The treats in the window seemed to have been made by magic — their layers, textures and tastes holding the secrets of centuries’ worth of dedicated practice and artistic perfection. Are you ever...
I have been fascinated by the diversity of textures among the breads we have baked in class these past few lessons, from soft roll and pizza dough, to bagel and pretzel dough, to doughnuts and brioche...
The first recipe, for semolina bread, read: Mix (straight dough method, by hand). Ferment Deflate Divide Shape Proof Bake I wondered, “Is that really how you make bread? Seven one-word instructions?”...
The dough used to make them, pâte à choux, demands a careful attention to detail. It is used for a huge range of classic pastries: éclairs, profiteroles, croquembouche, Paris-Brest… But first, I had...
Treand’s specialty is using an airbrush to decorate chocolate and sugar to create detailed faces with haunting gazes and fanciful masks. His work with these sweet materials won him the gold medal at...
We’ve been preparing and churning egg-based (ice cream) and water-based (sorbet) ice using an ice cream machine that I wish I had stocked in my kitchen for these hot summer nights. We also made bombes...
This past week, our focus was on sugar, not surprising for a pastry class I suppose. Just as my experience of eggs prior to the program has been scrambling them for breakfast, my experience of using...
At first sticky, wiggly glance it absolutely disgusts me. Maybe it’s because I am realizing what was in all the Jell-o and marshmallows I ate as a kid, or maybe it’s that story my co-worker shared...
The students in the class were learning new recipes and techniques from one of the best. Originally from Switzerland, Chef Ciril is a master baker and head of the International Baking & Pastry...
According to Chef Instructor Jeff Yoskowitz, few people still make strudel by hand, which means most people have never had real strudel. But there were no fakes in our class! Our six batches of dough...
The 10 chefs were honored by Dessert Professional Magazine Editor Matthew Stevens and emcee, Food Network sous chef, Miriam Garron, who can be seen on "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" (and she studied at...
As my class approached, I felt a surge of anxious and excited butterflies in my stomach. I put on my commis cap, chef coat, checkered pants and big black kitchen-safe shoes and wondered why I always...