April 11, 2009 - Review and Afternoon Field Trip to the Ferry Building

First Saturday Class! Shouldn't it be illegal to get up at 6 am on a Saturday?! As a non-coffee drinker, I am not a morning person, so my willingness to give up sleeping in every other Saturday speaks volumes to how much I really wanted to do this. Fortunately, a delicious breakfast was there waiting for me. We sampled the breads that came out of the oven too late to plate on Wednesday night -- chocolate banana marble bread, cinnamon streusel sour cream coffee cake, ouzo-scented almond yogurt and olive oil cake, and pumpkin walnut bread. It's tough to pick a favorite, they were all pretty darn good, but I'm leaning toward the chocolate banana marble bread.

We watched a few review demos on pate a choux, caramel, and chocolate ganache and then one new one on lemon curd. Then, it was time for work. We were all responsible for presenting:

1. 3 empty profiteroles of equal size
2. 1 ramekin of pastry cream
3. 1 ramekin of lemon curd
4. 1 ramekin of chocolate ganache
5. 1 ramekin of caramel sauce
6. plated quick bread from the Wednesday leftovers
7. plated profiteroles

There are a list of pastry fundamentals that we each need to be proficient in upon completion of the course. Numbers 1-5 each represent one of those fundamentals and today was an opportunity to get those crossed off the list...and I did, phew! It was a lot of work to do so early in the morning, and around 11:45 I realized that I was borderline starving. Coffee cakes are delicious, but they don't have the fuel power as my usual peanut butter and banana toast. Today was the first time I realized that I can't live off of baked goods alone. Since we weren't done and wouldn't eat lunch for about another hour and a half, we had a delicious snack of bread and cheese. Everyone knows I'm not big on a lot of cheeses, but when you put really nice cheese in front of me, I can't stay away.

We had done profiteroles before, so to jazz it up, many people flavored their choux or the pastry cream. We had chocolate cayenne, lemon raspberry, spiced choux, coconut pastry cream, etc, etc. I must say that my Ginger-Pear Napoleon with caramel sauce was pretty knock your socks off good. I've been snacking on the leftover gingerbread for 24 hours straight now, and am seriously contemplating whipping up some caramel and picking up some pears to make some more for dinner. Since I can't get it off my mind, this will definitely be the recipe for the day.

After tasting and clean up, we all made our way over to the Ferry Building for lunch. For those of you who don't live in San Francisco, or those of you who live under a rock in San Francisco, the Ferry Building is madness on Saturdays. The Ferry Building is a great place for us poor people to walk around and dream of delicious things we can't afford (chocolates, cheeses). Luckily, the gelato place (can't remember the name) and Miette are there to provide an affordable afternoon treat. After we were done, I stopped by Sur La Table to pick up some baking essentials for my home kitchen. I get a 15% student discount, which is quite nice, seeing as I went just a little crazy...

This is all I have for today so I leave you with the highly recommended gingerbread.

The Delicious Recipe of the Day: Gingerbread-Pear Napoleon with Caramel Sauce

(Gingerbread from Rosemary Manell, Napoleon recipe from Mary Risely)

For the gingerbread

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup unsulphered molasses
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 extra large egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup diced, candied ginger tossed with 2 tsp flour

Measure the dry ingredients into a large sifter and sift into a mixing bowl. In another bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. In a third bowl, combine molasses, baking soda and boiling water. Stir to mix

Stir the molasses mixture into the butter mixture and add to the dry ingredients. Add beaten egg and candied ginger. Pour and scrape the mixture into a 8 or 9 inch square baking pan, which has been buttered, and place in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 for next 20 minutes. Test with skewer. Cool on rack in pan 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from pan and place gingerbread on rack to cool completely.

For the poached pears:

• 6 pears
• 1 quart water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
• 1 lemon, juice

For the caramel sauce:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup heavy cream, hot
• 4 Tbsp butter

In a large heavy saucepan, combine the water, sugar, lemon juice and fresh ginger. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar.

Meanwhile, peel pears with a vegetable peeler. Slice pears in half and remove core with a melon baller. When sugar syrup is clear, put pears into it, simmering gently until they are tender when pierced with a small knife or skewer. Remove pears and let cool.

To make caramel sauce, place sugar and water in small heavy pan. Cook over medium hear, stirring or swirling occasionally, until sugar has dissolved. Turn heat to high and boil, without stirring, until caramel turns desired color. Remove from heat and add hot cream, being careful because it will bubble up. Stir in butter until smooth.

To serve, cut 3 or 4 inch rounds (or triangles) from gingerbread. Slice each round in half or thirds. Slice cooled pears. Place a generous spoonful of caramel sauce in middle of dessert plate. Layer gingerbread pears and caramel sauce to make a "napoleon". Serve with softly whipped cream, if desired.