam challenged me to take on tasks I had not done before. It is always good to challenge yourself. At the end of the exam there were no new Certified Master Pastry Chefs. However, preparing for the exam and taking the exam has inspired me to keep pushing and sharing. 

I have seen pictures of pate a choux that looked like it was baked in a mold. Over a year ago I started playing around with this. The first attempt led me to use a stainless steel mold. At first I didn't think this would work. Would there be enough heat to create a cavity? Would enough moisture escape from the mold to properly dry the choux? Using the mold I was able to confirm the choux would puff, but not enough moisture was escaping. All that was left in the end was a collapsed gummy dough. The testing of the molded pate a choux was put on hold so I could focus on other projects.

Learn what you can from the first test and move onto the second. I needed a way to let the moisture escape. Looking back through the images I found, it became clear that the choux had a texture. Very similar to the texture of a silpan. I cut a strip of silpain to line the mold and it worked, all that was left was to determine the baking time and temperature. This will vary with every oven and a little trial and error will need to be conducted in your oven. 

Pate a Choux

225 gr              Milk

25 gr                Cream

125 gr              Butter

5 gr                  Sugar

1.5gr                Salt

65 gr                AP flour

65 gr                Bread flour

250 gr              Eggs

Method:

Boil; milk, cream, sugar, salt and butter

Sift flours, add off the stove

Cook on low heat

Transfer to a mixer, cool a little

Gradually add eggs

Pipe into mold

 Bake at 300-320 F Convection

Trim the silpain to fit the ring, a slight overlap is OK. 

Too much and the choux will not bake in this spot.

Place the lined rings onto a flat sheet pan lined with a silpain.

Fill the mold about 1/2 way. 

Place another silpain on top of the molds and top with another flat sheet pan

You can check the choux while it is baking, I found it could take 45-60 minutes to bake fully.

Time sure is flying by!

It has been too long since my last post, and I have been thinking about what to write about.  Here I sit on a Friday night and decide that it is time to do it.

The past few months have been spent preparing for Team USA Coupe du Monde de la patisserie tryouts.  More information can be found at Pastry Team USA.  It is an honor to be selected for the tryouts, many pastry chefs that have been an inspiration to me as I grew in the industry were members of previous teams.  The Coupe du Monde truly is the number pastry competition in the world, being chosen as a candidate to possibly represent the USA is one of the greatest accomplishments of my career.

That is the primary reason for not updating the blog.  Many hours have gone into preparing for the tryouts. As always the sacrifice is not my own, the extra time at work means time away from my family and more work for my wife (we will be celebrating our 14th anniversary just days before the tryouts).  One of my former students and employees, Tony Kozlowski, has been hard at  work apprenticing with me for the competition.  Along with help from several other students on the other projects that are always popping up Heather Schreiner, Stacey Lyons, and Jacob Shuttleworth.  There are many more that have contributed and I apologize if I left anyone out.  They contribute a great deal along with other colleagues that have advised me on this and previous competitions.

The good news is that there a some fun technique posts of some techniques that I will be using for the tryouts, that will come after the competition.

So please get the word out about the tryouts and help to support Team USA.

Hotel reservations - https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=8725674

Awards reception will be held at Grand Rapids Community College on Saturday April 21st at 6:30, $50 per person.

All the best to everyone trying out!  Looking forward to seeing everyone at the tryouts!

Caramelized White Chocolate Ice Cream

There are few things that I enjoy more than a good ice cream and cooking shows.  I prefer the professional type shows, others are such a train wreck you can't help but watch.

A few weeks ago my wife and I were waiting for our table to open up at the restaurant, so we headed over to Williams Sonoma.  We looked through the tools and equipment and finished up at the books.  Michael and Bryan Voltaggio just put out a cookbook, they have a unique style and compliment each other nicely so I took a look.  Not only was their book out, but they had a special coming right before Thanksgiving.

I just so happened to be home that night, working in kitchen and decided I would see what they were up to.  As luck would have it the show became a 60 minute commercial were the boys go shopping at Williams Sonoma.  At this point I went back to whatever I was working on, then something caught my attention - Caramelized White Chocolate.

We had been working with this for a few years trying to perfect it.  Following blogs and demonstrations to see what the best way was to get the best flavor.  It is exactly what it sounds like, basically you "burn" the chocolate.  The chocolate is overheated to the point that the milk solids caramelize and develop into a very complex flavor.

A majority of the time this achieved by placing the chocolate in pan and cooking it in the oven temperatures and times vary providing different colors and flavor.  I was in search of more, this technique may be new to some while others may have no idea what it is.  Bryan vacuum packed his white chocolate then placed it in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes.  It reminded me of Christmas morning, what will I find when I open the pressure cooker.  To my surprise it was exactly what he had on the show, a deep dark caramelized white chocolate.  

This result was nothing that I could accomplish in the oven.  The chocolate had a slightly bitter flavor, which I enjoy.  The sweetness of the chocolate was dramatically reduced.  We figured since we had it available it was time to make some ice cream.  

Caramelized White Chocolate Ice Cream Philadelphia Style

819  gr        Whole Milk

36    gr         Non-Fat Milk Solids

33    gr         Granulated Sugar

38    gr          Inverted Sugar

5      gr          Ice Cream Stabilizer

239  gr          Caramelized White Chocolate

Method

1. In a bowl combine non-fat milk solids, granulated sugar and stabilizer

2. Place milk and inverted sugar in a saucepan, whisk in dry ingredients

3. Heat this mixture to 185F - do not boil

5. Add chocolate and warm mixture to 189F

6. Emulsify mixture and strain through a chinois

7. Refrigerate overnight, emulsify again

8. Freeze according to manufacturers instructions

I have found a Pacojet to provide the best results, a conventional batch freezer will work as well.  Caram