Nine Things To Do In The First Week Of A Patisserie Course

It is tremendously exciting when you decide to leave familiar ground, take a chance to learn something new or start something personally significant. The excitement is also accompanied by extreme self-doubt, strangeness and performance anxieties. If you are like me, there are moments when you lose your normal swagger and feel clumsy, like a shaky youngling trying to stand up right after birth. I've been on this roller-coaster before and experienced it anew three weeks ago when I started as the student of a 5-month Baking Science and Patisserie Diploma at a baking academy. The journey so far has been absolutely thrilling, to say the least. But, it has also been nerve-racking to interpret a somewhat alien language.

In order to not lose my nerve in the early stages of an intensive course such as this and be on my game, I started to list a few to-dos and not-to-dos. I am hoping they will prevent me from curling up in the fetal position on the floor at the end of my first month.

1. Figure out the 'tea' situation: Learning where the tea is, is a good strategy. It's also important to figure out the unwritten rules of the school that, if violated, may make people go ballistic. When is that 15 minute break? Which shelves are communal? Who washes the cup? At the baking academy I attend, there is a full-fledged cafe on the ground floor and our classes are conducted on the first floor. Is it ok to buy a cup of tea from the cafe like a guest? Be a sponge, and watch how people are doing things. And lastly, there's nothing wrong with taking your own tea bag and then asking for a cup of hot water from the cafe.

2. Get your act together: This academy is extremely organised. Apart from being a baking school, it is also a great place to improve your bad habits. If you have struggled with time management, quickly get to mapping out how you'll spend each day and begin putting it into practice. Getting organized from the start will make your life easier down the line. It will help you get to class right when it starts at 8 AM, finish pages and pages of hand-written assignments, not miss packing a single thing you will need in class (apron, jacket, cap, notebook, dusters etc.) and swim like a duck.

3. Form your ‘Oh Shit’ Team: Since feelings of anxiety are amplified in this stage of development, you may forget to carry a dusting cloth along or worse, miss something critical related to grooming (after essential rules of personal presentation have been made clear on Day One). You may also place a full tray of beautifully kneaded dough in the proofer instead of the freezer. Finding true OST members who are ready to rescue you during such moments will give you a safe place to stand for a while.

4. Test that first dish at home: Generally, when you are doing something new, it will not work perfectly the first time. But in that very first class, when you make perfect doughnuts such as you can see in the pictures here, you have got to be skeptical and execute it at home all by yourself to know for sure if you can reproduce the recipes without an instructor giving turn-by-turn directions. 

I’m pleased to report that, with no one reminding me that tablespoons are bigger than teaspoons or to not over prove the dough, I successfully baked half a dozen doughnuts a couple of days later.

This list is to be continued in the next post. I know that my ‘don’t go into the woods’ dreams will continue for a little while longer but ah, learning is growth is joy!

Zen and the art of mixing tea with biscotti

Twice each day, as I take my first sip of tea, a low roar fills my ears. It’s like there was a conch placed close to the side of my face and I could hear the sound of the sea through it. That is indeed unusual. As I got thinking about it, I felt what I was experiencing perhaps was this - this cup of tea is meditation, a clarifying potion, a sort of prayer. So then, George Orwell was probably right when he said that a good cup of tea can make you feel wiser, braver and more optimistic. As I gave it more thought, I wondered what would complement an experience as revitalizing as drinking tea. Surely, a biscuit. But not any biscuit. It’d have to be special.  And so I rummaged through recipes and discovered Biscotti.

Now, you don’t need biscotti, scones or cake with your tea. But it helps. I had never tried making biscotti before but last week I had this urge to have something with my tea and so I thought I would give biscotti a try. Now what are biscotti, really?

Biscotti are oblong-shaped biscuits that originated in Italy. They are twice baked, dry, crunchy and can be stored for a long time. The word biscotti means ‘twice baked or cooked’.  Traditional biscotti dough is exclusively composed of flour, sugar, eggs and nuts. There is no butter or fat. I followed a great recipe from Joy of Baking and made mine with chocolate and hazelnuts.

