Its a little long... but I am in need of some advice... please read and respond if you have time

I have been pondering this for.... well... years actually. When I got to about the middle of my  Univeristy carreer (attending BYU-Idaho) I had this intense urge to go to culinary school. I grew up as a kid cooking and baking a lot with mom and grandma. As high school progressed I watched cooking shows more and more. I began to create things and really enjoy what I was doing. I would make dinner a couple times a week (usually our family recipes but I would put my own spin on them).

I then went to college. As time progressed the desire grew stronger and stronger. About 2 years into attending BYU-Idaho I had a desision to make. Stick with my major/minor (teaching: spanish and TESOL) or go to culinary school. My thought process was this... culiary school is expensive. I am already this far into school.... I want a real degree in something other that culinary but don't know what to do. I met with academic advisors.... the thoughts that came were.... finish out my degree maybe teach for a while and then go on to culinary school. I would also get a degree in University Studies and then go on... or just get my Assoc. Degree and go on to culiary school. After much deliberation I felt it was right to stick with teaching. I love teaching! Really it could be anything... as long as I am teaching.

Ever since I made that desision, I have had more and more thoughts about going to a culinary school. Our school offers a minor in culiary arts but I cannot do that as i am in education. I have taken a few classes (baking, cake decorating, confectionery, and advanced cake decorating) I love it! but now I am about to graduate and I am wondering... what should I do. the complicate things... my certifying test to teach one of my contents (spanish) is extremely difficult and I have not received a passing score twice.

I guess, after this long rant... what advice does anyone have?

Thanks

-Tyler marz

Hey all, I've been a professional baker for about 35 years and just started up a youtube channel to share my knowledge of the art of baking with you guys.  If you visit it by following this link http://www.youtube.com/user/JuliesCookingShow?feature=mhee  you can see my first video on how to make some delicious pecan dessert cups.  As I'm new to all this stuff I'd like you guys to tell me what you want to see and what I could improve on.  Also I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me out by spreading the word and subscribing.  Thanks thats all for now!! 

OK so this past week I make a wonderful ciabata with the recipe going around in here.

It turned out heavenly!  I am still a newb when it comes to making bread other than my own bread so I was very happy to see this one turn out so well!  I tried to post a few pics but managed to botch that up some how as well!

Anyway, pizza dough, bread loaf, whatever, how in the heck do you manage to get it from the counter to the stone?  Let's talk PIZZA for a second.  Ok, you have made the perfect dough, looks amazing, your options are to put it ON the stone when you put the toppings on and then put the whole thing in the oven but then you have a stone cold stone so to speak and the center is MUSH.

The other option is to put it on a peel and then try and pull the old pulling the table cloth off the table routine trick to get it on the stone but that will never work either most times no matter how much flour you put on the peel due to the weight of the pizza and you normally wind up with a lap full of tomato sauce!

Can anyone help me out here?  A silicon sheet is not as effective on the stone.  What is the solution?

THanks all!

New-newfie!

Hi all, I have a recipe-sharing website, and it would be nice to to have more baking  recipes posted on the site. It would be great if you can sign up on the site and post some baking recipes!

http://www.Flavoritup.com

Dennis

Chestnut fettuccine with toasted pignoli nuts and sage bring out the pasta’s smoky and rustic flavor. Chestnut fettuccine compliments grilled venison and turkey and adds a new dish to your holiday dinner.

Chestnut flour has a very strong flavor and you may want to experiment with different amounts of flour.

http://turosdolci.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/hunting-season-begins-in-switzerland-and-venison-is-on-the-menu/

Sometime ago I took a cooking course in Gargano and Chef Marco gave me a delicious family recipe that I is perfect for a luncheon with friends. 

http://turosdolci.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/a-recipe-from-gargano-calzone-con-cipolla/

We always have some Italian dishes during our holidays. Whether it is Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve or Easter, there is always ravioli on our table as a first dish. We would set up an assembly line with all of us pitching in to make hundreds of them before Thanksgiving so that we could have them for Christmas also. They freeze very well, but don’t ever defrost them before cooking them, just put them into a large amount of salted boiling water directly from the freezer.

http://turosdolci.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/ricotta-ravioli-from-“the-old-country”/

The wood fired oven has worked wonderfully well for both pizza and bread to date with great results, but it is now time  to some serious meat cooking i would be pleased to hear from some of the woodies on their exploits with meats.

