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STUDENT FOR A DAY: INTERMEDIATE BAKING |
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As
someone who loves to bake, I thought it would be fun to visit a baking class
to see what the students do in a typical class. I was expecting it to
be like my baking experiences at home, but it was so much more than that! The class was divided into groups of 3 or 4 and had three recipes to make: Apple Strudel, Chocolate Bavarian Charlotte Cake, and Japonaise Meringue. Between the students working on the tasks, Chef Kapusta would have class demonstrations for them. In this picture, he taught the class about the Vanilla Bean and the method to using it in recipes. |
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To be successful in this class, it
was vital to work as a team, since there were many steps to each
recipe.
To make the strudel, one person prepared the apple filling with granny smith apples, while others worked on assembling the phyllo dough. I had never worked with this paper-thin dough before, but after Chef Kapusta demonstrated how to work with it, each group was able to place the filling inside and roll it up in a log shape. Then they were equally portioned out, and placed in the oven. While that baked, there was no time to waste as they moved right into the challenge of Chocolate Bavarian Charlotte Cake! |
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Chocolate
Bavarian Charlotte Cake has many steps and
following them exactly was crucial in order to make the filling the right
consistency. That meant careful measuring and monitoring of
temperatures, since the filling was a mixture of hot and cold ingredients- a
melted chocolate mixture and whipped cream. This was challenging! Then the Chocolate Bavarian Charlotte Cake had to be placed in the cooler to chill. |
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.....And in the meantime, they couldn't forget to keep an eye on the strudel to be sure it was perfectly browned. |
| Chef Kapusta did
another demonstration on how to make
Japonaise Meringue.
The meringue, which was a mixture of sugar, whipped egg whites and almonds had
to be carefully measured and piped according to specific directions.
Then it was baked, assembled and decorated.
When all was said and done, much was learned in Intermediate Baking. This class emphasized that working as a team and carefully following directions are necessary to succeed in the culinary field.
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