But what inspires me most about Biscotti is that they are a labor of love, like art. They are not your average cookies. Biscotti requires craft, deftness and precision. To begin with, the dough is extremely sticky. Then it needs to be shaped into a log and baked until firm. After a short cooling period, the log is sliced into diagonal slices and baked again to draw out the moisture, thus producing a crisp, dry textured cookie that has a long shelf life. Now you are only limited by your imagination when it comes to what you want to add to these: dried fruits, different varieties of nuts, seeds, spices, etc. Biscotti are also frequently found iced with melted chocolate or other frostings, and topped with nuts and even coloured sprinkles.

And so I made my biscotti and it greatly complemented my cup of tea. Which brings me to what this post is probably really about, the unqualified joys of a really good cup of tea. Tea with biscotti anyone?

Say Hello to the Queen

Last week, I savoured a generous and mysterious dessert called ‘Hello to The Queen’ in a charming little café called ‘Fat Martin’ on the isolated Havelock Island of the Andaman group of Islands in India. It was generous because it was just everything ridiculously delicious lavishly piled on a bowl. And mysterious because it was oddly named, seemingly carelessly brought together and the recipe is elusive.

Known as the backpacker’s dessert, Fat Martin’s version of ‘Hello to the Queen’ featured (I think) a layer of crumbled digestive biscuits at the bottom, a warm topping of chocolate sauce, some mushy nuts , and a fresh cover of caramelized sliced bananas , all under a big cloud of vanilla ice cream. I know it sounds very indulgent and it is, but before you start wincing, let me quote from Hamlet - “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it”.

The perfect execution of this dish is only possible with an understanding of all the ingredients and a little imagination. If you think about it, orchestrating a single piece like this which is drawn from different symphonies, each intensely powerful is not so easy. The impeccable combination of these exuberant characters results in the creation of a dish that will make you feel - Everything is going to be all right. It seems over saturated but it has found a unique way of standing out.

Fat Martin Cafe, Havelock Island

I tried my hand at it at home. It wasn’t too bad and we did polish it off pretty quickly. I followed the same order that I mentioned above with a tiny addition of some wonderful leftover cake and some chocolate chips. It wasn’t elegant, gourmet, light or hauntingly beautiful. But it was just straight up fun, raucous and unapologetically light-hearted. 

Baker's Yeast

Slowly, the yeast starts budding

The Egyptian smiles in her baking chamber

On this warm day, she has lifted the souls

Of the evocative fungi and an eager bread

Four thousand years ago, she left its traces

On her grinding stone for man to discover

His first domesticated being and a series of experiments

To brew his beer and leaven his bread

Sweet fermented bread

Golden crusts and ubiquitous pockets

Like secret caves or a string of swallows’ nests

Soft and tender crumbs

In the supermarket, I buy a packet of these

Live cells packed in thick inert jackets, and

I think as I dissolve the oblong beige granules

When the dough is baked, the yeast will die

Pumpkin Patch

I hated pumpkin as a child. In fact, I completely disliked food and mealtimes. There was wholesale rejection of vegetables, and even cubes of fried chicken could make me scorn. My parents, of course, had strict eating rules at home. No nagging. No snacking. And no leftovers in plate.

All that changed once I started cooking my own food. Suddenly, I was in control. There was a great sense of pride, even with disasters. I knew exactly what I was putting in, and where it came from. And my appreciation for different ingredients, vegetables and protein has only grown since then. Today, I am always looking to try something different with what’s in my fridge. Somehow, things did not get curiously different just in the kitchen but elsewhere in life too.

Back in the kitchen, few things have lent themselves so easily to everything from Pies and Cookies to Soups and Mains like the humble Pumpkin. Pumpkin is so versatile and delicious, and also very good for you. It is a great source of fibre, potassium and Vitamin C. And pumpkin seeds are not just spectacular, crunchy additions to a dish but fantastic for health. It is a nutritional powerhouse wrapped up in a very small package. And I always thought my mother was just being her utilitarian self when she served roasted pumpkin seeds with Dal and Rice at lunch. With such impressive nutritional value and equally great taste, how could you not want to try to incorporate it in different ways in your culinary creations?

