Baking with a Friend

I am taking photography classes at George Brown College. They are quite fun, interesting and a bit different from my baking classes. I actually have assignments to do and next class I am going to write a final test!! So, the last assignment was supposed to be a Story. Something that has a beginning, a middle, and an ending. What could I do? It was very obvious: baking. So, I asked my best friend to come over, have some patience, and bake cookies with me. Patience was the key, since she had to pose for some of the pictures and I am a beginner with photography (I've only had my camera for 2 months).

And this is a result:

A recipe shot

My friend reading a recipe... Well, not really reading, but moving her finger pretending to be reading the recipe... for about 10 minutes!

Ingredients

My friend putting an apron on... another 10 minutes

Sugars and butter in a mixing bowl

My trusty KitchenAid mixer at work... If you look closely, you'll see that is actually working and the paddle is moving

And another shot of my mixer working. Can you see the paddle moving?

Ok, to get this shot she had to crack an egg and then put it back into the shell a few times... Well, that or cracking quite a few eggs... We decided to cheat :)

Sifting the flour

Still sifting the flour

Mixing in the chocolate chips

Scooping out the cookie dough

And a shot of the scooped out cookie dough... I needed about 20 pictures
for this assignment, so I shot everything I could think of.

Putting the cookie sheets into the oven... For about 10 minutes (in and out) to get this shot!

Cookies in the oven... Working on getting 20 pictures!

Cookies almost done in the oven

Getting the cookies onto a rack...

Cookies on a rack... Cookie heaven! I like this picture even though it is quite yellow, I think it's very nice.

Pouring some tea, this is I think a fourth cup... again, just to get this shot!

And the final product!!!

The cookies turned out really good. They kept very well. After 6 days they were still soft and moist. The whole experience was also interesting and fun and a little bit frustrating. I was really disappointed with my lighting in the kitchen. Some pictures were really yellow and for some I needed a ridiculously long Shutter Speed just to get a proper exposure, that's why most of the pictures had to be shot using a tripod and that interfered with my creativity a little bit. But all in all it was a fun experience and my friend was really 
supportive and patient.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolat... Ah...

I wanted to watch Chocolat again for quite some time and I would always forget or when I remembered I'd be busy. I was not going to watch it today, but there was a recipe that caught my attention a few days ago and I had this urge to try it. I had no idea how it's going to taste and I was intrigued. You see, I got this book a while ago, book about Cooking with Chocolate. Yes, it had a lot of dessert recipes and chocolate drinks, but it also had a section about cooking, just plain cooking... with chocolate. And a recipe for Chocolate Ravioli with Ricotta just called my name. I had to make it!!!

I also had some left over sponge cake and what can you do with it? It's simple. Rum Balls! I love those little desserts, they taste like it's an elaborate cake that took you hours to prepare, but they only take a couple of minutes to mix together.

At that point I knew that it is time to watch that movie again. I ate Rum Balls and I watched the movie and drooled over chocolates (and melted over Johnny Depp). I still was not satisfied. Something was missing. That scene when they have a chocolate dinner was stuck in my mind. The chocolate sauce over meat... Mmm... I've never tried anything like it. But I had a recipe just for that. It was exactly what I needed. Shrimp in Chocolate Sauce.

And then I was in Chocolate Heaven.

Chocolate Ravioli with Ricotta

Shrimp in Chocolate Sauce

Rum Balls

Bakery Arts Certificate

I am very proud to say that this past Thursday I had my last baking class at George Brown College and now I can get my Bakery Arts Certificate! It was an interesting, fun, tiring and tasty journey. I found out about this program from Cream Puffs in Venice blog (I actually even took one class with her :) ) and I instantly knew that I had to try out the classes.

I started exactly a year ago. In July 2006 I took my first baking class - Basic Baking. I was a little bit disappointed - not enough explanation about the science behind the ingredients and a lot (A LOT) of shortening, which I do not ever (ever!) use at home. But then I came to understand that I can almost always use butter instead of this shortening at home and they do it to save the cost. I had some absolutely wonderful instructors. Some just showed us how to do the recipe, but some actually talked to us about the ingredients, substitutions, some tricks, etc. It was tiring taking 2 classes a week from 6 to 9 (or sometimes to 10-11 depending on the class) after work, but it was worth it. I learned a lot. I made pies, cookies, muffins, cakes, pastries, breads, Chinese buns. I learned how to temper chocolate, how to make a perfect pie crust, how to make various pastry creams and shape breads.

And last Thursday I had my last class. It was Art of Cakes course and we made the best chocolate cake! It was the perfect ending to my classes.

Apple Pie - first course, first class


Chocolate Decadent Cake - last course, last class


Chocolate Decadent Cake

Something salty, something sweet...

The plan was to wake up and go to the cottage. Then the plan was to wake up, bake a tray of simple brownies and go to the cottage. Then our computer decided to erase all the pictures. After my boyfriend went to bad at 5 am (that is 5 in the morning, that is 4 hours before we were going to wake up), exhausted from the fight and a victory over our PC, the plan changed.

I woke up and realized that I have about 4-5 quiet hours. There was no question what to do. It was simple. I bake bread and I try a different recipe when I have time. I chose a variation on a Lavash bread, a middle-eastern flat bread, usually eaten with BBQ and just torn in pieces. The dough turned out perfect, it doubled in size and it was light and smooth. After I let it rise for the second time, I shaped two breads and baked them for 20 minutes. The result was amazing. Golden, warm, chewy breads.. I couldn't resist to tear another and another piece from it.

While the dough was proofing I decided to bake something sweet. The brownies sounded too simple, but there was a cake I wanted to make for some time. It was from a Pure Chocolate book by Fran Bigelow and I had all (well, almost all) of the required ingredients on hand. The cake was called L'Orange and one of the main ingredients was oranges. I didn't have oranges in my fridge, but I had a Pure Orange Oil made from real orange zest. It is one of my absolutely favourite ingredients, so I used it. The batter took no time to make, it was simple and a little bit unusual because of the ground almonds used instead of a regular flour. But the baking process (the easy part, right?) took forever... literally... almost literally. According to the recipe, the cake was supposed to be baked after 45 minutes. But 45, 55, 65 and 75 minutes later it was still almost liquid. I had to increase the oven temperature and bake another 15 minutes to get that perfect moist consistency.

I'll definitely make both recipes again. That is if I don't find anything even more interesting to make...

Excuse my photos. I just got a new camer and I still have no clue how to use it

Lavash
L'Orange