Just A Loaf of Bread? NOT!

One of my FAVE bread recipes is for this versatile white braided loaf. Always GREAT to have on hand. These are monster sized loaves, 4 pounds EACH!

They are sitting atop a 12"x18" baking sheet for scale.

Simple dough; Organic White Flour, Water, Eggs, Yeast, Sea Salt, Honey. We make a 13 gallon mixer full at a time and form into braided loaves & long skinny loaves. The skinny ones are cut & used for hors d'oeuvres like these:

Small Cucumber Sandwiches

I always make sure there are leftovers...I put together a large platter for our dinner, with Cucumber Sandwiches, Fresh Roasted Georgia Pecans & Fresh Pitted Dates:

This bread can also be cut on the bias, brushed with olive oil & toasted to form perfect sized portions for crostini. I like to make one with chopped, marinated & grilled portabella mushrooms. Yummmmm!

If I've still got bread left over on a Sunday morning (the ONLY day yours truly has time to cook a picturesque breakfast) I make French Toast out of it, serve with pan fried Boca & a generous dose of Organic Maple Syrup.

Oh! How'd that happen?! It's my silky Sunday kimono in the pic!

I serve that with fresh seasonal Organic fruits. STRONG coffee too. Want to come over for breakfast on Sunday?

What A Pastry Chef Eats For Dinner

Thanksgiving Dinner, that is.

Left Top: Yam & Organic Potatoes Anna
Left Bottom: Stuffed Baby Portabella Mushrooms
Right: Home-Made Tofu Turkey

As Served.

With Candlelight.

Dessert.
(No Pecan Pie left. Sold Out. :-( Had to make do with Cake.)

Alternating Layers of Red Velvet & Devil's Food Cake
Filled W/ Cream Cheese Frosting
Glazed in Belgian Chocolate

Did you know non-alcoholic champagne can catch on fire?
AMAZING.....

_____________________________

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A Holiday at the Pastry Shoppe

Just a quick post for all of my diehard blogfans! I snapped a few pics yesterday (Wednesday) but it was SO CRAZY I didn't get many! Sorry!

The cake on the right was left-over, so that will be our Thanksgiving dessert tonight. I'll try to post pics this weekend of our dinner & the yummy inside of the cake!

In the food service industry holidays are spent differently than the average family spends them. We work so hard making food for you, that we are usually much too tired to celebrate on the day of [the holiday], our day off.

It's nearly 9.30PM, Thanksgiving Day, & I've yet to start our dinner (Home-made Tofurkey stuffed with Brioche (the bread NOT the dog ;-) Dressing, Home-made roasted vegetable Gravy, Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms & Organic Sweet Potatoes thinly sliced & layered with secret ingredients & baked until crisp). We will probably eat around midnight. You see, this is me last night at around 8PM:

After finishing everything here, I was even too exhausted to blog! I started to fall asleep at my pc. I finally got home around 3AM (Thursday) went to sleep at 5AM & slept straight through until 4PM today (Thursday). I'm still tired right now. LOL! Oh! I know how to wake up...I'll have a left-over Cappuccino Brownie w/ Belgian Chocolate White & Dark Coins folded into the batter & topped w/Cream Cheese Frosting! MMMMmmmmm.....

Does the brownie go well with my new haircut? I did it last night...I do incredibly impulsive (sometimes silly) things when I get over-tired. I don't think I'll tell you about the others. *DEVILISH GRIN*

Alright, I'm off to make dinner, hope you ALL had a fantabulous day! I'll be back tomorrow (Friday) to read, comment & maybe even go Beta if I'm feeling DARING! *GASP!*

Ingredient 101 "Biscotti"

Biscotti (bee-SKAWT-tee) - as it is commonly known is derived from the Italian word biscotto, bis meaning twice & cotto meaning cooked.

"jin's Gingerbread Biscotti"

What are you? Are you a Lover? ..... of Biscotti, that is. I believe you either love it or hate it, there's no in between. Then again, if you haven't tried my Biscotti ...... well, you simply MUST!

Step 1: Whipping the eggs & sugar.

These ‘twice baked’ biscuits can be traced back to 13th century Tuscany, in a city named Prato (about 15 miles from Florence). Their popularity, in part, is due to Christopher Columbus, who relied on these crispy baked delicacies for his sea excursions in the 15th century. It was a perfect food for the sailors because after being baked once, it was sliced & baked a second time to thoroughly dry out the biscuit. This made them unsusceptible to mold growth, a huge plus when you are in a boat for months!

Step 2: Adding the rest of the ingredients.

There are two main types of Biscotti. The first type is made without any butter & are the more common variety. These greatly benefit from a generous dunking in coffee, tea or a glass of wine as they have a very hard texture. The second type has butter mixed in the dough. Just enough is added to give the cookie a more tender texture; a bit like that of a shortbread cookie. With this variety dunking is only optional for they are gorgeous on their own!

Step 3: Forming rough 'logs' out of the sticky dough.

With my obviously biased descriptions I’m sure you’ve come to the conclusion that the Biscotti I make is of the ‘butter added’ variety.

