IP Lesson 3 : Gateau Mille Feuille

Chef Andre is our Wednesday chef...We always saw him came in during our basic demo classs asking for something ^ ^

Anyway, we made Gateau Mille Feuille which is made from reversed puff pastry again...Mille Feuille means ‘ a thousand layers ‘. It’s a French classic dessert made with two or three puff pastry laid on top of each other, and in between consisting Cream Patisserie, or whipped cream. In our case, we used Creme Diplomate. Creme Diplomat is Creme Patisserie mixed with gelatine and whipped cream. It’s something like Napoleon, and here, in Australia, it’s called Vanilla Slices.



Chef Andre put the white chocolate decorated with red colour to make it looks special..hehe

At first, I thought that chef cut it off into too small pieces...I ate one..satisfied... then I took another one...ahhh...now I can feel it was too much :P But the taste was incredibly good..the puff was very super flaky, short and light. The cream was so rich and creamy...Chef put rum also ...hehe

So proud...my huge reversed puff pastry came out so good...(everyone's also)

My decoration could be a lot better if I draw the chocolate line closer...

We got 2 Gateau to bring home...I quickly cut and let my housemate tasted...They love it !!!!!

It is one of the great recipe I made so far, however, I don't think I will make it again...The reversed puff pastry is not easy to make at home...or should I try buying the frozen puff from supermarket ?

IP Lesson 2 : Petit Four / Hor' dourves

Tueday, we have Chef Karen from Liverpool, England...At first I heard her accent...ahh...So British...she is very kind and nice chef also...lucky us !

Today we made some petit fours, or in other words hor’dourves. Due to time constraint again, we were not allow to make Hazelnut crescent and Almond pretzel which is very very nice....we made only savoury item :
Mini Pizza, Pissaladiere, Mini Quiche and Parmesan twists.


Almond Pretzel was waiting to bake prepared by Chef Karen.


Mini quiches.... We made a Pate Brisee (savoury short pastry) for this, then pinned out to 1.5 mm , cut and layed into mini aluminium foil cups. Chef Karen style is putting bacon, cheese and egg mixture separately... cheese first, sauteed bacon and onion, cheese again and pour with egg and cream mixture...and onion. Baked!


This semester...no chef assistant anymore..so 1 of us will be the chef assistant eveyday by coming 30 mins earlier...Today was Su Jin..

Lots of samples to taste today.......\^O^/

Clockwise from top left : Mini quiches, Mini Pizza, Passaladieres, Parmesan twists

Oh...first time tried the puff...it was short, flaky and just melt in your mouth like Chef Michael told us...amazing ! My favourite was the mini pizza..the tangy of tomato sauce made us kept eating...The quiche was nice as it should be.

Almond pretzel and Hazelnut crescent...Both were nice, but I am not a big fan of hazelnut (except Nutella) . I really wanna make Almond pretzel instead of Pissaladiere...Hurr...


Just came out from oven...very cheesy and yummy !


Time to start....We had to made pretty many things today...so I and Sujin made it together...We worked together quite well since already have been doing this for 10 weeks in Basic...Thanks Sujin !

Our mini quiches...well done !

Pissaladieres...mine were bigger than Su jin's ...we supposed to cut 5*7 cm..I think I did 5.5*8 cm lol

Pamesan twists...we had 2 trays...2nd tray was a bit burn ..haha

Our mini pizza...we decided to put cheese on top of half tray....I really like it but at the end of the day...I felt sick of puff already ^ ^''

IP Lesson 1 : Reversed Puff Pastry

Welcome back to LCB ! yeah yeah...I was waiting for class because it was a bit boring when got no class...(actually I had no time to get bored since just came back from Melbourne lol) ... However, all of us haven't get the student book yet, so we had no idea what we will bake today...Lucky I always read about LCB from Swee. So I knew that we will make the Puff pastry ...

Again...Puff pastry but this time it is Reversed (Inverted) puff pastry, which is totally wonderful !! It’s where the fats wrap the dough instead of the dough wrapping the fats like the normal puff pastry. I haven't known there is such this kind of puff before ...

Every Monday we will have Chef Michael who taught us last semester also...I am happy to have him ^ ^ . Since we are in Intermediate semester, we will use the machine to pin the dough instead of using our muscle. Chef said in the real industry, no one use hand..so we have to learn how to use the machine....bravo ! Even I don't mind using hand, you know, it is much quicker and the product is much beautiful...


Chef Michael was using his new millinium-look rolling pin...

At first when I heard about butter is outside the dough...I imagined that it should be very hard....But for real thing...it is not just pure butter, we mix 50% of butter weight with flour to for the butter dough...For the 2nd dough, we add some butter too...so this puff has tons of butter !!!

When rolling, it was so soft....I prefer making this reversed puff than the normal one...I found it is easier for me...

We kept the finish dough in the fridge and cooked some savoury topping for tommorrow savoury petit fours...

