Bakin Up A Storm

As if we didn't already have enough of baking during our catering units, we baked even more this week! Our Culinary class made everything from pie to savory strudels!

We started our week off with a simple pie crust. However, we changed it up a bit. To test the effects of different ingredients on the taste, texture, and appearance of the crust. In the standard recipe, we used shortening. In the variations, we used lard, margarine, butter, and a few others in place of the shortening. Then, we had a taste test to compare the different crusts. Ingredients really do have a large effect on baked products!

Next, we moved on to a whole pie. Our class made homemade apple pies from scratch! A lot of work went into these lovely pies, but they turned out great!

Finally, we ended the week by making two different pastries. One pastry we made was called a mushroom strudel made from phyllo dough. Phyllo dough is a paper thin dough that produces a very flaky pastry. To make this pastry, we folded a cooked mushroom and onion mixture into the dough using a flag fold.

We also made cheese straws which are made by sandwiching pepper jack cheese in a puff pastry, cutting it into 1/2 inch sections, and then twisting those sections into straws.

Everything we made this week were delicious. They all had different tastes and we used many techniques in making them.

Here is a link to a recipe using the same method we used with the phyllo pastry! It's called Buffalo Chicken Phyllo Wraps! They are buffalo chicken rolled up the same way as the mushrooms in our own strudel! I chose this recipe because it uses the same techniques and dough that we used.

Buffalo Chicken Phyllo Wraps
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buffalo-Chicken-Phyllo-Wraps/Detail.aspx

Julia Child in our Kitchens

In Culinary this week, we watched the movie Julie and Julia. If some of you don't know it's a story about a young blogger who challenges herself to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook in one year. At the same time, the movie flashes back to the beginning of Julia Child's cooking career in France.

Our blog challenge this week was to discuss something that we learned from the real Julia Child. One out of many things Julia taught us was to demand fresh and real food. Julia was a firm believer in the freshest ingredients, never preserved. She thought that the freshest ingredients brought the best taste, and anything made from scratch with love was to be cherished. This is very important in today's world because preserved foods surround us everywhere we go. Our society is all about convenience and food in the least amount of time. Whether you purchase fresh ingredients at the store or grow them yourself for even fresher ingredients, the outcome will be that much better and totally worth it, and, not to mention, healthier!

Here is one of Julia Child's recipes that I thought would be one I would make at home! I would make this because it can be used as a yummy dessert or even a sweet breakfast item!

Julia Child's Cherry Clafouti

Ingredients

1. 1 1/4 cups milk
2. 2/3 cup sugar, divided
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 tablespoon vanilla
5. 1/8 teaspoon salt
6. 1/2 cup flour
7. 3 cups cherries, pitted
8. powdered sugar, for garnish  

  Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using a blender, combine the milk, 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour, and blend.
3. Lightly butter an 8-cup baking dish, and pour a 1/4-inch layer of the blended mixture over the bottom. Set remaining batter aside.
4. Place dish into the oven for about 7-10 minutes, until a film of batter sets in the pan but the mixture is not baked through. Remove from oven (but don’t turn the oven off, yet).
5. Distribute the pitted cherries over the set batter in the pan, then sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Pour the remaining batter over the cherries and sugar.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until the clafouti is puffed and brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.
8. Servings: 6-8 for dessert, 4 for breakfast.