Baking - Diamants & Sablés

I DON'T. I DON'T KNOW. Oh, my god!!! WHERE SHOULD I START?!

Today, is the second best day of my life!!!

First being, my wedding day of course!

Just had to post this up!! I miss my dearest hubby so much!! :'(

Well, you see...today, I woke up slightly later because I had such a bad sleep last night! Maybe it was the anxiety acting up again; I couldn't sleep at all after I imposed myself a very early lights off curfew. I was just about to doze off, when the sound of the upstairs neighbor' heavy footsteps and dropping of items woke me up.

I will give it another couple of days to observe, before I go to the management and complain that there's a gorilla living above me.

Then, the lizard's sound, air con's whizzing sound AND my IKEA cute alarm clock was ticking away! NON stop. I didn't want to look at the time at all to find what time was it. I have a bad habit; when it's late, I tend to count the number of hours left for sleep - even to the very last few minutes.

So anyway fast forward, I managed to sleep and wake up on time. I didn't finish my breakfast today. Took a bite out from my Tuna Bun from Bread Talk and discarded the whole bun, because it smells fishy after re heating.

HAHAHAHA!!! Shit. I just noticed maybe it's not because it's spoil, it's just because of its origin!! TUNA = FISHY!

Mornings; who else feels disorientated when you just woke up? =D

Picture taken from Funny Wall Photos

I am quite pleased with myself today! I managed to blend in and 'slot' myself today in the train!! Balancing was quite a challenge and I almost break my shoes from the sudden jerks and what not, but at least I'm not swimming in different directions!

Reached school early today, and after I'm all properly attired for class, I head to the Demo Classroom and saw 2 ladies from my Orientation class chitchatting and in my state of exhilaration, I shamelessly interrupted their conversation midway! I know, that's so rude of me! I'll never do that again! But I was so happy to see familiar faces, and so we chatted, exchanged numbers and went into class together; taking up the front row seats. I like that most of the people I've exchanged numbers with today, are very friendly and genuine!

Maybe it's because we are all on the same boat (far from home?) and yet connected by the same passion, that's why we are more willing to loosen up a little more easier?

Anyway! For our first Demonstration today, we have got Chef Marc (Not Mark, my bad) as our Chef and he will take charge for most of the demonstrations! The nice and kind Chef as recommended by the nice senior yesterday! Well, he is funny, and nice and speaks English with the usual French accent, but nothing too difficult to understand. I was more distracted by the fact that I can understand both English AND Thai, so while the translator is doing her job, it's pretty messy for me because, my mind is absorbing and deciphering information from two different language. But, I'm sure I can handle that as time goes by.

The lesson began with name call, followed by Chef Marc introducing himself, the other chefs who may be teaching us instead of him, some rules and regulations followed by some in depth information regarding Demonstration and Practical Classes - what to bring and what to expect.

I had a full day of school today; a demonstration class in the morning at 8.30am, followed by practical class (which means you basically bake 1 or 2 of the recipes being shared in earlier demonstration class) at 12.30pm. Each class is 3 hours long.

Today, Chef Marc goes through the process and full techniques for 2 recipes, and preparation techniques for another 2 recipes; preparation is called 'misc en place' (Mee-Son-Plus). It's pretty interesting to learn all the French verbs which are commonly used in the kitchen, as well as french words for the different techniques being implemented during baking.

With respect to the school, I will only touch on the product which I have the chance to bake during practical class. FYI.

Henceforth, presenting to you, Diamants and Sablés Nantais; both are from the shortbread biscuits' family! 

 Aren't they gorgeous? Jam filled, icing sugar, on its own. There's so many variations for  Sablés Nantais, while for Diamants, it's like cookies with sugar coated rims.

Closer look; those lines are created by forks and, doesn't the Diamants look like discs of sliced tree log? These are baked by Chef Marc, and we get to do tasting at the end.

I enjoyed my practical lessons so much! Although, today was the first day and it was sort of all over the place. I got to admit I was like a headless chicken, slow in carrying out the steps and all, I've got to improve on my speed! For practical, we only made Diamants and also did Misc En Place for Madeleines! 

My finished product! =D

The techniques to baking Diamants involved Sablage (a.k.a rub-in method) and to Fraser the dough. It's a not a very complicated process, but it's is very tedious. If I was at home, I would have used my trusty Kitchen Aid Mixer, but I am here to learn the right techniques and the real art of patisserie, so by hand, it shall be!

To carry out Sablage, I use a scraper and cut the butter into smaller pieces while combining the flour, creating a fine breadcrumb texture. This can be done, with your hand mimicking a chopping position and spinning the mixing bowl at the same time. I did that till my arms got to a screaming, sore realisation before I arrived to my fine breadcrumbs stage.

Nonetheless, it is actually quite simple.

Fraser or Fraiser, refers to the manner of mixing the dough evenly by smearing the dough with your palm against the worktop. This is also a simple step, but the question here is, how much to smear? Heehee! Of course, I took note of what the Chef have demonstrated and what my Chef during Practical Class highlighted! So much joy in doing what I love!

I took these pictures back home, by the way. In class, we just present on the cooling rack. Unless its a cake, then we present it on the tin gratin. Anyway! How does mine looks? =D

Diamants taste like crispy, buttery cookie with hints of orange and vanilla, it is very fragrant and it melts in your mouth with one bite. Furthermore, the sugar coated rims makes it a great treat with coffee/milo! I wished I can airmail some back home for my usual food critics to taste!

Since this is a practical class, of course your final product gets graded. Chef Aum (my practical chef) analyse my produce and gave me some feedback.

Besides the above 3 problems, the rest are good! I will take note and will prevent myself from making the same mistakes. 

I have a full day class for tomorrow again, and we will be baking madeleines and Cake Aux Fruits (Fruit Cake)! Fruit cake means a lot to me, because Daddy Lim & Mummy N loves fruit cakes - I would love to bake them a good fruit cake!

Till then!

P.S
I have made a couple of new friends and classmates!!! Lonely Chris is no more! I'm looking forward to spending time with my new found friends *tears of joy*