Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows- Week 14

The week that we'd all been waiting for- Gingerbread and Festive Cake decorating. To explain- we got to make a gingerbread house and decorate it any way we liked, and in the same light, create a cake with any design we liked, providing that the cake was round.

Let me take you on the journey.

Constructed.

Decorated. 

Roof and chimney.

Out the back. 

The other creation of the week was decorating our fruit cake that we made way back when. To begin the process, we plugged up any holes that had appeared from sinking fruit, and then covered it with a thin layer of marzipan. Next up was a layer of ready-to-roll icing. 

My blank canvas.

Next came some royal icing piping, and a bow.

 All wrapped up.

Marzipan Macarons.

To finish it off, some gold and a label. 

Birdseye view.

Side on.

And a handy link so you can all be inspired, just as I was. 

http://www.laduree.fr/ 

Only one more week of Cert III to go! Can you believe it?! Just need to make some pies and pasties and we're done! 

Putting Bread on the Table- Week 13

I have fond memories of enjoying a slice of Beesting from our local bakery when I was younger, back when I had no idea how complicated it can be to create. Happy Monday everyone! Time to make a yeast cake, fill it with crème chiboust, and top it with crispy honey and almonds. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but here's the top!

Yep. Almonds. 

Something a little more enjoyable to prepare followed up this monstrosity- Danishes! Yay! We made four different varieties- Apricot Windmills, Cherry and Frangipane Spandauers, Hazelnut Combs, and a Cherry Bar. 

 Some raw dough and fruit delightfully arranged.

Raw cherry bar.  

 Out of the oven. 

Just a minor explosion or two...or nine.

After a relaxing break from bread production, we were back to it, with a Bread Roll production day. We created white and wholemeal dinner rolls with an assortment of grains and seeds, as well as some Lepinja. Watch out Helga's! 

What an array!  

It wouldn't be a Sarah bake without a love heart roll!

Another day, another day for bread lovers to rejoice. To kick start proceedings, Tomato and Olive Focaccia. I don't want to burst everyone's focaccia loving bubbles, but I feel that having creating one, I need to share an ugly truth. The reason that focaccia tastes so awesome is because it cooks in a bath of oil. Not a shallow bath either. The dough drowns in oil and then ultimately fries and soaks it up. Needless to say, this foc was a winner. 

To keep the focaccia company, we also made some Ciabattas. 

Rolls.  

Pide. 

We finished the week with some prep for Gingerbread House week which was just around the corner. We baked our slabs of gingerbread and made some icing to practice our piping skills. Stick around to check out my mad architectural skills. xx

Got Something to Prove? Week 12

Back to the kitchen after a week off, and it was time for us to become acquainted with yeast. Thrilling. To really get us in the mood, we started with some Sweet Yeast Breads. This meant proving and shaping different sizes of fruit bread. For those of you who have never made bread at home, let me tell you now, it is tedious. There are multiple stages of allowing the yeast to munch on some food in a warm area so that the dough grows, so what seems to be a simple task can take hours. Whinge, whinge, here are the pictures.

Pre-oven

Post-oven. Check that growth!

After we had mastered fruit bread, we moved onto a crowd pleaser, no matter what time of the year- Hot Cross Buns. I was secretly thrilled to be baking Hot Cross Buns in May, because I hadn't gorged myself on them at Easter like I usually do, so I was still harbouring some cravings. 

Pre-oven

Donesies. 

In the theme of seasonal favourites being made at random times of the year, we also made Italian Panettone, a traditional Christmas cake. According to the lovely recipients, it was delish. 

Panettone

Moving from Italy to France, the next yeast products featuring on the menu were Brioche and Savarin. The brioche dough proved over night in the fridge to make it easier to shape into little têtes. Here are the results.

You guessed it! Pre-oven. 

 Baked.

Brioche Loaf.

Then it was time to deal with the little Savarins. To accompany these rum soaked doughnuts, we whipped up an orange and strawberry salad. 

Rum Soaked Savarin with Fruit 

Packed up for one lucky customer.

Then came the pastries I'd been waiting for since I'd begun the course. Croissants had finally arrived. We had a day of dough and filling preparation, and then let the dough rest in the fridge over night. The next day, we rolled out the dough and rolled the croissants into shape. Into the prover they went, just for something different, and during the down time, we whipped up some loaves of bread. 

Out of the prover, and into the oven the little rolled crescents of buttery goodness went, and this is what emerged. (Just quietly, I was thrilled).

Plain and Almond Croissants. 

Ready for your close-up?

And so ended a very long week of waiting for dough to rise, but luckily, the resulting products were delightful. More bread next week, and some bakery favourites thrown in for good measure. xx