10 tips for making pastry as a chef
The pastry is good ... But it is not always easy to achieve, as it requires precision. To put your eyes on it and amaze the taste buds of those who will taste your little sweets, here are our tips!
Have an oven thermometer
An overcooked cake, you have already experienced this situation, although you left the mold 20 minutes 180 degrees, as shown? You want to know the reason: according to pastry professionals, some ovens do not actually heat to the specified temperature.
For the perfect dessert, it is better to trust a thermometer for baking and refer to the temperature that it indicates.
When cooking, to check if your cake is ready , use a toothpick that you will plant in: if it comes out without any task, it's time to get it out of the oven.
A must-have kitchen scale
Pastry is precision! 10 grams in addition to an ingredient, and the recipe can be completely missed. It may seem trivial, but it's much easier to measure a quantity of flour and using a spoon.
This is why you should focus on the recipes whose quantities are indicated in grams rather than spoonfuls, it will be much more precise.
Always sift dry ingredients
Flour, yeast, bicarbonate, sugar ... It may seem totally useless to sieve them! Yet, this is important: you will get a dough without lumps , and cakes of pretty shapes.
Butter at the right temperature
If you need to incorporate it into your preparation, it must be at the proper temperature, so that the texture of it is perfect.
Do you need soft butter ? Use it from the moment when, when you press it, it deforms easily, but is not melted to the point of being liquid.
On the other hand, if your recipe calls for cold butter , cut the amount you need into cubes when you take it out of the fridge. Then place your dice in the freezer during the hour before the realization of your recipe. When you handle it, it will be cold enough and will not melt.
To roast your dried fruits
If you use pistachios, nuts or pine nuts, fry them for a few minutes , taking care to be careful that they do not burn.
This will make them more crisp, and they will give off more flavor once you have them in your mouth.
Before incorporating them in a preparation, coat them with flour , that will allow that they do not fall in the bottom of your mixture.
A snack that throws
A marbled cake, visually, it's great, and it's not that complicated to make! To do this, you must prepare two separate pasta, one type and the other according to your preferences (the choice is usually chocolate but you can innovate and incorporate instead of the dough speculoos).
Then pour the pasta into the mold: to create this marbled effect , alternate the layers of each of them. Then go in, using a pick, to create patterns.
Attention to demoulding
It is always a delicate operation, a cake or mellow can easily unmolded and even break in the worst case.
Better to pay attention and take some precautions: it is necessary to butter the mold, but also to stuff it with parchment paper . The latter must have the shape of the mold and mount on the sides of it.
Homemade whipped cream
In order to realize it and to succeed it perfectly, it is essential that the cream and the material (container and whip) that you will use are iced . To do this, place it in the freezer for 15 minutes before making your whipped cream: it will rise more easily, and will have more taste.
To serve it, rather than stupidly deposit it on your dessert, favor something visually more beautiful. Opt for quenelles, which you will form with the help of two tablespoons. To help you, it is ideal that they have been previously soaked in warm water, since the heat will allow to give them a nice shape.
Shiny pies of a thousand fires
The ones you buy in pastry are always ... So why not at home? To do the same, cover them with apricot syrup . This will allow, moreover, to keep them longer.
To sublimate them, and change the classic model, you can cover them with strips of pasta, but also opt for patterns in the form of hearts, stars, etc.
Successful icings
It must take place once the cake has completely cooled down: thus, between this operation and the exit of the oven, 30 minutes must at least flow.
After this time, pre-glaze : smear the whole surface of your cake with a first layer, of fine thickness, without really worrying about the aesthetic aspect. After this operation, place it in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes.
After this time, spread the second layer of frosting . For this one, you must apply yourself more, the visual of your dessert depends on it.
Thanks to this method, you will see that you will obtain a smooth frosting, which will not present any irregularity.
For your chocolate icing , so that it is shiny, add a small amount of coconut oil , and especially not water.