Choklit Blog #44: The Baked Chronicles: Volume 3

June 15-18, 2010.

  I officially hate cinnamon buns.

  I’ve made cinnamon buns every week I’ve been at Baked, and due to the fact that my hands always feel really gross after spreading out the cinnamon filling, I hate them with a burning passion.  Important lesson #6: Cinnamon buns are only your friend when you’re eating them.

  Besides that, I’ve discovered some pretty awesome things this week.  For example, the robot coupe has a really cool shredder attachment that I didn’t know existed.  Granola has to be baked on these rubbery mats called silpat.  A large coffee cake takes longer to bake than a small coffee cake.  Important lesson #6: Always ask “Am I doing this right?” or “Is there an easier way to do this?”

  I got to help make some bars for the first time this week, and I think I can honestly say I was not born to make PBK bars.  After accidentally dumping half of the peanut butter/chocolate filling on the table under the scale (Important lesson #7: Sheet pans are not very deep), I found out that I’m apparently not capable of making peanut butter/chocolate filling perfectly smooth.  I later found out that I’m also not capable of making chocolate glaze perfectly smooth, or anywhere close to anything resembling anything that looks nice.  The grasshopper bars were a little easier because I’m used to smoothing out butter cream.  They remind me of a mint chocolate chip cake I made once, but my cake was better because it had no butter cream.  I’m not a fan of butter cream.

  This week was obviously pretty uneventful, except for when I under-baked the coffee cake and made it collapse.  That was kind of not too good.

Choklit Blog #43: The Baked Chronicles: Volume 2

June 8-11, 2010.

  “Welcome to a real kitchen, Violet.  There’s no room and there are too many people.”  That’s definitely the quote of this week.  There are two worktables in the kitchen: one against the wall, and one in the middle of the room that's about the size of two normal tables.  All last week, I was working at the table against the wall with the whole thing to myself.  Now I realize what an unrealistically huge work space that is.  Important lesson #4: Contrary to popular belief, a commercial kitchen provides much less work space than your home kitchen.

  This week, I’ve been confined to the corner of a table, and it’s not the easiest place to be when you have to make hundreds of cookies, dozens of cupcakes, and a few cakes.  On the other hand, it’s great when you’re trying to socialize with your co-workers.

  I don’t think I made any significant, life-altering mistakes this week, but I did manage to ruin a little bit of maple buttercream by putting it in chocolate whoopie pies instead of vanilla buttercream.  The whoopies were saved, but unfortunately, the buttercream had to be thrown out.  May it rest in peace.  Important lesson #5: Maple and chocolate just don’t go together.

  One item on the menu here has raised my curiosity.  I made cream biscuits this week, and they seem like normal enough biscuits, except they have no butter.  I don’t understand why anyone in their right mind would have any desire to make a biscuit with no butter.  I overheard some employees talking about how insanely heavy the biscuits are, but I’m determined to try one myself before my ten weeks are over.

Choklit Blog #42: The Baked Chronicles: Volume 1

June 1-4, 2010.

Week one.  I should have known that I would injure myself within the first ten minutes of starting this job, but I somehow didn’t know myself well enough to predict that.  Important lesson #1: The outside of the oven is hot!

I wasn’t expecting to scoop several hundred cookies on my first day, but as the unpaid intern, I guess I should have also predicted I would be doing something “easy” that no one else wants to do.  Important lesson #2: Lift weights before going to work in a bakery.

Day two would have been better without the coconut macaroons.  First I accidentally replaced part of the shredded coconut with coconut flakes.  Then I was absolutely sure I had to be scooping them wrong, but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to redo them all.  How many different ways can there be to scoop cookies anyway?

One thing I learned this week about working at Baked is that it’s not a typical kitchen.  Everyone here is-- gasp-- friendly!  Socialization is pretty much more important than actual skills.  I’m not quite sure if I like that, but oh well, I’ll be spending three days a week here for the next ten weeks of my life whether I like it or not.

I also found out how to burn marshmallows using a blowtorch.  That wasn’t really my goal, but at least if someone ever hands me a blowtorch and asks me to burn some marshmallows, I’ll know how to do it!  After using and/or burning all the marshmallows, I had to make more, and I found out how disgusting marshmallows actually are.  Animal skin, corn syrup, and sugar?  Important lesson #3: Don’t eat too many marshmallows.