Boulangerie

Chef Damien and I

This week was all about breads. The name of this class was called Boulangerie which translates to bakery in English. I had a new chef. He was just as great as my first one and he has really nice blue eyes. His name was Chef Damien.

This class began on Monday March, 25. I was not too excited for this class because breads are one of my least favorite subjects to study. I find it very boring as there is a lot of waiting around for the bread to rise. However, just after the first day, I did learn some new techniques and formulas that I love. One of my favorite is Pâté Levee Feuilletee Sur Pâté Fermentee which is our croissant/laminated dough. It was very easy to laminate and fold this dough. There were not so many steps involved. It also had brown butter in it which was very different from the formula back at home from JWU. However, in the end, these croissants and chocolate croissants were so good!

Buffet Table

Monday was also one of my friends birthday. Since our group of five could not all be there due to class that Monday night, we celebrated her birthday earlier on Saturday. We ordered pizza, watched a movie, and celebrated with a raspberry entremet and Kinder Eggs! It was such a great time and she was surprised about the birthday entremet!

Alain Ducasse and I

Tuesday was just as exciting. We had class like we normally do, however we had a special presentation that day. We got to meet Alain Ducasse. He is a very famous chef that is known worldwide. He also founded and is the owner of the school, Ecole Nationale Superieure de Patisserie, where I am studying here in Yssingeaux. We had a question and answer session as he talked about himself and his career as a chef. Alain only spoke French, so he had a translator there for all of the English speakers, like myself. I also got a picture with him; it was very exciting to meet him. The most exciting part was when he came into our kitchen and we took a class photo for the local newspaper. I made it in a French newspaper!!!! The next day right after class I went down into town to pick up a couple of newspapers. I made it on the front page in color with a couple other classmates! However, I have no clue what it says! Who knew, I would be famous in a newspaper in France! 

On Wednesday, and the beginning of Thursday, we continued to prep for our buffet that was being held later in the morning on Thursday. Once again the buffet came out great. We got to look and evaluate all of the bread we made during the week. We also got our chef to make some cinnamon buns that day. We were told by the administration, that he makes the best cinnamon buns, and they were right! They were absolutely amazing!

Joe, Kayla, Chef Alain Ducasse, Chelsea,
Tabitha, and Kelly

 I continued going to French Class, and let me tell you, it is not getting any easier for me. Luckily for me, I am half way done with my sixteen hours. However, I found out we will be doing a project video next week, and will have class for three hours! Hopefully this project is easy and class flies by. I’ll keep everyone posted for sure. 

Instead of having class on Friday, we had a presentation on our Entremet Project. We also received our chef whites with our names sewn on.  The presentation went good and we got to start planning out what we will be creating for our entremet, which we will be making in the next couple of weeks. I am excited to start making my entremet; hopefully it will turn out how I want it too! 

Well, my weekend is just about here and since it is a three day weekend, I am going to Barcelona, Spain. This will be an adventure of a life time! I hope everyone has a good weekend and a good holiday, Happy Easter!