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