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fandomhigh2015-01-12 11:05 am
sharp_as_knives) wrote in fandomhigh2015-01-12 11:05 am
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Baking: Sweet and Savory | Monday, 3rd period
Class met in the Danger Shop this week, and at the front of it were a masonry oven, a cooking pit, a rather fancy grill, and a stainless steel oven. The whole room smelled like baking flour and sugar.
"Welcome again," Hannibal said with a smile. "As I mentioned last week, the simplest definition of baking is cooking things by means of dry heat. So, no water or broth or oil is used to cook things in. There are any number of ways to bake things, most of which have changed little or not at all for centuries. In some cases, for millennia."
He turned to the ovens. "Some use wood or coal, some use stones, some simply use fire - either burning things or simply a gas flame. And modern ovens may also use heated metal elements. The point is to heat the air around your food, and the container the food is in. These two things combined cook the food."
He gestured the students closer. "Masonry ovens have been used since at least the middle ages. These days, they're mostly used for things like artisanal breads and," he gave them a sardonic look, "pizza. They may be constructed of clay, brick, or stone. The fire - wood or coal - heats the structure, and heat from the structure cooks the food. They can take quite a bit of fuel to sustain, and as you can feel -" he put a hand close to the thing "- they heat up quite a bit around them, too.
"A cooking pit or earth oven contains that outward heat by burying the structure in dirt or sand. If you recall any chemistry, fire can't exist without oxygen, so generally these involve heating stones or coals that will keep heat for some time, then smothering them. Less heat is lost to the air, but as you can see, it's a bit more difficult to open the door and see how your food is doing."
He led them to the next one. "Most of you have probably used one of these at some point. A grill is generally more similar to a stove than an oven, but you can use them for baking, too. And of course, the modern oven most of us know some variation of. Fire in a box," he said, amused. "The details change, but the nature doesn't."
He adjusted the Shop's controls and the first three ovens disappeared, leaving just the modern one. "We may touch on the others later, but for now we'll be working with modern gas ovens. Some may be more complex, but in general they have two dials - one for where the heat comes from, and one for how much heat there is." He finished explaining the intricacies of ovens.
"Yeast breads would be a good introduction, since they use a number of techniques you can apply to other things. Unfortunately, unless you all wish to stay here for several hours watching your dough rise, we will have to skip that for now. Instead, we will be making a quick bread. Quick breads do not use yeast to rise, and tend to be denser as a result. The most common one in the US today is probably banana bread." You wouldn't be making that.
"We will be making an apple pomegranate spice bread. You each have your own station, so if you head to those, we can begin; I'll explain as we go."
"Welcome again," Hannibal said with a smile. "As I mentioned last week, the simplest definition of baking is cooking things by means of dry heat. So, no water or broth or oil is used to cook things in. There are any number of ways to bake things, most of which have changed little or not at all for centuries. In some cases, for millennia."
He turned to the ovens. "Some use wood or coal, some use stones, some simply use fire - either burning things or simply a gas flame. And modern ovens may also use heated metal elements. The point is to heat the air around your food, and the container the food is in. These two things combined cook the food."
He gestured the students closer. "Masonry ovens have been used since at least the middle ages. These days, they're mostly used for things like artisanal breads and," he gave them a sardonic look, "pizza. They may be constructed of clay, brick, or stone. The fire - wood or coal - heats the structure, and heat from the structure cooks the food. They can take quite a bit of fuel to sustain, and as you can feel -" he put a hand close to the thing "- they heat up quite a bit around them, too.
"A cooking pit or earth oven contains that outward heat by burying the structure in dirt or sand. If you recall any chemistry, fire can't exist without oxygen, so generally these involve heating stones or coals that will keep heat for some time, then smothering them. Less heat is lost to the air, but as you can see, it's a bit more difficult to open the door and see how your food is doing."
He led them to the next one. "Most of you have probably used one of these at some point. A grill is generally more similar to a stove than an oven, but you can use them for baking, too. And of course, the modern oven most of us know some variation of. Fire in a box," he said, amused. "The details change, but the nature doesn't."
He adjusted the Shop's controls and the first three ovens disappeared, leaving just the modern one. "We may touch on the others later, but for now we'll be working with modern gas ovens. Some may be more complex, but in general they have two dials - one for where the heat comes from, and one for how much heat there is." He finished explaining the intricacies of ovens.
"Yeast breads would be a good introduction, since they use a number of techniques you can apply to other things. Unfortunately, unless you all wish to stay here for several hours watching your dough rise, we will have to skip that for now. Instead, we will be making a quick bread. Quick breads do not use yeast to rise, and tend to be denser as a result. The most common one in the US today is probably banana bread." You wouldn't be making that.
"We will be making an apple pomegranate spice bread. You each have your own station, so if you head to those, we can begin; I'll explain as we go."
Talk to the TA!
Re: Talk to the TA!
He was going to thank the coffee for this.