It's All About Bread Again! =) The LAST TIME! and with NATURAL YEAST, LEVAIN!

Yes it's was the beginning of my last 3 months in the academy..It was very exciting at first but now that it's coming to the end soon, my classmate and I are feeling quite sadden that we had to say goodbye to the academy, to our beloved chefs, academy members and of course our wonderful friends we made through the whole 9 months while we were there. From the first day with just the 3 of us and 2 chefs and one office staff to now the growing academy! Yes it has been a long way =)!

Well now on a less sadder note I shall recall my last bread class experience..We made sooooooooooooooooooo many breads this time around and it was just the two of us..Nearly the whole bakery was fileed with our products everyday and we were happily giving out bread to whoever we know! Of course our friends and family benefit the most but I felt great that we can share our wonderful bread with everyone! =) We experimented with many different shapes of breads even though using the familiar bread dough, sadly we did not have as many variety of flours =(. Never the less most of them turn out looking great but some had to be 'hidden' lol! There were so many we can't remember some of the names of it. The top is one of them I can't recall the name..haha I call it the 'curry' bread cause Sheila, one of our best classmates, bought us curry and we all ate it together for lunch! YUMS! =) The first picture was the puff brioche, which somehow peels like potato chips when you remove it layer by layer. Quite interesting and it was really good for a first attempt for us and chef =).

These are some of the more familiar bread you've seen on my blog =) New methods were used for the same products but the result were better! We were indeed very happy at the end of everyday =)!

Flower 'power' Buns! haha!

Pesto bread! This was pretty GOOD =)

Turkey WING! lol funny name

I forgot what this was..I'm sure it has something to do with snails lol!

'n' number bread hehe!

 Beautiful Ciabatta

DELICIOUS but fattening KOUIGNAMAN  

Pretty braided bun and LOTS MORE! Look at the background!haha!

OHOH! The most exciting part this round was we got to grow our very own yeast! If you recall, my classmates and I tried to grow it for the first time during my first 3 months but we FAILED terribly. We named it 'small IT' but sadly it we couldn't keep it alive and it died quite a number of times. SO I was REALLY hoping I could keep one alive this time around. We made 4 this time but only 2 survived =( Fortunately we were still able to make bread with the other 2 natural yeast. I kept hearing stories about how wonderful this natural yeast is, it give you what instant yeast can't, especially the FLAVOUR. So I couldn't wait to make some bread with it! But it just takes SOOOOOOOOOOOO LONG for it to be ready, so me and LY were very patient. We never forget to feed it and 'took good care' of it lol! till the day it was READY! Both of us were really excited to try them out but it wasn't as easy are the regular dough. It was WAYYYYYYYYY longer for each process and but the end of the whole day we finally got bread! =) Above is the picture of the bread made with natural yeast. The flavour was very presence not like regular yeast and it was so flavourful, even though we still had a few tweaks here and there but we finally knew was REAL BREAD tasted like =). At the end of our two weeks we had to say goodbye to out 'pet' yeast it was quite sad but we were happy that we could keep it alive for so long. Haha Liyin had a hard time saying 'goodbye' to her yeast so I had to do it for her. Quite hilarious though. Anyway it was a great last bread class with Chef G! He was always very adventures to let us try new stuff during the class and he never really gives up until we get it RIGHT! Thanks again chef!! =) well that's all for now! come back soon!

The FIRST ASSESSMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 0.0!

Sorry I have been away for over a month!!! 'bows bows' =) Been REALLY busy at school!!! and YES I can finally graduate from school!!!!!! =) hahaha I recently completed my FINAL assessment!!! 'jumps for joy' I never had this kinda assessment/examination etc in my life before. AND LET IT TELL YOU IT'S NOT AN EASY TASK!!! I can say now I have a whole new level of understanding for the professionalism of PASTRY CHEFS, especially after watching KING OF PASTRY (a documentary about pastry chefs in France) 'thumbs up for the movie', if you are looking for drama it's definitely it! haha! Well since I'm soooooooo far behind in blogging I shall just show you what I did for my 1st assessment! =)

 

 Well let me just give you a short intro to how it works! =) One whole week is dedicated to this 'WONDERFUL' assessment where our skills are tested based on what we have learn during the we weeks before. Oh yes the fun and joys oh 'lalalalaa' let's make this for fun and make that just to eat STOPS RIGHT THERE! haahaha! Use to be ' awww it's ok it didn't turn out, just try again' or like ' nah! it's ok that it doesn't look perfect, still taste good no?' Well this is the time where you try to show your best! from all aspects, from texture, flavour, taste, to appearance and finishing, omg! you have to be CLEAN and ORGANISE at all times, well at least try! This is when your chef will find out whether what they have been stuffing into our heads the last few weeks are actually going in. Mind you, the time constrained is not like the usual! haha when it's regular time you can ' never I can finish tomorrow' the invisible deadline. BUT now it's like you HAVE TO FINISH! NO MATTER WHAT! Oh yes it was really stressful for my fellow classmate, LiYin and I. We nearly pass out hahahahaha! probably we were never exposed to this kinda 'live' exam before but never the less we did survive it! well for every level we go its kinda a different way of assessing. But we were tested from head to toe from bread to chocolate nearly everything!haha but still it was a good yet interesting experience..we do improve more during this hard process!

Haha as you can see that I took these pictures from home.There was no chance to pictures nor the mood at that moment. So sadly only the ones that made it home got to be documented. By the way the top was a classic opera cake and this a modern chocolate raspberry tart. Sounds yum no? But still there is room for improvement according to comments from chefs, many many many manyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy things could be better =) anyho back to the assessment..oh yes we are given scores for different different aspect of the dessert and it would be totaled up to a final one =). Stress levels were high and we were running like....' according to chef' like chickens lol!!! Especially when you see the clock ticking and ticking and in your head you are screaming 'OMG STOP TICKING!!!' And one of my friends was saying, quotes SABREENA! usually when I'm stressed out I bake last time, but now I'm stress about baking lol! 'what do I DO!?lol!!!! quite funny actually..and of course the CHEFS are enjoying this week the most! seeing their students in ACTION! hahahaha!!!

Pretty galette! =) Yes now I'm proud to say that LiYin and I have survived THE ASSESSMENT! =) we tried our best I think we were slightly less panic-y this time around =)!! YAY!!! haha! and THANK YOU EVERYONE who supported me during this 'difficult' time lol!! you know who you are 'winks'! hehe that's all for now! =) visit soon!