we got our first quiz grades in class today! we got our written quiz back this afternoon as well as our evaluation of our pie dough. i got a 99% on my written exam and a 91% on my practical. while i am excited to have gotten an A on my first attempt, it is a little disconcerting that my higher score was on the book smarts stuff, while my actual baking was the lower score.
it is a commonly known fact that i am not a big fan of pie, so i don't have a whole lot of experience with it, but it is a lot less scientific than i like my baking. there is a ton of food chemistry involved to ensure that you get a good flake and a tender crust, however, even if you put all the right ingredients in the bowl, you aren't guaranteed a perfect crust! stupid gluten. everything you bake is subject to some issue even if the recipe is perfect, but pie crust is seriously temperamental. you put in sugar and acid to decrease the gluten formation and rest it at every possible moment to continue to inhibit gluten and yet you have to roll the darn stuff out, which starts the gluten going all over again. seriously frustrating, but i'll get it right yet. overall, food science is really going to be my friend this summer.
today we learned about sugars and some of the food science involved in sugar cookery! i really am a dork when it comes to food. if anyone is curious, i can go into a long discussion about how inverted sugars are formed and a bunch of other fun facts that probably no one else in the world is interested in. and to further our learning about sugar, we got to make baked custards and several varieties of ice cream. we also rolled out our traditional and blitz puff pastry doughs to make a very fun assortment of traditional pastries.
i am so excited about doing sensory analysis tomorrow. not only did we make palmiers, which are one of my favorite things to do with puff pastry, we made this truly amazing cherry-blackberry cabarnet sorbet. it is definitely one of the better frozen confections that i have ever eaten and anyone who knows me very well knows that i LOVE frozen treats. i am so excited to get to eat it after it has frozen overnight. we are also going to make scones and quick breads tomorrow, so basically all of my favorite tasty treats. i really need to find a personal trainer so i don't end up weighing a ton by the end of the summer. for now, i am going to sleep a bit so my brain will actually work tomorrow. SWEET DREAMS everyone!
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