Lesson 21 : Creme Brulee, Orange Almond Sponge Pudding, Tarte Tatin

Yayyy....Tarte Tatin is one of my favourte...we gonna do it today..!!!

Actually, there are 4 dishes in today lesson:Creme Brulee, Orange Almond Sponge Pudding, Tarte Tatin and Baked Apple...Chef Michael said baked apple is too easy so he decided to concentrate on doing just first 3 dishes...

He showed us the different tarte tatin...baked apple on top of square puff (instead of round), orange almond sponge pudding, creme brulee

The pudding was nice. and the creme brulee...we serve it cold, but i prefer when it is warm ^ ^

In the kitchen, chef Michael made the tarte tatin with banana and apple...and he let us try half of banana thing...but i was too late...the banana tart has gone so fast.

Today everyone was so rush...about 1.10 pm..they started to clean up..so i was quickly finish my work...then i forgot to take the photos of my stuffs today T_T

I decided to take photos at home...lucky the photos came out nice, not too dark

My apple tarte tatin was so nice...anyway my puff is not as good as the frozen one lol ..At home, Ping made me the lemon grand marnier sauce (using my caramelized lemon zest i made at school)

My creme brulee with caramelized lemon zest :D (just like their shots...can't decide which one i should pick...

Lesson 18 : Sweet Puff Pastry

Apple turnovers, Pithiviers, Cream horns and Palmiers were the sweet puff pastry we were demonstrated by chef Michael today...I think it was the day i felt so full from tasting the most...

Chef let us tried to make cream horns...

Pithiviers, also known as a galette des Rois in the north of France or gateau des Rois in the south of France. It is basically an almond filling sandwiched between layers of puff pastry, but now there are fancy versions with all kinds of different flavors instead. I heard about the story from Delifrance in Thailand that a toy charm or a ring is hidden inside, and the lucky person who receives the slice gets to be king for the day.

We made the traditional one..Frangipane filling with rum..

Cream horns...all my friends love it....

Apple Turnover...actually it is just served without whipped cream..but chef Michael want to make it more speacial and taste nicer ^ ^

The most popular one...Palmiers...We have to put tons of sugar ..

My Pithiviers...We can make it small or big..I chose to make a small one cuz i think it is easier to give to people...And chef Michael said..It is perfect shape ! (as he always say to his students..hehe)

I like it :D

My palmiers...lucky it wasn't become to oreo like last time I did in WAI...lol

I tried some palmiers of my friends...really..I think mine is better :P

Because of the oven, many my friends' products burnt...the temperature was too high and not even...must be very be careful !

Seok's Palmiers...He made it too big and too much sugar...

Kwan forgot her key in the locker..so we had to ask the security officer to break her locker...I am also scary about this that one day might be me...

Lesson 16 - 17 : Savoury Puff Pastry

Puff Pastry : A rich, delicate, multilayered pastry achieved by placing pats of chilled butter on the top of pastry dough, rolling it out, folding it in thirds, and letting it rest. This process is repeated about 6 times, producing a pastry with many layers of dough and butter. When baked, the dough puffs into many separate flaky layers.

There were 3 methods of Puff pastry demonstrated by Chef Keith; French, English and Scotch...We do just French and English in our kitchen and cooked the beef bourguignon filling for 2nd day...

...So for the 1st day..we got nothing to take home....(and was really hungry ^^'')

Chef Keith showed the French method of doing Puff pastry...

For 2nd day, we had so many food to taste: Chicken Vol au Vents, Beef Bourguignon Pie, Salmon en croute (Salmon Pie) and Vegetable parcels...all baked by chef Karin.

Chicken Vol au vents...so yummy...I took a small one in one bite :D

Beef Bourguignon Pie..

Chef Karin's Salmon Pie...so funny

Vegetable parcels (veggies with cream sauce)

Due to the time limitation again, we did just beef pie, empty vol au vents and fish pie...At first, we cooked th salmon filling and cool it in fridge, then rolled out our puff pastry...so had, my arms were a bit tried from yesterday...

The baking temperature also very important...If the oven is too hot, the pastry will develop wildly or not at all, as the sides are baked too quickly, hindering any development. The pastry will then be fully coloured before it is baked through properly, which is most undesirable.

If the temperature is too low, the fat will run out and the pastry will hardly lift.

So the temperature should be around 210c for the thicker pieces and those with a filling and 220c for flat thick pieces.

My Salmon en croute...(its mouth was too small, u can't see)

The front one is my beef bourguignon pie...I really think it looks nice...(behind is Su jin's)

My vol au vents: Chef Karin said that they were not high enough because I rolled it out too thin...

All my puff, after came out from the oven...soooo much melted butter on the tray...I asked Chef Karin, Ping (my friend) and Chef Michael on 3rd day...they said my lamination was not good enough...

However, my puff were soooo yummy and crispy (even can't compare with chef's products..haha)