Tag Archives: Pain au Chocolat

I could open a boulangerie today

I was dreading the 08:30 start yesterday, beginning with 6 hours of practical.  Main reason, we had our demo with a day off in between and for the life of me, there was no way that I could remember all stages of the process.  What with mixing, proving, resting, knocking back etc etc I was completely lost.

My heart skipped a beat when I entered the kitchen and saw my favourite Chef Instructor and I knew it was going to be a good day.  He has this amazing ability to break down everything into really small steps and keep the kitchen a calm and pleasant place to be.

I couldn’t tell you what we did in what order (there’s no way I could remember it all) – I’m just going to be very output-focussed here and show you all of the goodies that I baked.  I’m particularly delighted to have mastered the brioche, hubby always starts his day with a slice of this golden loveliness so I am so pleased that I will be able to create this at home – we are going to save a fortune.  I made a couple of versions today, one that was loaf-shaped (Brioche Nanterre) and the more commonly-known Brioche Tête where it is formed and baked in a fluted round, flared tin; a large ball of dough is placed on the bottom and topped with a smaller ball of dough to form the head.

My beautiful brioches