The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

swan song

yozzause's picture
yozzause

swan song

I am on a countdown now from leaving  paid employ , for the last 10 years or so i have been with Challenger Institute of Technology which is a Government training organisation formally known as Tafe which stands Tertiary and Further Education.

I have had a number of rolls at Challenger being a Purchasing Officer, a stint with Hospitality Section as the technician and back at supply currently as a Contracts Administrator and auditor of credit card spending.

Fellow TFL’rs will have seen the breads and read of my exploits being able to use the in house Bakery that the Hospitality section has  attached to its training Restaurant  as well as the classes for commercial cooks and apprentices. Sadly this will all come to an end on June 30th my last paid working day  after accepting a voluntary severance whereby i get 12 months pay not to go to work!!!

Anyway I was asked if I would do a full day of Professional Development with the 13 Chef Instructors as they had requested  a baking day. I didn’t need to be asked twice I lept at the chance, the date set and  I started to plan a day of interest for both them and my self.

 

Kick off was going to be 8.00am  I decided we would do a full sourdough 3:2:1   but needed to have quantities larger than i have previously done so that became 6:4:2 kgs Just over 12 kgs this was then stretched and folded over 3 hours and taken on the 4th and placed on couches.

Dough 2 was Baguttes using a poolish that I prepared the previous day before I went home  this was to be used for our lunch

Dough 3 was the Hokkaido milk dough (tangzhong) which was also scheduled for lunch as we were making into buns. We Had a slight hiccup here as we discovered that the salt was still on the counter after the mix was placed into a proving tub, it gave me a chance to ask them what they would do, general consensus was that they would try to add the salt, we discussed the pros and cons. My thoughts were that the dough would then be over mixed  the salt was likely not to fully dissipate and would show up as coloured spots on the buns which would likely be tough. My plan was that the dough was essentially a Pate Fermente and that if we cut it into 500g pieces and stuck it in the freezer it could be used  in the coming weeks in the rolls that they would be making for the Restaurant.   

The fact that we were using a pre prepared Pate Fermente later in the day in another dough would show them the advantages of that. So another dough was required and if was going to be ready for lunch it would now be made an Instant Hokkado milk Dough with the simple addition of Bread Improver.

Dough 4 was also an instant dough this being a very rich fruit dough  using Honey instead of sugar and 50% fruit this was to be turned into Cinnamon scrolls using both cinnamon and roasted nuts in the roll up. Again a large dough so that all could have a go

Dough 5 was to be Dereks Home brew stout  with Wholemeal a touch of Rye and Sprouted Rye Berries. The home brew wasn’t quite ready for drinking anyway but was able to get the restaurant bar man to provide a very worthy substitute in a boutique Raging Bull Dark Beer from Margaret River an area famed for West Australian wines and this week monster surf waves. And to cap this off it was destined for the wood fired oven which was also being demonstrated.   

Dough 6 was the panini olive oil bread from Hammelman, this was one that i thought might have great potential for use in the training restaurant  this was a smaller dough than all the others  and used the Pate Fermente i had prepared the day before 

Dough 7 Last but not least was a gluten free offering, i had been in contact with Lauke’s flour mills from South Australia and they had kindly donated some of their Gluten free, yeast free, dairy free, multi grain mix. We do get a number of patrons to the training restaurant that are gluten intolerant or vegans and it quite important to be able to offer a substitute to enhance their dining experience.

I shall revisit this story with more details of the doughs with pictures in part 2

It will probably be after my return from a cruise that i am taking on P&O Pacific Jewel from Fremantle up the West Australian Coast calling at Geraldton, Broome then up to Indonesia calling at Lombok, Bali and Komodo before retuning to Fremantle.

I know its a hard life but someone has to do it. 

 

Regards Derek

Comments

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Can't wait to see the outcome of all this bread baking.  Your stout whole meal with rye and sprouted rye berries is a personal favorite.

Just think- all these years you loved what you did....and now you can do what you love every day instead.

Happy Baking Derek

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Well, it's good to know someone will be looking after the ship.

It seems like you had quite a send-off from the bakers.  And it won't surprise me to see you show up there again as a volunteer (beats having to build your own WFO, you know). 

All the best in your retirement, Derek.

Paul

yozzause's picture
yozzause

You are right on the money there Paul. The voluntary severance precludes me from employment with the government for 12 months , but as a volunteer to keep the hand in and have even more play time will be great, i live only 5 minutes away!

Work does seem to get in the way or take up so much of the day.

i did get to visit the bakery on board the Cunard's Queen Elizabeth two years ago  so we shall see if i can get below on the Pacific Jewel

regards Derek

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Congrats on  your retirement Derek!  Can't wait to see all of your breads from this last send-off bake and to hear about your non-paid work in the future :).

Regards,

Ian

yozzause's picture
yozzause

Thanks Ian  as soon as i get back

WendySusan's picture
WendySusan

and welcome your new career.  I'm celebrating my one year anniversary of retirement Friday and couldn't be happier.  Best of luck, enjoy your well earned travels.  

You're lucky that you are only banned from re-employ for 12 months...for me its forever...not that I'd ever go back to that stress and grind!

Enjoy your cruise and I look forward to reading your further adventures!

Wendy

yozzause's picture
yozzause

thanks for your good wishes Wendy

i can see myself being busier than a one armed paper hanger!

derek