Thursday, April 16, 2015

A Final Flourless Farewell

For the physical portion of my Capstone Project, I decided to make and decorate pastries, which primarily include, but are not limited to: cakes, cupcakes, and cookies.  A majority of my project consisted of me working individually at home, making and decorating different pastries for different occasions.  For example, during the winter, I decided to make Christmas cupcakes as well as a cake decorated to look like a snowman.  However, I also constantly contacted my mentor, Mr. Todd Galli, to update him on whenever I created something new as well as to schedule dates and times for me to physically come in to the bakery.  I worked with several different people when I was in the bakery, learning new techniques and working with technology that I’ve never used before but are common and necessary for a successful bakery.  Whenever I came across an appealing pastry design, I would have to figure out how I would go about re-creating that piece of art.  Throughout the project, not once did I research how a design was created, so I had to decipher how I could make the pastries look as best as I can make them.  Furthermore, whenever I came across a recipe, I would typically somewhat alter the recipe, usually reducing the sugar.

For the written portion of my Capstone Project, I decided to discuss about how baking has become an innovative method to opening up the topic of mental illnesses.  When first deciding what I wanted to write about, I had some difficulty because I didn’t want to resolve to writing about genetically modified foods.  As a result, I conducted some research until I stumbled upon my topic about how pastry making and decorating has increased mental illness awareness.  I did extensive research on my topic because the idea behind my thesis was relatively modern.  However, doing so simply increased my interest in my topic and I became much more aware of how common mental illness really is. 

The Capstone heightened my awareness about mental illnesses and I now want to do as much as I can in order to help those who are suffering from any form of mental illness, regardless of how severe the case is, feel as normal and happy as possible.  I will definitely use what I learned from this project in my future career as an educator as I try to create new teaching techniques to accommodate those with a mental illness.  Furthermore, going in to the bakery made me recognize how difficult the food industry can really be, especially for a small, family-owned bakery, as bakers must get up at extremely early hours several times a week to prepare and make the many different pastries which they will then have to determine prices for that will bring customers in to compete with the bigger food industries.  I’ve always loved baking, but physically working in the bakery made me realize how much baking has become a part of my life.  I absolutely loved every minute that I was working in the bakery, and working alongside different people in the bakery made the once-in-a-lifetime experience that much more amazing.  This project definitely confirmed how central baking has become a part of my life as I continue to expand my knowledge of the baking to create pastries that will spread my happiness from the kitchen to others.


When first presented with this project, I became overwhelmed with the idea of the workload, especially when first deciding what I wanted my topic to be since I would be actively working on my topic throughout the course of my senior year.  To prevent myself from having to suffer from anxiety, I planned out a schedule that I maintained to reduce the stress to minimal levels.  In addition, I originally wanted to do lion dancing because I wanted to gain a better understanding of my culture, but unfortunately, I wouldn’t have been able to work with a lion troupe.  Instead of letting myself succumb to unfortunate timing and circumstances though, I decided to be flexible and switch my project to pastry making and decorating, which has really been a gratifying experience.  Not only was I able to do something that I already knew that I liked, but I was able to give others some of the finished products, such as the cupcakes and cookies, which simply spread my happiness to others to brighten their day.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Crumble Cake and Cookies

When I went in to the bakery this morning at 7, there was already cake batter made for me to scoop in to the cake tins.  For the very first time, I had to use my hand to scoop the batter in to the cake tins, which was definitely a different experience for me because I'm accostomed to using a ladle or spoon.  Although somewhat messy and squishy, this method was definitely faster than using a ladle or spoon and is the method that most traditional bakers use.  To measure the amount of batter in each tin, a scale was used.  On one side of the scale, there was a cake tin with a weight inside it.  On the other side of the scale was the cake tin that I filled up.  I had to fill each cake tin until the scale tipped.
There were nine trays, with five cake tins on each.  I put frozen mangoes on two trays, frozen strawberries on two trays, frozen blackberries on one tray, and frozen blueberries on four trays.  Next, I sprinkled a mixture of sugars on top of each of the cakes and finally put crumble onto each of the cakes.

Here are the mango tea cakes:


Here are the strawberry tea cakes:


Here are the blackberry tea cakes:


Here are the blueberry tea cakes:


After prepping the tea cakes and while they were baking in the oven, I made chocolate linzers and chocolate thumbprints.  I started with the chocolate linzers.  The cookie dough was already made, so all I had to do was roll the dough out using the rolling machine.  After rolling out the dough, I simply used a cookie cutter to make the flower shapes of the dough.  I made six trays in total, and since linzer cookies consist of a top and a bottom cookie, with a hole in the top cookie, I used a piping tip to cut out a hole in the center of three trays of cookies.  Next, I used the other half of the cookie dough to make chocolate thumbprint cookies.  I made three and a half trays of the thumbprints.  Unfortunately, I had to leave before any of the cookies were baked, so I wasn't able to help put the fudge in between the cookies for the linzers or put white chocolate and milk chocolate fillings into the thumbprint cookies.