Last weekend, I wanted to attempt a Stromboli. The recipe I was following called for Salami, Cheese and Basil. I decided to go with a vegetarian version and use Roasted Pumpkin, Cheese and Sage instead. I am sharing the recipe below. Next year maybe, I’ll try to carve a grinning jack O'lantern.

Ingredients:

1. 500 gms all purpose flour
2. 2 teaspoons active dried yeast
3. 1 teaspoon sugar
4. 2 teaspoon sea salt
5. 3 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for brushing
6. 350 ml lukewarm water
7. 100 gms thinly sliced pumpkin (long strips, preferably)
8. 175 gms mozzarella cheese chopped
9. A few Sage leaves
10. Freshly ground black pepper
11. A few pumpkin seeds

Method:

1. Mix the flour and the salt. Slowly combine the active yeast and water to the flour mixture until the dough is soft. Rest it for an hour, or until doubled in volume.
2. Knead lightly for 2-3 minutes until smooth. Cover and leave for 10 mins more
3. Roast the pumpkin slices in a tbsp. of olive oil and a pinch of salt
4. Roll out the dough to a rectangle about 1 inch thick
5. Spread the roasted pumpkin slices, mozzarella and sage over the dough. Season with black pepper and drizzle some olive oil on top
6. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Grease a baking tray.
7. Roll the dough up firmly from the long side, pinch the ends and place on the baking sheet. Join underneath. Cover and leave for 10 minutes
8. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top and pierce the roll deeply several times with a skewer. Brush with oil and sprinkle some salt. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until firm to touch. Cool on a wire rack
9. Cut into thick slices and enjoy!

Does Parsley save Rosemary in Time?

Recently, I started growing my own herbs and it’s been a wonderful experience. Firstly, you can’t grow herbs without invoking the secret world of myths that surround them. Secondly, this is the closest I’ll get in the city to recreating the charming self sufficiency of a country home where herb gardens are a typical feature. It’s a delicious feeling to be able to pause in the middle of my cooking and saunter to the balcony where I may choose from a selection of herbs to season my dish.

So I started with two small Basil plants – one Genovese and the other Thai. I bought saplings from a local store and planted them in 10-inch clay pots.  Basil is the most popular of all herbs used in cooking. I use it sparingly in soups, sauces, salads, pesto, and omelettes. I also use it with meat, poultry and fish.

Next I found Chives at UAS (University of Agricultural Sciences) and brought home a sapling. Chives are spring onion-like leaves with a mild onion flavor. Chop them and add them to salads, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, sandwich spreads and sauces.

Sage

I grew Dill, Thyme, Oregano, Marjoram and Sage by sowing seeds. Dill has slender bluish-green stems with a sharp, slightly bitter taste. While Thyme is excellent in roast meat, I also love to brew it into tea with a little mint. Marjoram has small, oval, gray-green leaves that are velvety to the touch and can be used to flavor cooking. Oregano, also called "wild marjoram" is a hardy perennial with sprawling stems and is used extensively to flavor pizza besides being added to other Italian-type sauces. Sage has oblong, wooly leaves and is beautifully aromatic.

Rosemary

I will admit that growing Rosemary hasn’t been very easy. I have tried propagating it by cuttings and growing from seed and I have been unsuccessful. Recently, I found a sapling and brought it home. It’s now kept well-drained in a sunny location. I can’t wait to use it in my sauces and breads.

I have grown Mint earlier too and it has a tendency to overtake nearby plant roots. This time, it is in its own little container and I use it in chutneys, rice, tea and cold drinks. Lemongrass, a tropical perennial herb, grows easily in a sunny herb garden. With basic care, this essential Thai ingredient will thrive. It has a beautiful aroma, a citrus-ginger taste and is good for health.

Lemongrass

Herbs are fun to grow and they make a lovely addition to almost any meal. With our tropical environment, you don’t really need a green thumb to grow your own supply of fresh herbs. What’s more, there are endless ways to use herbs in the kitchen. All you need is a little imagination. Like the five-year old girl who patiently sat through the Simon and Garfunkel song, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme before asking her father, ‘So does he?’ Her father looked at her puzzlingly.  “Who’s he?” he asked. “Does Parsley save Rosemary in time?” the girl asked.

