"Bread"

Whew!  Tonight was  C R A Z Y busy!  But still fun.  :)  We again had a short lecture on mixing methods and just going over homework.  We got our "to do" list for class and on for my group was 1. proofing breads from yesterday, then baking them for the restaurant tonight 2. mix and bake biscuits and corn muffins for the restaurant tonight 3. in pairs make a batch of brownies and 4. each of us make a full batch of coconut macaroons, a half batch of peanut butter cookies, and a half batch of oatmeal raisin cookies.  We got a demo of all the cookies and another demo of the brownies and off we went!  

I got out our butter braid from yesterday to proof (rise) before I bake it.  The baguettes were also taken out to proof and the extra baguette dough from yesterday was turned into cheesy herb breadsticks (the yummiest!).  The sourdough was also taken out to proof as well.  On we went to making the rest of the bread for tonight.  Natalie started on the corn muffins and Hannah on the biscuits, while Michelle made the breadsticks.  I got the task of folding napkins for the bread baskets (they have to look pretty for the diners!) and then started scaling out the ingredients for the brownies - attempting to get a jump start on the night's projects.  

Once the corn muffins were in the oven, Natalie and I knocked out the brownies super fast and were soon on our way to scaling out ingredients for the cookies.  BUT we then had to stop to top the butter braid with an egg wash and sesame seeds, check the inner temps of the breads, check our brownies, check the muffins, check the biscuits, AND about and hour before the dinner hour starts, we found out that the sourdough hadn't even been put in to bake yet!  It wasn't our dough so I hadn't been watching it, but now I know we're going to have to watch all the breads together, whether it is ours or not, or it gets done too late for the diners (which isn't all bad because we get to take it home, but still).  So between all of that, my measurements for my coconut macaroons were out and waiting to be made, but I didn't get to them for another 45 minutes because we then had to cut all the breads and make up at least 20-23 baskets, and place them all out for service tonight.  Once that time hit, it was non-stop going til the baskets went out, but at least they were full even without the sourdough loaves.  

So once the bread it out and we'd cleaned up all the bread crumbs, I thought it would be all good and I could get all three of my cookies done since they weren't all that time consuming types of cookies, buuuuuut no - that didn't happen.  I got the macaroons all mixed up and choose to let them sit the hour instead of babysitting them on the stove.  I thought it was the good choice, because while they were sitting and doing their coconut-y thing, I could start on one of the other cookie doughs, so I started scaling out the ingredients for the PB cookies.  I looked at the time and only had like a half hour, so I mixed up the PB dough and started scaling out the ingredients for the oatmeal raisin cookies for tomorrow.  I thought I was doing good and would at least get one batch done, but I forgot to put the fork marks into the PB cookies and they had already baked too long to do it, soooo I will have to redo those tomorrow.  ::sigh::  Oh well, it is okay.  I am going to go into class early and try to get all three cookies done before my class starts at 3pm, which should be do-able since none of the cookies have to bake all that long.  

So today I came home with a half a loaf of sourdough breads for my lunch sandwiches, a dozen yummy PB cookies (minus the fork marks), and a third of a gallon ziploc full of odds and ends from our breads today, so a little bit of baguette, a little butter braid, and a couple of corn muffins!  They'll go good with soup and stuff and I couldn't let it go to waste!

Well I have figured out that I definitely need one (if not two!) more chef jackets, because I am already washing my uniforms and I barely have any clothes to wash in general!  The pants are doing okay, but the jackets after being in the Special and Bread groups are just not staying clean.  I will have to find out from Chef tomorrow who to talk to about extra uniforms, because I just can't stand spending money to wash one load that is not completely full since I don't have clothes to fill it.  I was hoping to wear my uniforms at least twice before needing to wash, but an extra coat will just give me the extra day of wear before having to wash, which would be nice.  I have been using a Tide-to-go pen successfully so far to help me pre-treat some stains while at school or even to tend to my jacket if it is only one little stain, but I think I will just make up some good oxy-clean solution and use it with the pen once it runs out and hope that works since the pens are expensive and not refillable.  

I am off to switch my laundry and then hopefully get to sleep in an hour!