Biscotti

This formula is adapted from the Michel Suas Book Advanced Bread and Pastry, A Professional Approach, Pg. 422

Formula: yields approximately 50 biscotti
21.18% Butter, 1 7/8 oz.
80.59% Sugar, 7 3/8 oz.
42.94% Eggs, 3 7/8 oz.
3.53% Vanilla extract, 2 t
100% Bread flour, 9 1/8 oz.
1.76% Cinnamon, 1 t
1.18% Baking ammonia*, 1/2 t
1.76% Salt, 1 t
92.35% Chocolate, chopped
5.88% Orange zest, 1/5 oz.
Total: 351.17%


*baking ammonia can be substituted for 2.5% of the flour weight with baking powder.




MOP: Creaming method

• In a bowl with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and sugar.
• Gradually add the eggs in, and the vanilla.
• Sift the flour with the cinnamon, leavening agent, and salt.
• Add the dry ingredients to the butter and mix until almost incorporated.
• Add additives (orange zest and chocolate chips). Fold by hand or just barely mix.
• Roll dough like an ice box cookie. For a demi sec cookie, roll up so that it is very long and thin, so that it goes on a diagonal along a full sheet pan.
• Place dough on parchment lined sheet pan and bake at 325°F for 35 - 40 minutes or until firm to the touch.
• Remove and let cool.
• When cooled, cut directly into 1/4" slices.
• Lay slices flat on parchment lined sheet pan, re bake biscotti at 250°F until well dried.

Finishing, these are a few possible techniques for finishing biscotti:

• Dip on a bias into melted tempered chocolate or pâte glacée. Drizzle a different colour chocolate, white chocolate pâte glacée.
• Dip on a bias into melted tempered chocolate or pâte glacée. Dip on a smaller bias into pistachio flour.

Lemon Bars

Lemon bars are very delicious but are slightly tricky because they can go from being baked to over baked very quickly. Once they are over baked there is really nothing you can do to save it from souffle-ing.

This formula is adapted from the Michel Suas Book Advanced Bread and Pastry, A Professional Approach, Pg. 435

Formula: yields a quarter pan
1# Pâte Sucrée dough
722.58% Sugar, 1# 3 3/8 oz.
451.61% Eggs, 12 1/8 oz.
216.13% Lemon juice, 5 3/4 oz.
100% Bread flour, 2 5/8 oz.
Total: 1490.32%


MOP:

• Line sheet pan parchment and with pâte sucrée. Par bake, making sure in a class situation to place your name on a scrap of parchment underneath another sheet of parchment. Place pie weights or beans on top of the parchment and par bake the shell until it is firm. Cool before filling.
• Combine sugar and eggs by hand. Blend well.
• Add lemon juice and incorporate.
• Blend in flour while mixing to avoid getting lumps.
• If there are air bubbles, knock out or place plastic wrap over the surface to get the air bubbles out. 
• Bake at 300°F in a convection oven for 30 minutes or until set.
• When cool, dust with powdered sugar, and cut.

Brownies

This brownie formula makes a chewier brownie than normal cakey brownie formula. It is richer and is perfect for something like a demi sec cookie because it is too rich to eat any bit larger than a 2" x 2" piece.




This formula is adapted from the Michel Suas Book Advanced Bread and Pastry, A Professional Approach, Pg. 434

Formula: yields a quarter pan
100% Bittersweet chocolate, 9 1/8 oz.
74% Butter, 6 3/4 oz.
74% Eggs, 6 3/4 oz.
172.8% Sugar, 15 3/4 oz.
0.8% Salt, 1/2 t
3.4% Vanilla extract, 2 t
100% Pastry flour, 9 1/8 oz.
Total: 525%




MOP: 

• Sift flour and reserve.
• Chop chocolate and place it, and butter and melt over a double boiler. Let the mixture cool slightly to 80° - 90°F.
• Warm the eggs and sugar to 90°F, whip with salt and vanilla to ribbon consistency.
• Fold in the melted chocolate and butter until smooth.
• Fold the flour into the whipped mixture.
• Spread the batter onto a sprayed, parchment lined sheet pan.
• Bake at 325°F in a convection oven for 30 - 35 minutes.

