I end a period of inactivity with a picture of croissants!

I've been trying to perfect my scaling and shaping of croissants this weekend, its very important, as i have an exam that tests my ability to do that in three days. Enrolled in culinary school for the past month, I've decided to post up a collection of photographs (that will be growing over the next six months) that I am calling my baking and pastry arts portfolio. 

Please critique what you see, and advise me about the life in industry I will be embarking on soon!

Well, I mentioned some time ago that I was considering attending the bread program at the French Culinary Institute in New York City. Well, in an attempt to kick-start my career and get out of Ohio, I signed up and off I went. So here I am in Chinatown with aching feet and a big bag of baguettes and batards. I mentioned originally that I was going to blog my experience, and I have begun to do so.

The blog isn't all about bread, but bread is what ties it all together. I'll be doing restaurant reviews, bakery reviews, general NYC fun, and updates on my classes and progress. There are not yet, but there will be soon, pictures to accompany all of these things. Additionally, the layout of the blog needs some work but I'm on it and should have it all worked out soon.

I invite you to stop by my blog, have a read, and please, please leave comments. I will answer any questions I can regarding formulas and techniques if you leave them in the comments section, and I can always ask my instructor things that you wanted to know in the guise of me pretending it was my question! I hope he's not reading this. Sorry, chef!

Thanks, and may your ovens always heat true!

Corey

What follows is a likely, yet entirely hypothetical future.

I have been an underemployed and unemployed financial research editor since early December. I live in one of the most economically depressed areas in the country (Ohio). For the most part, all I have done since getting laid off from my job at a think tank is cook and bake. Given the enjoyment I've had and the lack of other opportunity here, I have made the decision to attend bread school, most likely the Art of International Bread Baking program at the FCI in Manhattan, which is convenient to my budget (barely) and schedule (very).

I'm hoping to accomplish the following:

1. Learn to actually make something, unlike in my fomer career as a desk jockey.
2. Have a true career to fall back on should the economy collapse further.
3. Make and eat a LOT of awesome bread.
4. Do something I actually enjoy.
5. Do something that makes others happy.
6. Wear shorts and a t-shirt to work at 2:00 am.
7. Get the hell out of Ohio.
8. Open my own bakery after some period of apprenticeship.

If everything works out and I begin this fall, I will be blogging and photographing the entirety of the experience. I was just wondering if the readership of TFL would be interested in following me through the program and a new career as a professional baker.

What would the readership of TFL like to know about the experience?  I really feel that this would be a great opportunity to share with such an involved community of bread heads and the blogging would be mostly for you, not me. Unless, of course, someone would like to pay me for it :) Obviously, I can share techniques, recipes, tricks, and anecdotes, but is there anything you would like to know specifically?

Corey