Lean Dough, Day 1

I. Love. Baking. I have always loved it, but I. Love. Baking. Today we paired up (Tennessee and I) and made three doughs: soft roll dough, 30% whole wheat dough, and baguette dough. We only baked off the soft roll dough and the others are rising overnight in the cooler.
I also really like Chef C. He's nice, and has a ton of experience baking. He said he started around 10, and was sent to CIA (Culinary Instititute of America - THE premiere culinary school in America) at 16...that is incredible. He's been the pastry chef at hotels in Vegas, commercial kitchens, and restaurants. He has 20 years of experience in baking and patisserie, and he's so young!
We went over the syllabus, and then he did a brief demo on the Straight Dough Method. Then we had a go.
Straight Dough Method:
-liquid first
-add yeast and mix in
-add flour
-add salt
-add remaining ingredients
-put the mixer to work! speed 1 (1 min), speed 2 (7 min).
Stretch dough, gliding over fingers, to see if you can make a 'window' (dough is see-through without stretching), and then allow to rise.

Soft Roll
10 oz water
3/4 oz fresh yeast
22 oz bread flour
1 oz nonfat dry milk solids
2 oz sugar
2 oz butter
1 ea egg
1/2 oz salt
Mix: straight dough method
makeup: 18-20 oz per pan loaf; 2 oz dinner roll shapes
garnish: egg wash, sesame seeds, or poppy seeds
baking; 325-350F convection

30% Whole Wheat
10 oz water
3/4 oz fresh yeast
15 oz bread flour
7 oz whole wheat flour
1 oz NFDMS
2 oz sugar
2 oz butter
1 oz egg
1/2 oz salt
Mixing: straight dough method
Makeup: 18-20 oz per pan loaf; 2 oz dinner roll shapes
garnish: egg wash, sesame seeds, or poppy seeds
baking: 325-350F convection

Baguette
15 oz water
1/2 oz fresh yeast
24.5 oz bread flour
1/2 oz salt
mixing: straight dough method
makeup: 2 ea, 13 oz, 18-21 in; 5 slashes for baguette and biased scissor cuts for Epi (wheat stalk)
panning: Semolina on full sheet pan
garnish: dust with bread flour prior to slashing, if desired; seed mix on epis
baking: 400-425F convection with steam

Seriously, I may start baking my own bread at home. Well, maybe at least try it, because my studio only has a 3/4 oven. But it doesn't take as long as I thought, so it's feasible. And considering how much a loaf of bread seems to be these days...

Russia accused Tennesse and I of being a "clique" today. We weren't purposely excluding anyone, but Irish is out of town with her sick mother-in-law, and we were partners... Rico was with Nemo, and Russia was with T. And then I could hear Rico and Nemo talking about me, but I don't know why, and I don't know that I really want to know why. I have to be careful I don't get pulled into gossipy/venting conversations. I've been the victim of that before, and I'm really trying to stay away from that.

I went back to work today. I am not happy about it. I am much happier at school. As much as I used to love school psych, and still love working with adolescents, I don't know if it is the career for me anymore. I still don't want to be in a kitchen, but should I really stay in a field I'm so unhappy in, even if i think the main reason I'm unhappy is my boss? And that my role in this school only uses maybe a quarter of my skill set? I have to job search again this year (I couldn't find a good high school opening last year), but if I can't find anything this spring, I think I'll have to find a different field. Sad. I really love working with adolescents.

Lessons Learned:
If the recipe calls for dry yeast, you can use fresh, just double the measurement. When using dry yeast, use warm water (95-105F) to activate the yeast. If using fresh yeast, use cold water if baking same day, but use warm water if going to ferminate overnight. Salt kills yeast, but putting the flour in first to the mix serves as a buffer. Yeast expels gas which causes dough to rise, but dies at 140F.

p.s. I changed the comments section so now anyone can comment...but if i get spam, i'll have to change it back. I wish it would allow me to let both google accounts and openid to sign in, but it doesn't...
And Sejica, hope you enjoy the photo! There will be more coming. And I might have time this week to post some chicken recipes for you... hope you are settling in well!