Here are the chocolate linzers:




Here are the chocolate thumbprints:


Time Logged for this Session: 3 hours
Total Time Logged: 31.5 hours

I learned alot in my time working in the bakery, and although I didn't make most of the batters or doughs, I've learned several baking techniques that I will continue to use as I keep on baking.  Thank you so much to my mentor and the people at the bakery for being so welcoming, kind, and helpful in guiding me to become a better baker.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Sunflower Cupcakes

Tonight I decided to bake chocolate cupcakes decorated to look like sunflowers for my friend's birthday tomorrow.  I got the inspiration for the cupcakes from here: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/cm/goodhousekeeping/images/VC/ghk-sunflower-cupcakes-with-ladybugs-0503-s3-medium_new.jpg.  I decided to make sunflower cupcakes because spring is coming up soon (the 20th).  The recipe I used for the chocolate cupcakes can be found here: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/06/03/classic-chocolate-cupcakes-with-vanilla-frosting/ and the recipe for the vanilla buttercream frosting can be found here: http://addapinch.com/cooking/classic-vanilla-buttercream-frosting-recipe/#axzz2wYqdpHg6.  I reduced the sugar of the frosting by a little over a cup because I don't like frosting that's overly sweet and overpowers the cupcake itself.  I simply dyed the frosting yellow and used the star tip to make the "petals" of the sunflower.

Instead of little ladybugs made of M&M's, I decided to use little gummy butterflies that I found in the store.  In addition, since tomorrow is also St. Patrick's Day, I decided to use only green butterflies.  Just as the picture, I used mini chocolate chips to add texture to the cupcake to make the cupcakes look more like actual sunflowers.  To make the chocolate chips stay, I spread a little bit of the frosting onto the cupcake and then sprinkled the chips onto the cupcake.  This project helped boost my confidence slightly in my ability to see a picture of a cupcake and become resourceful to replicate the cupcake's design to the best of my abilities.

I hope to do to continue to expand my pastry decorating skills by seeing and replicating other cupcake designs to the best of my abilities.

Time Logged for this Session: 2 hours
Total Time Logged: 28.5 hours

I made and decorated a dozen cupcakes in total, but I took close-up pictures of a single cupcake to have a closer view of the cupcakes' details.  (Unfortunately, I don't have white-lighting in my home, so the colors of the cupcakes and the decorations may have a slight tint to them).






Sunday, March 15, 2015

2nd Day at the Bakery

I went to the bakery for the second time, arriving at the bakery at 5:50 and leaving at 8:20.  When I went in, I grabbed an apron (luckily I did too, because by the time I left, the apron had multiple stains on it).  Unlike the previous week, in which I helped make sweet pastries, this week I helped make focaccia.  The focaccia was an order from AT&T park, and I helped make about 20-30 trays.  When I got to the bakery, the dough was already made, so I just helped open the cans with the pesto and tomato sauces as well as the bags with cheese.

While waiting for the dough to settle just a little bit more, Mr. Galli, my mentor, was making a coffee-and-caramel cake cream filling.  He taught me that when making cake cream filling, you have to fold the cream mixture and not mix because mixing would cause the cream filling to separate as well as add air to the mixture.

When the dough was ready, I helped flatten, shape, and roll out the focaccia dough.  While I was finishing doing that up, Mr. Galli used the rolling machine to fully roll the dough out evenly.  Once I was finished, I helped add the little holes into the rolled-out dough using an ateco dough docker, and then I made sure that the edges of the dough were flattened.  Afterwards, I helped spread the pesto and tomato sauces onto the dough.  Finally, I put the cheese onto the dough, making sure that not too much cheese was added (especially for the focaccia with the pesto sauce because pesto apparently looks better with less cheese).  Unfortunately, I had to leave before I could help with the wedding cakes, but hopefully the next time I go to the bakery, I will be able to gain more experience with sweet pastries, such as cakes.

Time Logged for this Session: 2.5 hours
Total Time Logged: 26.5 hours

In addition, I unfortunately had to leave before the focaccia could be baked, but here's a sample of what I helped make:



Saturday, March 7, 2015

First Day in the Bakery

Today was my first day actually working in a bakery.  While I've baked many things before at home, working at a bakery is very different.  The pace is quicker at the bakery than at home and the bakery has different types of professional equipment that makes baking that much faster.  In the beginning, I learned that fresh eggs aren't necessarily the best to use when baking, and that aged, pre-whipped eggs are used to help with the texture and consistency of the pastries, especially with pastries like meringue.  In addition, although this was my very first time working in the bakery, my mentor and all of the workers were extremely nice, and I actually worked under/alongside two of the other workers as well as my mentor.

The first type of pastry that I helped make were the amaretti cookies, which I helped pipe on to the trays and then sprinkle white sugar on top of.  Doing so helped me with my piping techniques, increasing my piping consistency in particular because I had to make sure that the cookies were roughly the same size.



