Third Week @ Intensive Basic Patisserie

Halfway has passed already, and after my breakout in the previous week, I missed Monday's practical class. The practical was for orange and chocolate tartelettes, which I really wanted to learn how to make. I will definitely check the chef's work once I'm back for intermediate.

Tuesday was all about this delicious pear and blackcurrant pie, which I absolutely loved. It is not one of the most gorgeous pies that left the kitchen, but it's amazingly good. The sweetness of the caramelized poached pears match perfectly the blackcurrant taste, and the almond top makes it all crispy and awesomely delicious. Not a hard one to make, this pie was one of my favorites in the whole basic course.

Then on Wednesday we had our demonstration for Croissant, Pains au Chocolat and Brioches that we baked on Friday. This was all because we had the most awesome lunch with everybody from basic pastry and cuisine and the chefs.

I was a bit scared to make croissants in just one afternoon but they ended up being quite nice. A bit over baked, but since it's the chef who controls the baking, I guess we ended up getting the croissants baked according to his taste :)

Brioches were made together with the croissants and it's the only recipe where they allow you to use a mixer. You measure the ingredients, give it to the chef and some hours later, voilà!, you have brioche dough for you to shape.

I must say that my braided brioche ended up quite nicely (with compliments from the chef), but my "standard" brioches were awful. I just cannot make that beautiful nice round top…

With the remaining dough, we made some small pains aux raisins, which were quite nice as well.
As you can imagine, this day we came back packed with food. Everybody from the class gathered the unwanted breads and donated it to a homeless shelter close to the school.

On Saturday we made a gorgeous and delicious Pear Charlotte. I was quite happy with the result, and tried to do it again at home in Brazil for Christmas (which was a small headache, considering the weather). This one was also one of my favorites -- not too sweet, not too hard to make, and full of pears that I love.

With this awesome charlotte off I went home to get some rest and wait for my last week at school.

Want to know more? Check what happened on the following and previous weeks!

First Week - Part One
First Week - Part Two
Second Week
Fourth Week
Final Test