Not to shabby for a guy with remedial pastry skills, now if I could up my bread game maybe I could hang with Brennan and Mike...
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"Should a cook squander anything, ever?" Thomas Keller


We decided to do breakfast when we went to Bouchon. After years of idol worshiping Thomas Keller, it took me little time to decide what I was going to have.....QUICHE!!! Now that could probably sound a little boring, but go read Keller's words on "The importance of eggs" and it will lead you to him speaking very passionately about quiche. It was by far the best one I have ever had, and so was the frites, and the donuts, even the coffee seemed like it was brewed by the hand of a true craftsman.
Next time I go, I think I'll go to Guy Savoy, or Craftsteak, or Joel Robuchon, cant decide.......cant decide....BRAIN ANEURYSM!!!!!!!!!! Either way, I will be ready with an appetite.......

I was going to post a video for the visual learners, like myself, that would illustrate what Mike meant a couple of posts ago when he said "bread likes it rough." I'm having trouble getting this specific video to upload but I'll keep trying. You'll know when the gluten is starting to develop when it releases from the side of the mixing bowl and begins to slap violently against the metal as it's being kneaded. That's the sign that it's almost there. Then you use a technique called checking the window. Pull a little bit of the dough from the mixer and begin to spread it gently with your fingers. The dough should be able to stretch almost until it's translucent before it breaks. When it's there you can start your first proofing, which is my favorite step because you actually get to see your dough come alive. It allows the dough rest and create gasses through fermentation which causes it to develop flavor and expand so that it's easier to manipulate. Proofing can take from 20 minutes to an hour and a half depending on how warm your surroundings are, how warm the water is that you use, how humid or dry your surroundings are, and the age of your yeast. Yeast that's younger tends to become active quicker than older yeast. Heat and humidity will also speed up the process. I'm in the baking world right now so hopefully more techniques and visual aids to come. This one is a fennel raisin bread that is being shaped into a batard or torpedo.
So.....after last nights aftermath, I have all this red pepper potato puree(for those of you who have never worked with me I have an extreme tendecy to over do it). I wonder................... What should I do with all this puree???


I decided to see if I could make a dough somewhat like a gnocchi and use it again in a different way. I was extremely pleased with the results, the color came through and the texture was fantastic, my only issue was the loss of the red pepper flavor from adding additional ingredients. I solved this problem by keeping some of the puree for a sauce. As far as the dough was concerned, I was most worried about the fact that the puree had a substantial amount of cream and butter in it, and how would this affect the dough. For what its worth, I thought it worked perfect, it felt like a regular gnocchi dough. Furthermore, the end result justified the means......



Sorry for the delay Mike, thats the luxury of having two other minds to meld(live long and prosper, thats my movie quote for this post). Circa 2007, I was finishing up culinary school and working at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin hotel in Orlando, FL. After almost a year at the hotel I finally got my transfer to Todd English's Blue Zoo(check out their blog, Bluechef) and at this point I thought I was a pretty good cook. Long story short, I realized that there was MUCH MUCH more for me to learn. We were in the middle of a small menu change and one of the dishes called for pea puree. As I read the MOP, I saw a vaguely familiar ingredient....."xanthan gum"...??? I knew I had seen that word on ingredient tags of commercial products, but what were we going to use it for. I was amazed to watch this unassuming powder thicken and stabilize the puree as it rained into the blender. From that moment I was intrigued, enlightened, and hungry to see what else I somehow missed. Unfortunately, my path had me leave Orlando before I had sponged up all the knowledge I could from the zoo. That is when I discovered this vast world of information on the Internet, that is why I started this blog, at that is how we learn to think progressively about the manipulation of whole foods. These new techniques and ingredients are what help us find ways to make liquids into solids, fats into powders, and pearls out of Pernod liqueur. Rarely a day goes by that I don't run through a gauntlet of blogs from chefs that are smarter than me so I can be better myself. Its part of the idiom of an accomplished chef, to hand down the knowledge.