Below is a recipe for herbed bread that I tried recently and want to share with you.

Spiral Garlic and Herb Bread

Ingredients:

1. 500 gm all purpose flour
2. 100 ml warm water
3. 150 ml water
4. 1 egg
5. 1 tbsp salt
6. 25 ml oil
7. 1 tbsp sugar
8. 10 gm dry yeast
9. 100 gms assorted herbs – th
   yme, sage, basil, curry leaves, mint
10. 1 tbsp chopped garlic
11. 2 tbsp chopped cashewnuts

Method:

1. Pour warm water into a small bowl and stir in the sugar. Pour the yeast into the warm-water-and-sugar mixture. The sugar will act as food for the dormant yeast as it awakens in the warm water. Cover and keep aside for 10 minutes
2. Make a paste of the herbs, garlic and cashewnuts and keep aside
3. Mix flour, salt, egg and oil
4. Remove the cover from the top of the yeast bowl and look for foam or bubbles atop the water. The foam and bubbles show that the yeast is in fact still alive and is ready to be used for baking
5. Slowly combine the active yeast and water to the flour mixture until the dough is soft. Rest it for an hour
6. Turn the dough into a floured surface and knead some more
7. Then roll the dough and apply the herb paste
8. Roll it into a cylinder shape and slice at thickness of 3 cm
9. Lay the slices on a baking tray and cover with a tea towel. Let it prove for another hour
10. Bake in a preheated oven at 230 degrees C for 15 mins

The unlikely but eventually harmonious marriage of Orange and Garlic

Like the priest who keeps a straight face despite the nagging premonition that the couple standing before him will not last, I managed to marry orange and garlic in a bold, new dish. Yes, I ran through the motions with complete seriousness and finally pronounced them co-ingredients. What can I say? It paid off. They’re still together.

I have an online food challenge to thank for this strangely experimental dish. Every week, the challenge urged you to throw completely disparate ingredients together while cooking. Spicy with sweet. Crunchy with soft. Tea with mushrooms. It called for wracking your head and pushing boundaries. It made cooking bold and unusual. Most of all, it was education by discovery. As for the end results, sometimes the fusion yielded an instant classic and sometimes it threw up a cropper. But, like me, if all you need is an excuse to cook, you’ll understand that the joy is as much in the jamming as it is in how it ultimately turns out.   

Before I reveal the recipe, a little about this dish. A tajine or tagine is a dish from North Africa. It is named after the special earthenware pot in which it is best cooked. Now I don’t own an authentic Moroccan tagine and chances are neither do you, unless you’re the erstwhile wife of a Moroccan prince. So be pleased to know that a saucepan gives results that are just as good. Now what I’ve done is combined a couple original recipes and made some tweaks. While I’ve chosen lamb, I reckon this should work very well with pork or beef too.

So happy experimenting. And should the garlic and the orange start to bicker on your palate, remember that thing your mother said about having to kiss a dozen frogs before you meet your knight.

Ingredients

• 1 kg boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cups sliced onion
• 1 inch ginger, minced
• 10 garlic cloves, minced
• spice mix (you can roast a little and pound some of the below spices together to get the mixture. I find that very convenient)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon crushed red chillies
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick, ground
• 2 cups water or chicken stock
• salt to taste
• 1 1/2 cups orange sections (about 3 oranges)
• 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates or raisins or prunes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

Preparation

• Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add half the lamb; cook for 5 minutes or until lamb is browned. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining lamb
• In the same pan and in the remaining oil, add onion and sauté for 7 minutes or until tender. Add ginger, garlic and spice mix, stirring to combine. Sauté for 2 minutes
• Return lamb to pan; stir in water/stock and salt. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 90 mins or so, or until tender, stirring occasionally
• Uncover and simmer for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add orange sections and dates/raisins/prunes, stirring gently to combine, and cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle fresh coriander and serve with some couscous.