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Friday, April 15, 2011

I Need Some Dough....

No, seriously, I need some dough.

Not the money kind of a dough, a starter dough. I am not quite sure which one to use for our latest class project on breads. There are 3 of us on a team, each having to create our own unique bread formula consisting of a starter dough and some filling of some sort if we desire, along with a recipe chart which consists of the amount of ingredients used(which includes oz/grams/lbs of each ingredient), we also need to have the baker's percentage of each ingredient used in reference to the total flour weight.

Fun times folks, fun times.

I have a pretty good idea of the type of bread I am going to use. And after I make it I will post a photo of it for all to see along with the ingredients I used to formulate this bread. 

I'm nervously excited about this. I just hope it turns out okay.


I had more to say but this goofy firefox isn't playing nice with me today. I hit enter in my blog here, and the cursor just sits there, blinking at me...not moving. I'm sure Mercury being retro is probably also helping to wreak havoc on me today.

Anyway, to whomever should pass by my blog today, be sure to have a lovely weekend, week, month.


Until next time.....

Monday, April 11, 2011

Back in the Baking/Blogging Game

Although I don't have many followers, and I'm not quite sure if anyone happens to "stumble upon" my blog here, I still like to randomly post things from time to time in the event someone should need the information I post here. Also, it keeps my writing skills in tact so I don't lose my "gift of written gab".

Anyway, I thought I'd update those who happen to come across my blog as to why it's been a long time since my last post. I have gone back to school to pursue my dream of one day opening my own little bakery of sorts and cashing in on my gifts so that I can finally have something to call my own and provide all the fun things for my kids I normally wouldn't be able to do with a minimum wage job. It will take me a while to get back on my feet financially but patience is a virtue, one I am learning quickly.

Last night I was craving Chocolate something fierce. My daughter and I were hanging out on the couch watching cupcake wars and I was dealing with a severe case of PMS. What better thing to calm the PMS nerves than a two-layer Chocolate Peanut Butter cake made from scratch, right? LOL I measured out the ingredients I found on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa Powder and let me say this was one of the most richest, chocolatiest (is that even a word?? loll Spell check is telling me it isn't...oh well) cakes I have ever eaten. It was so moist and yummy I could have eaten the whole cake myself. However, I managed to cut a slice for my children and myself and washed it down with a cold, refreshing glass of Vitamin D milk and I slept like a baby after that dessert settled in my belly.

I topped the cake with a chocolate ganache which was basically 8oz. of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream. I should have added a tad bit of sugar, because even though the chips were semi-sweet, there was a teeny tiny bitter aftertaste. It was still delicious, and I noticed today, after the ganache had set the ganache was a tad bit sweeter to the palate.

I also used a peanut butter frosting to layer the two nine-inch round cakes together. I had barely any powdered sugar, so I wanted a recipe that was PS free. And I found one. :) The baking Gods were smiling on me last night. LOL I found the recipe here: Peanut Butter Recipe and it was absolutely divine on this cake. I've been working on my piping skills which are a wee-bit rusty to say the least. I'm more of a pastry pro, baking items such as cookies, bars and sheet cakes with simple frosting. I was told by my chef to continue practicing with parchment paper in an effort to hone my decorative skills. I had mentioned to her previously that I didn't have very good creative skills and my cake artwork needed some work. Then she mentioned the parchment paper. Basically, I need to find photos of designs and place them underneath the parchment, then trace over the top of the design. Easy peasy.

Anyway, the cake came out a huge success to my kids and I have to say I was quite pleased with my work, although my piping looks a tad bit off(to me anyway). Took about an hour total to finish the cake. 

Hopefully I will be posting more tips and recipes as the year unfolds.

Have a good week and I'll see you later.