Assembly: This is one option for how you can finish off your brownies. There are many different appropriate finishes. This method of decorating glazes the brownies with ganache and then dusted partially with an appropriate finishing.
Petits Fours: Petits Fours Déguisés, Demi-sec

• Clean off the sides of the brownie and cut as you desire. Flip over the brownie so that the baked side is now the bottom.
• Make ganache. 
• Pour over brownies. To get the ganache to flow over the brownie evenly without having to re pour the ganache pour in a backward forward motion quickly.
• Use a offset spatula to clean off the top and make the ganache less thick.
• Tap the glazing rack on the floor to help smooth out the ganache on the top and sides of the covered brownie.
• Let the ganache set up a little bit.
• Use a tea strainer and desired garnish, pistachio flour for instance. Dust over a portion of the top.

Tant Pour Tant: Infused ganache

You can infuse ganache to enhance the chocolate flavour slightly or you can just make a regular ganache. Because chocolate has such a strong flavour by itself, you want to be aware of the flavours that you are adding to a ganache when you decide to add an infusing to it.


Formula: ganache
1 part cream to 1 part chocolate


MOP: tempering

• Scald milk: if you are infusing add the flavour to the cold milk, amount will vary by strength of the additive ingredient. Pistachios for instance have a weak flavour and draw more flavour if chopped, things like vanilla and herbs like mint have a stronger flavour so you will need less of  and will need to cook for a longer amount of time.
• If you infuse the milk, you will need to pass it through a chinoise when it reaches a scald. Strain into the chocolate  (temper milk into chocolate).
• Whisk together from the center to create an emulsion. An emulsion will form when you can run the chocolate over your finger and it holds a shape.
• Strain through a chinoise or knock against the table to get rid of the air bubbles or chunks of chocolate or flavour enhancer.

Florentine Bars

Also called, in the Advanced Bread and Pastry book, Almond Cherry Bars.

Formula:
Pâte sucrée, 450 g
Butter, 200 g
Sugar, 200 g
Honey, 57 g
Cream, 115 g
Toasted sliced almonds, 282 g
Sun dried cherries, 175 g
Bread flour, 22 g
Salt, 1/4 t
Vanilla, 1/2 t




MOP:

• Blind bake crust until its firm and golden.
• Rehydrate your fruit and set it aside until you need to use it.
• Melt butter, sugars, and cream in a pot.
• Cook it to a rolling boil, otherwise it wont set if its not properly homogenized.
• Whisk flour in.
• Drain water from rehydrated fruit, add to batter. Also add nuts.
• Completely distribute before panning. If it is not completely flat on the surface then you can carefully use wet fingers or a offset palate knife.
• Bake, half sheet on a full sheet pan lined with parchment at 375°F for approximately 15 minutes.

Financier

Bake this to order because the longer the pastry sits out the stickier it becomes because of the sugar.

Procedure:

• Pipe batter into molds, up 2/3 of the way
• After you pipe the molds you can finish it with jam or berries.
• Bake at 370° F for about 10-12 minutes, or until done. Just golden.

The batter can be stored in bulk in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or frozen and portioned for up to 10 days.

Financier

This formula makes a very airy and light pastry which is time sensitive. As the pastry sits out it gets more sugary and sticky because of the sugar. It ends up very similar to mandelines because they are time sensative and cakey and baked in molds.


This formula is adapted from the Michel Suas Book Advanced Bread and Pastry, A Professional Approach, Pg. 502

Formula: yields approximately 30 demi sec cookies
Petits Four: demi sec
264% Powdered sugar, 177 g
96% Almond meal, 63 g
100% Bread flour, 67 g
2.40% Baking powder, 1/3 t
Each, Vanilla bean, 1/4
24% Trimoline, 15 g
144% Butter, browned, 95 g
268% Egg whites, 178 g
Total: 898.40%







MOP: 

• Brown butter, you do not need to baby sit the butter while it browns. And you do not need to stir or move the pot until it boils.
• Strain through a cheese cloth in a non metal bowl, so that it will keep the butter warm during the next mixing process.
• Sift dry ingredients.
• Add the vanilla, trimoline. Mix with a padel attachment.
• Add egg whites in sections.
• Add body temperature butter until it incorporates. The mixture should be liquidy and runny. 
• You can hold the batter in a parchment lined pan for 3-4 days.
• Like Madelines, you want to let the batter rest for a minimum of one hour. Ideally overnight so that it is easier for piping.
• Bake to order