Crêpes and Pancakes

Learning the pastry arts is not a piece of cake (no pun intended).  Our second week of school is getting a little more intense as we begin a journey in pursuit of pastry.  This week’s class continues to emphasize sanitation and safe practices in the kitchen.  As well it should!  Food preparation establishments have to be impeccably clean, as do the bakers and cooks.  I envision bakeries and restaurants employing a “professional itch scratcher” so that the chefs don’t have to touch their bodies and risk contamination.

It’s not all sanitation and cleanliness though.  We also learned about the various equipment that can be found in the professional bakery kitchen as well as the myriad of ingredients common to the profession.  The study of flour was actually quite interesting!  So many different kinds, each with its own properties that determine how and when it’s used.  And by different kinds, I don’t simply mean white, whole wheat, rye, corn, barley, and so on.  White flour, for example, is subdivided into straight flour, patent bread flour, clear flour, high-gluten flour, cake flour, pastry flour, and all-purpose flour.  Each of these comes with their own characteristics, based on its protein level which contributes to the strength of the gluten it forms.

In addition to our readings and “knowledge checks” (open-book quizzes), we now have the additional task of being required to post on a discussion board.  Our chef-instructor will post a topic or question.  We are required to make one post in response to that and then two additional posts responding to two of our classmates.  We won’t have this every week, thankfully, but it is a good way to get a "class discussion" going. 

This week our practical assignment is to make crêpes and buttermilk pancakes and to compare the ingredients, batters, and final product.  In addition to the required photographs of each, we also need to prepare a separate “production note” form for each.  Not only that, should we decide to make Chantilly cream or a sauce or a compote to go with them, we need to include a “production note” for that, as well, even though it is not part of the actual assignment.  Yes, it’s more work, but this is a good thing.  This is how our chef instructor gets into our kitchen.  If we were on campus the chef would be commenting on the sauce or cream, so requiring additional production notes for anything we produce is our instructor’s way of getting into our kitchen, so to speak. 

Another good thing is that we are encouraged to do our final plating using our imagination.  They will accept but don’t really want a stack of pancakes on a plate.  They would like to see us use some creativity with the plating.  This is good for me because plating doesn’t come naturally to me so I’m being forced to think and plan how I want to present what I’m baking.

I didn’t realize pursuing pastry would involve so much writing and research.  But that’s what I love to do when I’m not baking, so this is a perfect fit for me!

So, back to this week's practical assignment. I made crêpes that I filled with Nutella, folded into triangles and plated with raspberries, mint leaves, and a dusting of powdered sugar.  I also made buttermilk pancakes with blueberry maple syrup.  The pancakes turned out fine, but I was very disappointed with the syrup.  I found the recipe in a cooking magazine and it sounded simple and delicious, but there was no blueberry flavor and no maple flavor.  There was, however, an odd floral flavor that came through, though wat it was from I have no idea.  Fortunately, this didn't affect my grade, but I was very disappointed.   It could be due to the fact that I had to use frozen blueberries (hard to find decent fresh ones in February).  I may try making this again with fresh berries and a better brand of maple syrup. Oh well...at least the photo looks good!

Crêpes filled with Nutella.

Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberry Maple Syrup.

Cross section of the pancakes to show their interior structure.