As you can see my projects are in a wide range of categories. Many of these are pictures of things I have worked on in the past semester with my students. The first image are some almond cinnamon rolls with hot glaze and powdered sugar. The one that includes the picture of me is chocolate cappuccino mousse in a chocolate coffee cup with a cocoa nib florentine sticking out the top. Below that are the chocolates I am most known for, a layering of ganache and marshmallow enrobed in chocolate. The picture is courtesy of Tessa, a past student of mine. Finally there is a photo of a rosemary fougasse. As far as a bit of history about me goes, I am currently a senior psychology student at Carnegie Mellon University.
I am interning for the summer with an amazing nutritionist in New York City and plan to do my graduate work in nutrition and public health. May aims are to continue baking, but learn to do so in a way that I am not becoming unhealthy or causing others to do the same. It is no small task, baking is a perilous thing to undertake when the intention is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Ive also heard many people say that truly great chefs and bakers must be fat, because if they aren't then they don't sample enough of their own products. My take is, if you know enough science about food, you don't need to experiment or sample nearly as much. We will see if I'm right in the long run. My class at CMU is incredibly fun and the students have only exceeded my expectations.
Much of the reason I bake so constantly is to be sure I am giving them the best advise I possibly could. I feel that while it is great to have the time to read dozens of professional pasty and chocolate books as I do, theres something to be said for getting all of that knowledge, plus some stuff you just get with experience, out of a class. Hopefully that class has turned a lot of people onto baking. It ranges in every category, from breads to pastries to chocolates to confections. I will write this blog much like I taught the course, with as much science and advise thrown in as I can possibly muster. If there is anything you guys would like me to make and document, please let me know, Ill put it in the next post.
Right now I am doing as much with breads as I can possibly do. After this post I am going to post some photos of the two projects I have currently, Chocolates and breads. Its a nice dichotomy that keeps me up to my ears in calories :)
Jules
eally didn't have much posted in the last post in the way of how to roll a croissant and make it look presentable. Here are some pictures on just how to do this. First, the large sheet of laminated dough that you roll out you want to cut into triangles as I have here. Before you cut you generally want to wait about 20 minutes to let the dough relax. You have just stretched out the dough and if you cut immediately its just going to recoil instead of staying in its position. You should end up with tons of triangles that can then be rolled up. You want to take one triangle and cut a small slit in the base. This makes the base a bit wider and allows for the little wings that come ou
t the side, otherwise you would have to cut very oddly shaped triangles out of your dough. When you begin to roll, make sure that if any of the sides are sticky or unsightly, they are facing up. Then you want to pull the "wings" out so that there is a wider base to the croissant. From here you can begin to roll up from the base. You want to roll with one hand and hold the tail with the other hand. Once you have rolled about half way you want to sta
rt stretching the tail to make it longer and thinner and continue rolling. This is how you end up with many revolutions that make the final product look fantastic. Keep rolling until the final end of the tail is attached to the 
body of the croissant. Place the entire thing on the tail so that it doesn't come up during baking. Then take the wings and fold them inwards. I have yet to find a very reliable way to keep the wings real tight during baking, but I will figure it out. Once they have been rolled and
are looking good you want to proof them an hour at 80 degrees so that they get nice and light. From there they can be put in the oven until the inside reaches about 215 degrees and the tops are nicely brown. If you want a shiny crust, brush the surface of each one with egg yolk, it gives a great finished touch to the croissants. If you want a matte crust egg whites or milk is best to brush with. For a very flaky and plain crust use water or simply bake them the way they are. I also recommend putting in some chocolate to make a dessert croissant. Semi-sweet is best in my experience, but its all personal preference. 
