April 28, 2020 - 7:14pm
Hello from Lincoln Tech
Hey all, I’m new from the Lincoln Tech Columbia campus. I’m mostly interested in the sweets side of baking but I’m not sure exactly what path to go down. I’m interested in eventually owning my own bake shop but it’s so hard to pick just one type of sweet/pastry! Feel free to comment some of your favorite sweets so I know what to practice making!
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Best wishes on your future plans! I think you’ll find enough to sink your teeth into here, that you’ll find yourself coming back, from time to time.
If I had one wish, for whenever I have gone into a pastry/sweet shop, it would be to find something that wasn’t overly sweetened. The bitterness of chocolate will tone many of the sweet things down, bringing balance the force. But, I am deathly allergic to chocolate (a very sad thing, from what people tell me) and so many times, everything without chocolate is so very sweet, that it’s just disappointing. That’s my two cents.
Again, welcome to the group!
Thanks for your input and warm welcome! Have you tried marzipan? I work in a retail sweets shop and while I agree a lot of things are suuuuuper sweet (the brand of gummies we sell to our macarons to some of our truffles) I've been lucky enough to taste marzipan a couple of times. The first time I tried it I had just eaten a chocolate caramel truffle and after all that sugar, the marzipan tasted like sand, but after trying it again a couple months later (not after eating something incredibly sweet) it tasted much better. It has more of a honey sweetness than a sugary/syrupy sweetness. Unfortunately, we no longer sell marzipan and I'm not sure where to get it/who our supplier was, but if you ever see it around (and aren't allergic to almonds) you should try it!
Im totally mad about this Milk Bread recipe
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread-rolls-recipe
Tangzhong roux and milk scalding are fundamental to enriched doughs.
The magic of sweet bread is not sugar but butter. The right butteriness and fluffy textures can make a 'sweet' bread without using the customary 1/4 cup sugar.
Try making small enriched rolls with AP flour and coat them in cinnamon and sugar.
Also try fried doughtnuts. Harder than it looks.
And... total crossover... strong flour puff pastry.
A tricky one to try is the Wessex Lardy Cake. (Not Lardy Johns although they are great too).
Internet calls it Wiltshire Lardy Cake
Thank you so much for the suggestions! I'm definitely interested in trying to make fried doughnuts, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to wait for the campus to open up again as I don't have a deep fryer at home. The enriched rolls and strong flour puff pastry might be doable though! Just have to wait for masks so I can go shopping to buy more flour haha.
You can just stick a load of fresh oil in an old heavy saucepan and use a long holey ladel/spoon/egg scoop. Nothing fancy required :)
Ask your local bakeries by phone or email to the boss/owner for large sacks of heavy flour. They can often sell you a cost price 25kg sack of premium flour.
Everyone falls in love with Milk Bread. Dont overlook that one. It becomes a sturdy foundation for many creations and is a foolproof relative of brioche.
Happy baking!