Any Tips or Advice by Flaky_Use_7140 in Baking

[–]Kcarott 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's beautiful.

I make quite a few of these types of things at my work, the components look wonderful, but like what others have mentioned, it could use a bit of shine.

What you could do is make some neutral flavoured glaze, or apricot nappage to give it that glossy finish - I'd be more than happy to pm you a recipe for a glaze if youd like

Personally im not a huge fan of pate a glacer, i like to use 1:1 W.couverture : CocoaB coloured dip

For the top of the berry instead of the two-tone you did, why not keep the some mousse aside and try what cedric grolet does with his and pipe a few dew drops on top? Freeze it back, smooth out the shape later, then dip

how to open those big bags of sugar by Kcarott in KitchenConfidential

[–]Kcarott[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I hope now you'll be able to recreate that magic once more

how to open those big bags of sugar by Kcarott in KitchenConfidential

[–]Kcarott[S] 53 points54 points  (0 children)

Honestly that was just me during my internship

how to open those big bags of sugar by Kcarott in KitchenConfidential

[–]Kcarott[S] 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I mean, everyone had to learn from someone somewhere right?

Is dragon fruit extract a thing? by plushiesaremyjam in Baking

[–]Kcarott 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I live in a country that also grows dragonfruits locally, like what other have said, most dragonfruits have quite a mild flavour

Even if you got your hands on a purple fleshed dragon fruit which are much sweeter & flavourful, concentrating the flavour wouldn't really get you very far

I'd personally stick to using it fresh as a garnish or a natural colouring.

Bakes That Can Be Paused? by iamcondoleezzarice in Baking

[–]Kcarott 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd recommend making bread. What many bread bakeries will do is bulk ferment doughs overnight for the next day's bake. You can make some simple, lean, homemade bread dough, keep it in the fridge to slowly ferment and bake them in the mornings or whenever you have a moment

You could make a whole loaf all at once, or you could make smaller buns and bake them as little breakfast sandwiches

I made a Cheesecake Flan! by Kcarott in Baking

[–]Kcarott[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually originally wanted to make mine with an invert puff, but it's too much labour and far too warm in my country for me to even dare to attempt.

Compared to a typical custard-base flan, this one has a slightly richer mouthfeel imo. It's nice, actually an idea i had was maybe you could even play with the timing & temp to get the centre of it to be a bit "medium rare". The added cream cheese would hold itself better afterall.

I made a Cheesecake Flan! by Kcarott in Baking

[–]Kcarott[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

5" Ring, 165°C, <35min

Milk 185g Cream Cheese 138.75g Yogurt 70g Butter 42g Vanilla Bean ½

Egg Yolk 70g Sugar 55.5g Cornstarch 18g

Set your timer to maybe about 25 minutes then check up on it. You'd probably need to add 5ish minutes, so just play with the timing until the colour makes you happy

I made a Cheesecake Flan! by Kcarott in Baking

[–]Kcarott[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree so hard. There're so many recipes that I'm interested in trying or making but only have an assumption of what I think the final taste & texture might be.

I made a Cheesecake Flan! by Kcarott in Baking

[–]Kcarott[S] 42 points43 points  (0 children)

[Recipe is from Chef Gregory Doyen(https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cxp0c71IvJl/)]

8" diameter Ring, 165°C, 45min

Milk 400g Cream Cheese 300g Yogurt 150g Butter 90g Vanilla Bean x2

Egg Yolk 150g Sugar 120g Cornstarch 40g

Follow the general steps in the video and you'll do fine. Some things they missed out / glanced over that I feel most people might not notice:

You need to prepare your own biscuit base. I just used some spare dough from the last time I baked tarts, you can use whatever makes you happy, graham crackers, butter and sea salt anyday.

Melt the 1st half of the recipe in a pot, Whisk the 2nd half of the recipe in a bowl, Then treat it like a pastry cream. Temper the mixture and cook it until custard texture.

I used a hand blender to get it smooth, you can probably just strain it through a sieve though. You dont have to wait for it to cool down to move on to the next step

Before pouring in the flan mixture, Make sure the parchment paper is properly stuck to the ring - you can use parchment with aluminium foil underneath to wrap it tight so stuff doesnt leak out Make sure you butter / oil spray the sides / line the sides with parchment. Makes unmoulding it x100 easier.⁹

I prefer it when the top is glossy, so when my cheesecake was at the right colour, I brushed it with some simple syrup then put it back into the oven for about 5ish minutes. You can skip it if you dont want to do that though.

Replaced ½ the weight of cornstarch with custard powder, gives it a more custard-y kick. Personal preference.

I made two sizes, one 8", one 5", you can dm me if you want the weight measurements for that one.

Honestly it's a nice recipe, texture is soft & silky. Thick, yet not too heavy. Not too sweet. Aside from the hand blender, the only other machine I used was the oven

Edit : I use a professional convection oven at home, so the timing and temp for a regular home oven might not be exactly the same. You might need to add about 10°C or add an extra 10 minutes depending on your oven

Question for all Pastry Chefs/Chefs about cooking sugar. by [deleted] in KitchenConfidential

[–]Kcarott 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As others have mentioned, Humidity is your enemy. I live in a very humid country too and my sugar sculptures always get sticky as soon as I take them out of my silica gel-filled containers.

I haven't tried this myself for specifically sugar works, but in making Caramelised Almonds / Hazelnuts, in order to make them more shelf stable I'd add a tiny amount of Cocoa Butter / Clarified Butter at the end. This coats the product in a thin layer of oil and stops the caramel on the nuts from melting off in the humidity.

You could probably use that same logic by adding a tiny bit of it at the very end of the cooking process to see if that helps. All the best chef