Breadmaking ... Le Cordon Bleu

Today was the beginning of my cooking journey with Le Cordon Bleu, Paris!
If the day had continued as it started I may have gone home!

When it comes to public transport I am completely hopeless, I have no idea why. It was the same when I lived in London ... I stuck to the Underground, that was easy. I'm not so comfortable with the French Metro yet.  Even in Perth I tried to catch a bus to work once and ended up going in completely the wrong direction and being 2 hours late for work!



This morning I got up early (which is before 10:30am for me since I arrived in Paris) so I could make it to the school on time as it is important to be punctual ... and I am still trying to get that right.

It was snowing as I left and after two trips back up the stairs ... one for gloves and another for camera ... I was on my way to the bus top.  I found that okay (thanks to my brother who sorted out the bus number and route for me via the French Public Transport site and printed off and stapled a copy of each bus stop for me and a long staring at Google Maps to see a photo of the hair salon I should be standing in front of ... if only I'd taken the same amount of time to look at the one I was supposed to get off at.  I got on the bus and sat up the front ... like one of those goody two shoes you never want to be on the school bus!  

With note paper in hand I was checking out every stop to see if it was mine.  As soon as I saw the stop with the name of the street on my printout "Rue d'Alleray" I got off .... not realising that I was at least three stops from where I thought I was and that wasn't even the street where the school is!! For those of you who may not have been to France, it is very dark at 8:00am and when it is snowing it is freezing!!  And I am someone who loves the cold, but not when I'm lost and having a freak out because I should be able to catch a bus like normal people!!  Plus, not only do you have to look up to make sure you know where you are going ... you have to look down to make sure you don't tread in dog poo ... which is almost as common as flies in Australia!!!  Seriously, the need a few or our rangers here.


After much stumbling around and asking questions of strangers in very stilted French (basically excuse moi and showing them the map), I had directions taking me up and down the street until I spotted a postman - ah ha - just what I needed, and, he spoke English!!  As it turned out I wasn't too far away from Le Cordon Bleu and he kindly walked me there and I was right on time.

To start with you have a traditional French Breakfast with other people attending courses on the day, this consists of croissants, orange juice and tea or coffee.  I think I will have cereal before I leave next time ... the cereal in France is really good ... they have this divine combination of muesli-type clusters with dark chocolate .... how can you not have a good day after eating that!! I mix it with Kellogg's Special K with Red Fruits - ooh la la!





While getting breakfast and finding a table, I smile awkwardly at people and hope for a friendly face .... there were some there thank God and three of us eventually moved to one table as shouting at each other in different languages wasn't really working.  One girl was from Quebec, but I didn't get her name, she lives in Paris, the other Bianca, who was doing the same class as me, was from Brazil but lives in Madrid and has come to Paris for a month to learn French and do a little cooking.


Lots of students of the school scurried past while we were waiting, wearing crumpled chef's white's and messy hair!! They were here for the serious study, which I would do if I had enough time and $$.

Then our translater turned up, her name was Leanne and she was Australian - yipee!!  We headed upstairs to meet Chef Jean-Jacques and the two assistants so we could begin our course.  There were quite a few flights .... put there to warm us up we were told.  

We were provided with a lovely white Cordon Bleu apron and tea towel to keep.  I finally learned that you tie your apron at the front so you can hook your tea towel on it ... not because you are skinny enough to do so!!


We then introduced ourselves, there were 12 of us in total, 7 Americans - 6 ladies from Texas and Louisiana and Peter, from Seattle, all living in Paris, 1 Englishman - living in Paris, a Dutch lady on holidays, two Parisians and Bianca and me. 
Yes, I do know their names, but thought it best not to mention everyone here.  There was lots of humour during the day and having an Aussie doing the translating was a relief .... of course, my nick-name for the rest of the course was "Australia".  

First off was "Pain Blanc (Baguettes et Petit Pains)" which is White Bread (Baguette and small Bread).  If you've been to France, you'll know how good the baguettes are, especially when they are warm.  There are lots of little bakeries or "Boulangerie" in Paris, so it is easy to pick one up when needed and you see people everywhere with them.

Having not made bread, other than a few attempts at hot-cross buns, I was very keen to learn as much as I could.