Step 4: Smoothing the 'logs' by jinhand, then baking.

'Logs' after being baked the first time.

Step 5: Slicing each 'log' into individual cookies.

Step 6: Re panning them with space between, so they can evenly dry out. They are baked the second time from 1 to 2.5 hours, until firm.

Step 7: Some varieties are adorned with chocolate or white chocolate.

Step 8: They are stacked, one x one in our Jumbo Biscotti Jars for display.

Step 9: Labeled as to Awesome Flavour. These happen to be my FAVES!

This is how goofy I look after spending 2 days making just over 800 Biscotti.

Shall I tempt you with the flavours?
Of course I shall, said the Temptress.
;-)
Whimsical - Spicy Gingerbread w/Meringue Royal Icing
Classical - Dried Cranberries & Toasted Georgia Pecans
Phenomenal - Crystallized Ginger & Belgian White Chocolate
Traditional - Toasted Almond & Cracked Spanish Anise
Celestial - Melted Chocolate, Mini Chips & Belgian Chocolate
Angelical - Tiny Maine Dried Blueberries & Ceylon Cinnamon
Diabolical - Crushed Toasted Hazelnuts & Organic Black Pepper
Exceptional - Dried Cherries & Loads of Mini Chocolate Chips

Let's Get Married ..... Everyone's Doing It!

Young Girl to the Young Boy:
Know what'd fill me full of Joy?
Boy replies: your own car or a fake ID?
Girl retorts: NO SILLY! Marry Me!

Boy: You want us to get engaged?!!?
Your parents would be ENRAGED!
We're too young or so I'm told
Should be sowing my oats 'fore I'm too old!

Girl:You marry me now, or I'll raise HELL!
(Then all she did was yell & yell.....)
That poor boy, why he started quivering
Yet it was 100 degrees, why was he shivering?

He saw his life flash before his eyes:
Beautiful skinny wife with gorgeous thighs
They'd buy a house with a nice yard
Hmmm...sounds kinda nice, not too hard.

Soon she'd want kids, not one but FOUR!
They weren't all his, she turned into a WHORE!
Divorce ensues; she gets it all
He ends up selling shoes in a mini mall

Back to reality and he says NO WAY!
I won't marry you ANY day!
She peels off her shirt; reveals a lacy bra
Then boy you ain't gettin' these...HAHAHA!

Boy suddenly reconsiders, he thinks what the hell?
I'm young & good-looking, everything'll be swell!
As they get to it, Goddess watches from a distance
Maybe I should have given the males a bit more resistance?

Who ... Me?

Bloggers are VERY COOL people!

This intelligent guy wrote a post about MOI & here's part of what he said:

"Jin, I think it's official. Your food has magical powers."

CLICK HERE to read the rest.

*NOTE: It's NOT too late to play mad libs, below! I'm really having FUN reading all your answers!!!

Let's Play Mad Libs!

Ok, you remember the rules from last time?
It's EASY:
just fill in the blank.
One word, 2 words or 10 words if you really want to!

Extra points will be given to anyone who plays!
The winner gets the supreme thrill of making me LAUGH!

1. I like to eat Creme Brulee whilst __________.

2. These are __________ squares.

3. Molasses cookies help you __________.

4. jin frosts a cake like __________.

5. This cake was recently ordered by __________.

6. Dark chocolate mint truffles are best eaten in __________.

7. If these get stale you can always use them for __________.

8. This cake was delivered next-door to the Nuclear Power Plant. The people who ate it __________.

9. The dirtiest word in a bakery is __________.

10. I would give jin __________ for a slice of this vanilla bean cheesecake dipped in chocolate.

Quality Control

Raspberry Cheesecake.....simply the name elicits tingles from your spine, does it not? Oh, but this isn't any ordinary Raspberry Cheesecake (oops! I said it again, sorry ;-) .....

.....the crust is made out of ground Devil's Food Cake.....the filling is real Cream Cheesecake with heaps of fresh Raspberries pureed & folded in.....MMmmmm.....fresh vanilla whipped cream tops it all off. I made a single mistake. I accidentally baked an extra one, in addition to the clients cake. I know, I'm a very bad pastry chef. Shame on me. Guess I'll have to be the one to do away with the extra cake. *Evil Grin w/ twinkling eyes*

But I don't want to leave my dear blogfans out! NO NO NO! Come a little closer, yesssss....that's better. Now, watch me.....

MMMMmmmmmmmMMMmmmMMmmmMmmmm.....
OH! It's SOOOOO GOOD!

But, I think I need a second opinion. Just to be SURE. Let me change my shirt first though, I wouldn't want you to think I'm squeezing 2 separate days into one blogpost. ;-)

What do you know, I nearly forgot! It's my babies FIRST Birthday today! YAY! Maybe we should have a party & let Brioche decide if the Raspberry Cheesecake is suitable for our clientèle. MINUS the chocolate crust, certainly!

HAha! Is that a promo shot or WHAT?!!?

The verdict is in
By Brioche & jin
Cheesecake's a winner
More after dinner.