Danishes

Monday and Tuesday, November 1st and 2nd were my school's observed days for Fall Break. It's a little later than usual, but it is intended to coincide with Election Day so students can get out and rock the vote. I voted for key races, but sadly, my candidates did not rise victorious. I used the fall break days to catch up on some things around my apartment, and I actually took time to get out and get some exercise which was definitely needed. My friend Mandy and I walked one day throughout the downtown, which is always a great way to explore the great architecture on expensive houses. I also walked one day in James Island County Park, which I really enjoy; it's peaceful and has a bunch of walking trails so it feels like I'm really out there getting "fresh" air.

So last week, I only had two days of class. My nutrition class was fairly laid back, and we spent time reviewing sanitation concepts for our national exam which is in a few weeks. On Thursday, I had a regular day, laminated doughs in the morning and my bakeshop class in the afternoon. In bakeshop we made a chiffon cake which we froze to decorate at a later date. Here's a recap of what we did in laminated doughs.



Pictured here are two types of danishes: apple fontaines and blueberry schnecken. My partner Gilly and I had an awesome day in class, executing some of the best product of the day so that was definitely a positive. I really love this class.

The danish dough is the same dough as the croissant dough we used the previous week. The apple fontaines we made actually have some diced pear as well, in addition to sugar, pecans, and nutmeg. Did you know nutmeg comes from the pit of nutmeg fruit, grown in Grenada? Here's a picture:



Chef gave us some information on nutmeg, none of which I knew previously. I had no idea nutmeg fruit even existed and I never knew where nutmeg comes from. So in the picture you can see the fruit's pit, which is the actual nutmeg that gets ground and used in a variety of baked goods. The red leathery looking skin over the nutmeg is what the spice "mace" is made from - I told you it was fascinating.

Anyway, to make the apple fontaines we cut 3 in x 3 in squares of dough, then used a cutter to cut a portion. The remaining bit was folded over, to give this fountain look. After time to proof, we filled these with our apple/pear filling, and baked them; these got really good rise and good color due to egg wash.

To make the blueberry schnecken, we jelly-rolled a piece of dough with cinnamon and sugar, and then cut the dough into 3/4 in rounds, much like you would to make cinnamon rolls. After proofing, we filled these with the blueberry mixture, egg washed, and baked off. Again, our product got really good rise. I should note that we added an apricot glaze to the product as well, to give it some shine.



That's great lamination. Seriously, check out all of the layers. And they taste pretty great. Another excellent day of pastry.