Soft Pretzels 5.28.11

I finally tried a soft pretzel recipe.  This one is from Baking Illustrated.  I also have one from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I may the latter one next time because I am not 100% satisfied with the Baking Illustrated version.  Honestly though, I may have messed up the technique by boiling the pretzels too long.  I'm not sure exactly what went wrong.

Here's the final result

I had some trouble shaping the pretzels, but I think I can work that out.  I need to use a longer rope basically.  I need a courser salt as well.  I was using Kosher salt, but pretzel salt would be ideal.  Also, the salt started to melt on the pretzels, so maybe the salt should go on when served.  Or maybe using larger salt crystals will prevent fast melting.  Another options would be to opt for poppy seeds or sesame seed.  I kinda like the idea of sesame seeds because it gives it a unique twist. 

The biggest problem with the pretzels (as you can somewhat see from the pictures) is the trouble I had with the crust.  The pretzels look wrinkly and the crust was too thick.  It was impossible to chew through and the undersides (which were baked the most leaning against the sheet pan) had a thick crust.  Baking Illustrated recommends boiling the pretzels 30 seconds on each side.  Artisan Bread recommends 2 minutes on each side, with a much more dilute baking soda solution.

Cheers Beacon Hill 5.27.11

Cheers, 84 Beacon Street, Boston, MA

Boston Cream Pie - This classic is actually moist cake filled with custard and topped with chocolate ganache and shaved almonds.  We make it fresh each day.  You've gotta try it! 

I didn't taste this one.  Way too much sugar for my tastes. 

Mike's Pastry 5.22.11

Mike's Pastry, 300 Hanover Street, Boston, MA

Almond and Pignoli Macaroons - very sweet and too mushy for me :(

Napoleon - The best tasting dessert in my box!  I still can't figure out how to cut it without dissembling the entire pastry.  Oops, I forgot to remove the wrapper before taking the picture.   :(

Note on the Napolean: They look so similar to the ones I made in class!  Take a look.

Tiramisu - One of my favorite desserts, but I did not like the Mike's version.  The best I ever had is still from Bracco.  The Mike's version didn't have the texture I wanted.  The cake wasn't tender enough to blend with the creamy filling.

Hazelnut Cannoli - I think this was the first cannoli I didn't like.  However, I haven't had a cannoli in many years, so maybe I forgot what they are supposed to taste like. My favorite part is always the cheesy, creamy filling, but I didn't like the filling this time.  :(  It's possible I didn't like the hazelnut flavouring.  But should't it still taste like ricotta?

Tiramisu Gelato - Even better than the Napolean was the gelato.  The flavour blended so nicely.  I was amazed at how good it was.

Note on the pictures:  They are a little blurry because I forgot to reset the ISO to a higher setting.  They are currently set at ISO 100.

Bachelorette Cupcakes 5.14.11

Magnolia Bakery, Grand Central Terminal, New York, NY

We had these very cute cupcakes at Nicole's bachelorette party this weekend.  They were decorated with shoe ornaments.  The one I had was absolutely delicious. 

Parker's Restaurant 5.11.11

Parker's Restaurant, 60 School Street, Boston, MA

Generally disappointing food at Parker's Restaurant tonight.  The rolls tasted like dinner rolls from Shaw's, and my Scrod was not delicious (something was off with the balance of flavours, but I don't know how to exactly identify what I didn't like about it).  The clam chowder was pretty good.  The dessert was best part, although nothing too special. 

Parker House rolls

Boston Creme Pie (masked with coconut! yuck!)

Creme Caramel

The creme caramel plate was kinda messy, but was definitely the best tasting dessert.

Parker House Specialties 5.11.11

For our last day of class this block, we were able to work on whatever products we wanted.  I had plans to go to dinner at Parker's restaurant at the Omni Parker House Hotel that night, so I decided to try out recipes for Parker House rolls and Boston Creme Pie.

I started with the cake for the Boston Creme Pie.  I used a yellow cake with butter and sugar, instead of a sponge cake.  The cake was denser than a sponge cake, but quite moist.  I added lemon zest to the cake as well, since I'm in love with lemon flavor lately.  The cake turned out very similar to the cake for the black and white cookies from Baking Illustrated.  I used the chef's pastry cream in the fridge, and used a chocolate ganache (with corn syrup) for the glaze.    I assembled the cake at home.  The cake browned a lot on the sides, and I notice that in stores the sides of the cake are not browned at all and are very yellow (like the inside of the cake).  They are often held together with a ring of acetate.

For the Parker House rolls, I used a recipe for soft rolls.  The rolls turned out very yummy.  I only wish they opened up better.

Taza Chocolate Factory Tour 5.8.11

Taza Factory Store, 561 Windsor Street, Somerville, MA

Because of Taza, I am proud to say I live in Somerville.  Taza chocolate is my favorite and going on a tour of the factory was super fun.  We just learned about chocolate this past week in class, so it was nice to see the machinery used for chocolate production in person.  Taza is especially interesting because every step of chocolate making is done at the factory, starting from roasting the imported cocoa beans. 

Raw cacao beans imported from La Red in the dominican republic.

A German roasting maching lightly roasts the cocoa beans. 

Shells and nibs are separated in this Winnowing machine.

Cocoa nibs are stone ground, then organic sugar and flavoring (e.g. vanilla or coffee) are added.

Chocolate is tempered and molded into round disks.

All disks are hand wrapped.  I was most impressed with this fact because that is a lot of chocolate disks to wrap.

In the shipping room, there are boxes and boxes of chocolate stacked high on the shelves.  This room smells incredibly amazing.  I wish I could live in  here.

Sustainable processing is very important at Taza.  Packaging is made from recycled materials, deliveries are made using Metro Pedal Power, and all ingredients are certified organic.   Go Taza!

Casablanca 5.5.11

Casablanca Restaurant, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA

Chocolate Lava Cake, with vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce

Vanilla bean ice cream

Overall, the desserts were not that impressive.  The portion size for the ice cream was no match compared to the hefty three scoops I got at the Top of the Hub or at Miel.  The chocolate cake was no comparison to dessert at Marliave, the best melting chocolate cake in all of Boston.  Sorry the pictures are of poor quality; my camera was MIA and the lighting was strange.

New York Marriott Marquis 4.30.11

New York Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway, New York, NY

Vanilla, Chocolate, and Banana, ice cream

The plate was a little messy.  I actually only ate the vanilla scoop because we were in a rush to catch a show.

New York's Finest Cheesecake, fresh marinated strawberries

The pink slivers on top had the texture of freeze dried strawberries.

Chocolate Raspberry, chocolate raspberry mousse spiral, chocolate ice cream

The mousse was very good.  There was a raspberry mousse filling inside and edible gold leaves on top.  The tan chips beside the raspberries were sweet tasting with the texture of freeze dried ice cream.

Fresh berries that we ordered separately