Some of the students here at TAFE are interested in cooking  / baking a whole piglet in the near future for their graduation.

I am going to have a bit of a practice day with a number of items chickens, pork legs etc on a friday after the students have finished with the oven for pizzas at lunch time. (cant waste that heat)

 Any suggestions on cooking with some fire in or out meat covered or uncovered as a bit of a giude could save me from re-inventing the wheel

I have added a shot of the oven built from plans from traditionaloven showing the size  

regards yozza

Hey! 

We've recently launched a free marketplace called Book of Cooks (currently on Beta) to help consumers find and hire local culinary professionals and foodies for cooking gigs, full-time and part-time jobs. 

I'd like to extend an invitation to all bakers and food artisans on The Fresh Loaf to get listed on the book and help us grow it. To explain what it is in a few words....at BookofCooks you can set up an online bakery or "storefront" to sell your cakes, bread, pastries with and link to your photos and recipes here at The Fresh Loaf :=) , your webpage or blog.  

Consumers on the other hand can search BookOfCooks by city for whatever meal or baked goods they're craving, or they can browse the site's online Google maps and archives for links to local cooks/bakers, including ratings and reviews. When they find one that sounds good, they can place an order with the cook for pickup, delivery or even in-home preparation. 

The site is advertising and sponsor supported - we don't charge commissions. Here are some recent press articles and mentions  further explaining how it works.

Please note that the website is in beta--we will greatly appreciate any feedback that helps us improve and make it more useful. Tell us what you like, what you hate, it'll all be super valuable to us as we prepare for our next site release in the fall. 

Finally feel free to visit our blog, our Facebook page, watch our video tour or email me directly: info [at] bookofcooks.com. 

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Julian

On August 7, 2009 the release of a new movie starting Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) opens in theaters nationwide. The movie was written and directed by Nora Ephron and is an adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Powell's Julie & Julia and My Life in France, by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme. You can learn the plot by visiting the trailer and I won't bore you with that information. Over twenty seven years ago I had the honor of serving in the United States Navy and being stationed in Okinawa, Japan. It was a bitter sweet experience for a culinary obsessive compulsive cook like myself. Locating ingredients was a task and as a relatively new bride I was eager to prepare meals that were not only delicious but divine.

I have never really written about how I became so astute in the kitchen. I can say that I would not be the cook I am today were it not for a cookbook edited by Charlotte Turgeon titled The Creative Cooking Course. You must understand that during that time, military bases offered very little to choose from as far as ingredients go, so my now ex purchased three cookbooks so I could flex my culinary muscle; venture out into local markets and with the assistance of the Creative Cooking Course, a Betty Crocker Cookbook and one other that obviously was completely unimportant since I can no longer remember the title create culinary magic.

I bring this book up because it is through this book that I learned about food, food from all over the world. I cooked my way through this cookbook and I can tell you every recipe that worked and those that did not. Somewhere out there a budding novice is wondering how can I too become a great cook or baker? All I can share is that you must literally cook and bake your way into greatness. I think Nike said it best..."Just do it!" Julia Child once said, "never apologize." She was absolutely correct. Cook, cook, cook, bake, bake, bake and don't apologize. If someone does not like what you have prepared, fine...and as Jae would say, "keep it movin."

I had a copy of The French Chef years ago and found it quite boring, but recently I asked my daughter for a copy for Christmas. Now, over a half century old I can appreciate what Julia Child was trying to do and why. I too must encourage cooks and bakers to not settle, but rise up, grasp a good cookbook and cook, bake, "Just do it!"