The second type of pastry that I helped make were the eclairs.  While each part of the eclair was already pre-made (the pastry, custard, whipping cream, and chocolate), I helped cut, fill, and decorate the tops of the pastries.  I learned another technique while piping, which is to twist the end of the piping bag to increase the pressure in the bag, which would make piping quicker and easier.




The third, and last, type of pastry that I helped make this morning were the Easter sugar cookies.  Although I had to leave before the cookies were baked, I helped make the dough by measuring the ingredients and using the mixer.  Next, I rolled out the dough using the rolling machine and then cut out the cookies using different cookie cutters.  I made two trays of each of the shapes, which were: two sizes of bunny heads, a chick, and two sizes of eggs.  After I finished cutting the shapes out, I put pink, blue, yellow, and purple crystal sprinkles onto the cookies by spraying some water onto the cookies and then putting the cookies on the trays with sprinkles on them.  Some of the cookies were designated to be decorated with chocolate, but I had to leave before I could help decorate those cookies.














The next thing I hope to do is to continue to increase my piping skills as well as continue to gain experiencing making different types of pastries.

Time Logged for this Session: 4 hours
Total Time Logged: 24.5 hours

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Maracon Meltdown

I tried making macarons for the first time to try something new instead of the regular cupcakes I bake and decorate.  I used this recipe for the macarons: http://www.sweetandsavorybyshinee.com/lemon-french-macarons/.

Unfortunately, the macarons I made looked nothing like the ones in the recipe did, instead coming out cracked, broken, and slightly sticky although they were turning brown whilst they were in the oven (which is why I took the macarons out when I did). I began thinking about what I did differently that could've caused the disaster, and here's what I came up with: 1) I used a hand mixer instead of a standing mixer, 2) I overbeat the egg whites/egg white mixture, 3) I used a different sized tip when piping out the batter onto the sheets, making different-sized macarons, and 4) I didn't use yellow gel food coloring (I mistakenly used yellow decorating gel).  Are there any tips on how to make macarons?

I wanted to decorate the macarons for Chinese New Year, choosing yellow and red for good luck. Since I used yellow decorating gel instead of yellow gel food coloring, the macarons didn't come out yellow.  In order to make the macarons yellow, I used this:

Afterwords, I tried writing "Happy Chinese New Year" (pronouced sun nein fai lock) in red on top of some of the macarons as well as the chinese character for ram for the Year of the Ram, using this:
However, after I followed the instructions to make the icing (microwave the bottle for 5-10 seconds and then knead the bottle until the icing hardens), the icing never hardened, so I ended up using a toothpick to write the characters on the macarons.

I want to try making macarons again, possibly with a new recipe, while also fixing my mistakes (such as using gel food coloring and not decorating gel).

Total Estimated Time: 4.5 hours.
Total Time Logged: 20.5 hours.

Here's what I salvaged and Happy Chinese New Year! (the word ram is written on the uppermost macaron):








Friday, January 30, 2015

Ballerina Cupcake

Last night, I baked lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting and buttercream toppers.  The recipe I used for the lemon cupcakes and lemon frosting was: http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2014/03/perfect-triple-lemon-cupcakes/ but I didn't want to use the lemon curd, so the cupcakes were "double lemon" instead of "triple lemon cupcakes."  I used the star tip when piping the frosting and a smaller size star tip to make the tutu look as if it was made of tulle.  I used this recipe for the buttercream toppers: http://www.craftymorning.com/easy-snowflake-cupcakes-diy-toppers/ and this template in order to make the toppers look like ballerina tutus: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/ae/8e/b9/ae8eb9df463fde74707d4b7e7192a680.jpg.  I simply used a little bit of red food coloring to make the buttercream toppers pink. I then piped the buttercream frosting on to a piece of wax paper on a tray with templates of the tutu that I printed and placed under the wax paper.  Unlike the SF Giants cake, I didn't have to make sure that the template was backwards before piping the design since the tutu is pretty symmetrical.  I used a star tip when the frosting on top of the cake once again because I feel that the star tip is best at adding ridges to the frosting.  I also used a star tip when piping the tutu, but this star tip was much smaller so that I could be more exact.  One of the major problems I had when piping the tutu was that buttercream melts extremely quickly, so the first few tutus came out extremely well, with the ridges appearing, but after a while, the buttercream started melting in the bag because of the warmness of my hand and the ridges no longer appeared.  As a result, I had to continually refill the bag while dumping out any excess buttercream that became overheated.  In addition, I discovered that I had to transfer the tutus onto the cupcakes quite quickly so that the heat from my hand wouldn't melt the tutu before I was able to place it onto the cupcake.

My next goal is to try to make something other than cupcakes to see if I can decorate those too and to expand my pastry making knowledge and skills.

Total Estimated Time: 2 hours
Total Time Logged: 16.5 hours