Chicken Noodle Soup

I've been sitting on these pictures for about a month now (probably more). Woke up one morning and decided to make my own chicken noodle soup - start to finish, everything from scratch. It went well, especially for my first time. Went to the farmer's market in Portland (best FM ever) and picked up all the produce. The chicken is from Whole Foods and the noodles are homemade. Everything in the soup was in it's rawest form when it entered our apartment and everything in it is 100% organic. If anyone REALLY wants it, I can put up the recipe. That being said, here are nice pictures (taken by my favorite photographer) to look at.

Can you sell out if there's no talent?

Just thought I would share this with everyone!

Sandra Lee Seizure - watch more funny videos

Slasher! Ghasp!

Hey, I just wanted to throw in some pictures that I'm particularly happy about. When bread goes in the oven, it is usually "slashed" so that as it rises, the crust does not crack (ugly), but expands at the slashes (pretty!). It gives the baker some artistic freedom and it's one my favorite parts of the process (though there are many). Though I have never really had a problem with slashing full artisan loaves, baguettes have always escaped me. Until last night.

Mel had me make some baguettes for the staff at her office, a request I could never possibly bring myself to turn down. When it came time to slash, I had three chances and I dare say I nailed them all. You will only see two baguettes here as the third was eaten by the next morning. Let me know what you think!

Out of the classroom and into the kitchen

First, let me apologize for my absence. During school, I had no time, then too much time, now I'm pressed but not strapped. Add your sifted dry and liquid, here we go:

I finished school. It was a roller coaster of fun and stress, but for better or worse, it's over now. I don't officially graduate until the end of May, but I have the grades to prove that I am done. While I'll miss the freedom of learning pretty much whatever I wanted, I'm looking forward to at least getting paid for my hard work.

Which leads me to my current endeavor. Two weeks out of school I landed a job at an industrial-sized bakery in North Portland that produces frozen dough that is exported to Japan for retail sale as well as US Whole Foods and Super Targets to be baked off in their bakeries. I, however, work in the test kitchen, refining and developing the recipes for production. It's pretty fun and definitely promises to expand my knowledge. I'm also given some artistic freedom to come up with my own recipes when I have any down time. We do tons of bagels, so I'm constantly thinking of possible new recipes. I think tomorrow I'm going to come up with some apple walnut bagels.

It's not the final step in my baking career, but it is certainly no small one. My first real baking job, and probably the biggest consumer base that I will ever encounter. I come up with bagels and Japan eats them. Pretty cool for a guy that was just trying to make the grade a month ago.

And to those that may worry: don't. I still dream everyday about opening my own place. This new job helps me focus on that, believe it or not. Throughout the course of my day, I think "In MY bakery, I'll do it this way," while also picking up skills for large-scale production. I'm a lucky guy.

The last thing I wanted to mention was this No Knead Bread phenom that seems to be sweeping home bakers everywhere. I might be arriving on the scene just to see the fad pass, I hope, but a blog is for two cents, so here are mine:

STOP. Good bread takes time, and not even that much labor, just, well...time! There is very minimal kneading to be done in the first place! This no-knead crap isn't really saving you any time: you still have to allow the bread to rise just as if it was being kneaded anyways! Do yourself a favor: if you're going to make bread, make it YOUR bread. Knead it, squeeze it, punch it...form your loaf of bread and make it your own. I promise it will make you happy.

As I leave, I promise to take better care of this thing. Oddly enough, I work better when I have more on my plate and right now I've got crumbs and garnish spilling off of my proverbial plate, so stay tuned. 

Par Bake

Well I'm through the first quarter. We move fast and learn lots. Here are some of the tarts that I made last week. 3 items out of about 40 that I have mastered so far. Pear Frangipane, Chocolate Ganache, Lemon Meringue.

Free-Form Mini Apple Tarts!

One of my favorite desserts to make (and to eat) are these mini apple tarts. Instead of using a small tart pan to impart shape and structure, I use a butter-heavy dough fold the edges on themselves and the apples. The dough incorporates cream cheese for a moist, tender pastry.

Make sure not to overbake these because both the apples and the dough will dry out pretty quickly towards the end of the baking cycle.

Tart Dough
1 1/4	cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2	tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4	teaspoon table salt
8	tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4	ounces cream cheese (cold), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2	teaspoons lemon juice from 1 lemon
1 - 2	tablespoons ice water
Apple Filling
1 1/4	pounds Granny Smith apples (about 3 medium)
1 1/4	pounds McIntosh apples (about 3 medium)
2	tablespoons lemon juice from 1 lemon
1/4	cup granulated sugar
2	tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4	teaspoon ground cinnamon
2	egg whites , beaten lightly

INSTRUCTIONS

1.       1. In bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade, pulse flour, sugar, and salt to combine. Add butter and cream cheese; pulse until mixture is sandy, with small, pebblelike curds, 10 to 12 one-second pulses (mixture should not form cohesive ball). Turn mixture into medium bowl.

      2. Sprinkle lemon juice and 1 tablespoon ice water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to evenly distribute water and lemon juice into flour mixture until small portion of dough holds together when squeezed in palm of hand (see illustration 1), adding up to 1 tablespoon more ice water if necessary. (Mixture will look dry even after liquid is incorporated.) Turn dough onto clean, dry work surface; gather and gently press together into cohesive ball, then flatten into rough disk. With chef’s knife or dough scraper, cut dough into 6 equal pieces, shaping each piece into disk about 3 inches wide. Place disks in single layer on flat dinner plate, wrap plate in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes (can be refrigerated up to 2 days).

3.       3. Remove dough from refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 30 minutes, let stand at room temperature until soft and malleable). Working one at a time, roll out disks between 2 sheets of lightly floured parchment paper into circles approximately 6 inches wide. Remove top layer of parchment; trim bottom layer of parchment into rectangles about 2 inches larger than dough. Stack rectangles with parchment on plate; cover plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate while preparing fruit.

4.       4. Adjust one oven rack to highest position and other rack to lowest position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Peel, core, and cut apples into 1/4-inch-thick slices and toss with lemon juice, 1/4 cup sugar, and cinnamon. Arrange parchment-lined dough rounds in single layer on work surface. Following illustrations 5 and 6, arrange about 1 cup apple slices, thick edges out, in circular mound, leaving 1-inch border of dough. Fold dough border up over filling, pleating dough to fit snugly around apples. With cupped hands, gently press dough to filling, reinforcing shape and compacting apples (see illustration 7). Using parchment lining, slide 3 tartlets onto each of 2 cookie sheets.

5.       5. Bake tartlets until pale golden brown, about 15 minutes. Brush crust with beaten egg whites and sprinkle apples with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Return tartlets to oven, switching positions of cookie sheets; bake until crust is deep golden brown and apples are tender, about 15 minutes longer. Cool tartlets on cookie sheets 5 minutes; using wide metal spatula, remove from parchment and transfer to cooling rack. Cool additional 5 minutes; serve.

I serve mine with a little cinnamon. The tart piictured at the top of the page has whipped cream and some lemon zest for a little extra zing. Enjoy!

Start your engines...

So I'm in. I start December 2nd. I've been bordering on giddy all day (as giddy as I can get) and am currently drinking a celebratory glass of shiraz (or three). More to come as I dawn the jacket and pants and head into the classroom...