Re: Baking by Feel

Posted by Gerard on September 08, 1997 at 15:42:31:

In Reply to: Baking by Feel posted by Karen Upright on August 28, 1997 at 22:49:21:

: Dear Gerard:

: I am beginning to appreciate your vain humor and to admire your advice. When you have given it on this board, it has always been precise. This time I am not writing to criticize you, just to share something.

: I worked for a short time in the pastry shop of a private club. The shop had its own walk in, adequate mixers, sinks, tables, utility guys to clean up, and a view of the river from one of the upper floors of a high rise building. But the oven was out the door, down the hall, around a corner, past the coolers, past the office and around another corner. You couldn't check on product and accomplish anything else at the same time! I started carrying a stop watch with alarm, but that's only good if you know the ovens really well and if you're accustomed to baking with a timer. Plus, there was no guarantee a prep cook wouldn't decide he needed to set the oven at 425F and not concern himself with a particularly delicate product. I couldn't stand it and had to move on.

: I bake by feel as well. My staff goes nuts when they ask how long to bake something and I say "until its done". They don't have that feel yet. They'll reach for the oven light to check on something and I look up from my table and say "it's not done yet". How do I know? Because it doesn't feel done to me.

: Happy baking!

: Karen

Dear Karen,
There you go again, being nice, I might catch it.
Just got back from Arizona, too hot ! I feel sorry for the bakers there in spite of air conditioning.
The problem in baking is everyone's a pastry chef, theres no cooks or bakers and I can't see how to be a chef of anything unless the skills are learned first. On one of the forums someone said they work as 'executive' pastry chef, I doubt they understand what the term means,it means not to touch the product (especially in a union shop).

I used to remove the temp dial from ovens when there were cooks who might change the setting....its called defensive baking.

The designers always seem to think of the bakeshop last when setting up a kitchen. at the Meridien the bakery was built into the old vault ( it was in the old bank Boston building) and you can imagine how well insulated it was, talk about hot.

Later, Gerard (off to work).

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