Day 8 of BPT – Finishing up the Breads

Well tonight was fun. We made Rosemary Foccacia bread, dinner rolls, poolish starter, and pizza dough. This was definitely one of those days to hurry up and wait. We, our group (well not the group as assigned by Chef but the 4 of us who regularly hang together Lynndy, Eddie, Carey and myself), took an hour break in the library because we had everything done and had to wait on the dinner roll dough to double in size. So we read up on recipes, did some vacation planning for Lynndy (snickers) and talked about muffins and the best type of butter to use. (I wish you could see how hard I’m laughing but there is just no way to explain inside jokes. And you probably wonder then why post them, well it’s my blog and it’s for my memories and it makes me laugh.)

So it’s time for the dinner rolls to be punched down, formed up and allow to rise yet again. Forming them was neat because you can get pretty creative. We did the standard round ones, but then we did knots, braids, I did rounds with slashes to create different affects. I saw on a poster where an egg dough was used to make the shape of a grape cluster. I asked Chef if that would work with the dough we used and he said it should. So since it’s on the finals I’m going to attempt it.

Tonight was the first night, in BPT, I feel as if I touched my ‘inner baker’. I have found that while I don’t enjoy making cakes, I do like the tarts and breads. Tomorrow we’re doing croissant dough and sweet tart dough. Maybe it’s because the things we’re making that I enjoy are things you really have a hands on approach with. You’re forming things, arranging things etc. Whereas a cake you mix it up, pour it into a pan and let it bake. We get to decorate our butter cakes we made when we return from Christmas break so that part will be hands on.

The Foccacia was so delicious. I could have eaten more but was worried about over stuffing. Carey made a wonderful dipping sauce to go with ours (we did this item in teams of 2) with balsamic, red pepper flakes, olive oil and garlic. You just can’t get any better than that. Of course I had to eat more. I’d never be able to survive on the Atkins diet. Bring me my Carbs!

I can’t wait for tomorrow – Pizza!! We’re in teams of 2 and we’re making 3 pizza’s. Carey and I have decided on – Pesto Pizza with Prosciutto and Mozzarella, Red Onions with cherry tomatoes sautéed in balsamic vinegar and basil, and the third not too sure yet will wait to see what strikes us. She and I have both been to Rome and know how the traditional Rome style pizza should be. No more than 4 toppings and that includes the cheese. Crust should be thin…well check out the very first post on this blog. I believe the recipe is there and trust me, it is a winner!

Not much else for tonight so will update tomorrow after the pizza party!

Until Tomorrow!...