We started with 25g fresh compressed yeast and added 480ml of water, then we watched Chef demonstrate the mixing and kneading, the kneading included whacking the dough on the bench, which I've never seen our translator's term "just beat it"!!  It was suggested that making bread this way was a good thing to do if you are stressed out!!  



You can mix the yeast and water if you like, but it's not necessary, next 840g of strong white flour and start to combine ingredients.  The chef used a spatula (the one I was using is pictured left), you see these used a lot more now, Simon from "The Cook and the Chef" uses one a lot.  Once the mixture comes together, turn it out onto a light floured board, bench etc and begin to knead.
You need to knead the dough for at least 20 minutes.  The salt is added somewhere in the kneading process, I think we did it at about the 15 minute mark.  Make a dent in the dough, add the salt 16g, fold over the edges and knead.

The reason salt is not added at the beginning is because it inhibits the gluten from developing elasticity. Later when making another bread (Kugelof), we were told told that salt kills the yeast and sugar causes the yeast to gorge and then die, so it is always best to protect the yeast by adding the flour before sugar or salt.

Once you are happy with the consistency of the dough, cover with a tea towel and leave to rest until it is two (2) times it's original size.  The time it takes to double in size will depend on the temperature of the room.  Also, a longer first resting time, means a shorter one once the dough has been shaped.

1 baguette = approx 350g dough, pieces of dough are cut and weighed and set to the side until completed. 


We watched Chef shape a few baguettes before we attempted the same.  It looked so easy when he did it!!  


There is a little folding and flattening until you get a rectangle with the seal of dough at the bottom, you then roll the dough until it is the required length and shape ... no strangled baguettes and they must be 60cm long, otherwise you can't tuck it under your arm - which is exactly the way most people carry them!!!  


This was the only bread we made manually, the others were all mixed in machines, thank God!!  We were told how we could apply what we were learning to the domestic kitchen, with mix masters and (lacking steam ovens) some water in a bowl at the bottom of the oven.
With the leftover baguette dough, we made small dinner rolls topped with a variety of seeds.


We were also lucky enough to make Galette des Rois (King Cake) from scratch.  It is basically puff pastry with an almond cream in the centre and an egg glaze on top.

I had not heard of Galette des Rois until this trip to Paris, maybe because it is only available at this time of the year, to celebrate the l'Epiphanie on 6 January.  So far I've had three .... one from a shop, one made by Monique's sister Annie and the one I made.  They are really good.  If you want to know more about Galette des Rois: click here.



There is lots of folding with puff pastry but as you have to pop it in the fridge a few times, you can still get other things done.
Other breads we made on the day were Pain Aux Olives (Olive Bread), Pain de Seigle (Rye Bread), Kouglof (Kugelhof) which is sort of like brioche with golden raisins and candied orange peel which has been macerated in Grand Marnier.  Brioche is really good and I am hoping it will come up in one of the course I am doing.  The last bread was Pain de Champagne sur farine composee (Country-style bread with mixed flour).


We were also told about natural leaven and how to make it, this enables bread to be made without yeast.  I am very keen to try this when I get back.  The French use apples or golden raisins, covered in water until they start to ferment, the liquid from this fermentation is mixed with four and left to rest at room temp until it is 5 times it's initial volume, it is then fed more flour and water 4 times before it can be used to start baking. This mixture is known as Mother Leaven or "Mum", some are 100's of years old.  Top Pastry Chefs and Bakers have been known to take theirs with them when they travel and I have heard of sourdough leavens being kept in safes!!


We were given general tips on the importance of temperature when baking bread and that altering the temperature of the water is the best way to cope weather that is not ideal for baking .... such as the Paris weather now!!!  Although everything is heated inside, so you wouldn't know if you didn't look out the window ... or get stuck in it like me!!

The walk to the bus stop and the trip home was very interesting ... give all the bread we had made we were loaded up like camels and it was not easy to see where you were going or to hold on.  Also, given my public-transport-challenged nature, I got off at the wrong bus stop too!  This meant walking an extra distance in the slipper snow taking baby steps with your arms snapping off.  I had made the commitment that if I did slip over, I was leaving the bread where it landed and bolting for home!! Luckily I didn't slip and I also managed to avoid all dog poop ..... all in all, a good ending to the day.


Next course is on Crispy Savoury Dishes .... luckily it starts at 3:30pm ... so I should be able to see where I am going.


Au Revoir