Thursday, July 22, 2010

One of our lectures today was on high altitude adjustments for over 5000 feet.Chef Lexie pretty much told us that when there is a problem with baking at altitudes over 5000, it is usually the cook/baker (us) and not a problem with the altitude. That being said, the reason we have to adjust recipes for altitude is lower air pressure. Reduced pressure causes liquids to evaporate more quickly and leavening action to exceed the outside air pressure. The lower air pressure usually causes a couple of problems:

1. Cakes will tend to over rise in the oven and then collapse in the center.
2. Cakes will develop a surgary surface crust (because the water leaves.
3. Big holes will appear inside the finished product.
4. Cookies will tend to spread.
5. Baked goods will tend to be dry or overly dense.

The over rising is caused by the leavening action in the cake. At altitude, the leavening "over inflates" as heated air expands inside the cake and it "pops" or collapses in the center where the batter has not set yet.

The lower air pressure also means that water boils at lower temperature (it takes less heat to get the water molecules moving around fast enough to escape as steam). Water starts to "boil off" a baking cake when it reaches 200 degrees Farenheit at 5000 feet altitude, instead of 212 degrees at sea level. You need to add some extra water to compensate for this, or the ingredients will not be balanced in the cake during baking. For instance, the concentration of sugar can increase enough to weaken the gluten structure and again collapse the cake in the center or leave a tell-tale sugar crustiness on the surface of the cake. And obviously, with less liquid, the cake may be dry. Cookies made with all butter spread more. Chilling the dough helps decrease spreading. Cookies with a lot of sugar spread (the heat melts the sugar). You can decrease the amount of sugar in the recipe.

Chef Lexie said to consider the following adjustments, but don't make more than two adjustments at a time.

1. Reduce baking soda or baking powder by 25-40%.
2. Increase the liquid by 2-4 Tbsp for every cup.
3. Increase the oven temperature by 25 degrees.
4. Decrease sugar by 2 Tbsp per cup.
5. Increase flour by 1 Tbsp per cup to strengthen the gluten structure.
6. Reduce fat in the recipe by 1-2 Tbsp.
7. Add cornstartch to the recipe to aid the item setting up.

Measure carefully, take notes and be observant of your results each time you bake, and the cakes and cookies will get better every time.

Next we covered leavening agents. There are two leavening agents: chemical and mechanical. Mechanical leavening is US and air we introduce.

There are two chemical leavening agents, the first of which is baking soda which is activated by the presence of acid. Acid can be lemon juice, vinegar, brown sugar, cocoa, ginger, coffee, sour cream, beer, and buttermilk. The action from this activation is immediate. You only get one reaction so DON'T let the dough sit around. Baking soda also aids in browning.

The second chemical leavening agent is baking powder. Baking powder is baking soda that has its own acid. Exposure to any liquid activates baking powder. Doubling acting baking powder gives you that initial burst when ingredients are mixed and a second burst of leavening during baking.

Occasionally you will get a recipe that calls for both baking soda and baking powder. Baking soda neutralizes acid. In other words, it balances the flavors in a recipe and leaves the baking powder for leavening. Are baking soda and baking powder interchangeable? Yes- you just need to use twice as much baking powder as you do baking soda.

Next Chef Lexie talked about the four Mixing Methods:

1. Cut-in or sheeting method. To know whether or not this should be your mixing method, look at the fat being used in a recipe. If it is cold, you will use this method. You mix up the dry ingredients, then add cold fat (usually butter) by sheeting it in, add cold liquid, minimize gluten. This method is used on pastry dough, cobbler, biscuits and scones.
2. Two-Step Method involves liquid fat (melted butter, vegetable oil). Mix all dry ingredients thoroughly. Mix all wet ingredients together. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients, stir just until combined. This method is used for muffins and crepes.
3. Creaming method uses room temperature or warm fat (usually butter). And this information is for Jennifer-we've had this discussion at work-your friend was right!
Creaming involves mechanical leavening by adding air. Using a mixer set at medium high speed, "cream" the (butter) with sugar until light and fluffy. Add room temperature eggs a little at a time-not all at once, making sure the eggs you have added are well-incorporated before you add more eggs. Add the dry ingredients in two sections. You will have GREAT cookies if you use this method!
4. Two-Stage method uses room temperature fat and a large amount of liquid (like milk). Cream the butter and sugar together as above. Add your room temperature eggs slowly. Add half the dry ingredients and half the wet ingredients and mix well. Continue to add half your dry and half your wet ingredients for a total of five times, ending with dry ingredients. Your batter should look good thru out this mixing. This method is used in baking breads and muffins.

Lastly, Chef Lexie showed us how to carmelize sugar and how to spin sugar for decorating. How cool!!!

In GardeMo today we made Garden Green Soup. It's components consist of a base (you can use anygarden green-chard, beet greens, arugula, collard greens, Bechamel sauce-roux plus milk, and onions), a liquid (in our case chicken stock or Fond Du Poulet) and garnish-which by the way is not putting a sprig of parsley on top of your soup, but the flavoring you use in a dish). I got to mix up some creme fraiche thinned slightly with cream, then seasoned with Dijon mustard, grainy mustard, salt and pepper. All Chef Pete told me was "make it taste good". I like the fact that school encourages you to know what components make up a dish and knowing that, you can take that dish in any flavor direction you want. You are limited only by your imagination! We also chopped mirepouix a few times over, made fish stock or fumet and chicken stock. It's hard to believe we only have one more week of GardeMo! The only thing I will NOT miss, is having to set up service for lunch and serve the wine and lunch!

Hot Plate made Schnitzel (a flattened, breaded and fried very thin cut of meat-in our case, pork tenderloin) with Spaetzle (which can be either a dumpling or a noodle-I didn't know it had two meanings!). They also made red cabbage with apples and caraway. The breading for the Schnitzel was what they call-SBP or Standard Breading Procedure (I'm not sure why I find that amusing but I do, lol). In French, it is called Pane Anglaise. You start with a dry product, dredge it in seasoned flour, dip it in an egg wash, the dip it in breadcrumbs (Panko) and then let it rest for 10-15 minutes to allow the eggs and Panko to solidify or "glue". You then shallow fry the Schnitzel.

Dessert was a flourless chocolate cake with a Black Forest flavor profile using chocolate, buttercream and "boozy" cherries to go with our German/Alsace theme.

Our wine was a Gewurztraminer from Germany.

After lunch, we got our tests back from last week. I got a 93! We have another exam tomorrow so I'll be studying tonight. We were also told that next week will be having mid-term interviews with Jackie, the Alumni Director. I guess they want to know what we will be doing with our education after we graduate and what they can do to help us. Hard to believe that after next week I will be half-way thru this program!!