Moved from the Bagel Thread

By jeee2 on Thursday, September 09, 1999 - 05:56 am: Edit

Charles,

Are you getting into pastry?
All chefs should do pastry, just so they'd know how we suffer. :)

Regards, Gerard

By Charles on Thursday, September 09, 1999 - 09:57 am: Edit

Gerard,

I do pastry when it neeeds to be done. Definatley not the scale you are operating on though.

I bake all my layers "daquoise, genoise, high ratio, butter cake, pound cake or whatever we need. Do the assembly for brunches. Make scratch puff dough when I need it. I have my morning head cook trained to make the bread.

I get request for about 4 wedding cakes a year max.

Hey, I better not get this list to big or you wont believe me, still responsible for hot and cold food you know.


Charles

Continued Below

By Charles on Thursday, September 09, 1999 - 10:02 am: Edit

Anyway, How do you suffer? I will tell you how I suffer: The place I have to do baking and pastry is in the back of the kitchen, this area is shared with the AM pantry girls. Thats not a problem, what is though is the fact that it is not a concrete floor but plywood over floor joices. It never fails, I am piping royal icing on a finished cake and somebody walks down the line and the floor shakes, table shakes, hence the cake budges. THAT SUCKS! Get a toothpick and pull off the mistake, tell everyone to stay away for a while and re-do it. Oh well, thats not the end of the world is it? They say life is always greener on the other side of the hill but it still looks pretty good from the side Im on.

Respectfully,

Charles

By jeee2 on Thursday, September 09, 1999 - 06:36 pm: Edit

Charles,

How we suffer...tha pastry dept is always the last place they think about when designing kitchens, layouts can be a nightmare with tiny work benches and ovens too close for comfort or cold work.

Actually the French guy I apprenticed with opened a restaurant on Anguila, I'm wondering if I should sell out and go work with him again, I kinda miss cooking now. I like to keep my hand in all aspects of kitchen work , besides working with a chef who can bake is a luxury in itself.

Cheers, Gerard

By momoreg on Thursday, September 09, 1999 - 09:54 pm: Edit

Hi guys...speaking of poor kitchen design...I work in catering, and Fridays are, of course, dedicated to last-minute items for Saturday's parties. The pastry area is right in front of the steamer. The cooks steam lobsters, potatoes, etc., and my tuiles are sogged to death by lobster vapor. I wouldn't call it suffering, but this heat wave in the Northeast sure is, when you're standing in front of a steamer!
Momoreg

By jeee2 on Thursday, September 09, 1999 - 10:28 pm: Edit

>>The pastry area is
right in front of the steamer. >>

hehehee, exactly!

By Suelee (Suelee) on Friday, September 10, 1999 - 06:04 am: Edit

Gerard -

Go to Anguila? How could you contemplate leaving the beautiful Massachusetts winters?? (All jokes aside - I must admit the link you posted looks enticing)

Sue

By W.DeBord on Friday, September 10, 1999 - 09:13 am: Edit

You will laugh when you here how my pastry area is designed. My table is connected to the dish washing sinks. When they scrub I shake. The splash guard between us is 12" tall,I take frequent bathes. My oven (note 1 oven)is 25 paces away from my working area. It's a complete obsticale course to reach it. Can't bake by sense of smell at all!!! I have to wheel a cart back and forth all day to carry my pastries in and out of the ovens. I use portable stoves to make sauces and love it when the can runs out toward the end of making cream anglaise.

The good news is I don't have to work out at home. I swear I run miles to and from my oven on a busy day.

Having fun!

Oh, P.S. were about 50 yards to little old lake michigan where the humidity never takes a day off!

By jeee2 on Sunday, September 12, 1999 - 10:57 am: Edit

W.DeBord,

That sounds like the typical pastry layout.
I was pastry chef at a brand new luxury hotel that was built on top of a federal reserve bank, the designer had the brilliant idea to put the pastry kitchen in one of the old vaults, it kept the oven heat contained in the pastry dept very well, too well.

Regards, Gerard

By W.DeBord on Sunday, September 12, 1999 - 02:40 pm: Edit

Sometimes I wish I had a heated dept.. I can't find a warm place to raise dough at our place. Sitting directly on top of our convection is the best I can do and even so, the vent above is soooo powerful it doesn't get above 90 degrees.

Can't win!

Oh hell, at least I never have to worry about my deodorant not working.

By Matt (Matt) on Sunday, September 12, 1999 - 10:11 pm: Edit

I feel much better about my layout. I've got a walkin in one room, my dry ingredients in another, the mixer, benchs and ovens are in one very large room. The good thing is I have a lot of bench space and I work opposit the bread shift so I work alone. The stove is yet in another room. With all the running around I do I should be down to 225#. The most difficult thing I have to deal with is I have to bake my sweet goods in two, 9 door hearth ovens, that will change temp when ever they feel like it. I have to bake completely by feel it is differnt each bake.

Not complaining, from the stories you guys have told I'm not too bad off.

Gerard does you work area look like the layout in The Pastry Series :-)

Matt

By Matt (Matt) on Sunday, September 12, 1999 - 10:14 pm: Edit

W.DeBord

"I can do and even so, the vent above is soooo powerful it doesn't get above 90 degrees."

You want your area above 90 degrees??????!!!!

Why?????!

God We've had and entire summer of above 90 at midnight. The dough goes into the air conditioning and the bakers...well bake.

In to September and looking forward to some cool crisp nights. Our dough doesn't like hot proofs.

Matt

By W.DeBord on Monday, September 13, 1999 - 08:33 am: Edit

O.k. your right it is nice to not sweat all day. What I should have complained about is I can only get two trays at a time on top of the oven. This is not the quickest method around.

It sounds like your at a bakery not in a restaurant set-up squeezing in a pastry dept. as an after thought.

By W.DeBord on Monday, September 13, 1999 - 08:34 am: Edit

For the first three months at this club I couldn't bake anything well. It was hard learning how to deal with so many inconviences. I'd put something in the oven and come back later to discover it way over baked. Quickly I realized my oven wasen't at the temp. I thought I set it on. I started complaining "WHO CHANGED MY OVEN SETTINGS?" of course no one did. They tried telling me I was nuts. I had to waste my time watching my oven like a hawk. I always kept track of who was working near it. As I caught guys red handed I made them red faced too. The only way I could get them away from my oven was to embarass them in front of everyone.

They don't mess with me any more. I still watch my back, so to speak. I now have fun playing the game of out smarting the line cooks. It's a guys kitchen but they've caught on that this girl isn't the weaker sex in this kitchen.

By Matt (Matt) on Monday, September 13, 1999 - 01:00 pm: Edit

"It sounds like your at a bakery not in a restaurant set-up squeezing in a pastry dept. as an after thought."


No we are a bread bakery squeezing in pastry as and after thought. We sell a lot of wholesale artisan stuff. The pastry is just for the two small retail locations. I do from time to time have to keep and eye on the bench boys when they come in. The like to turn the ovens up first. I prefer to use the threat of brute force rather than embarass them. Actually, they ask before they touch anything. They are pretty respectfull of my needs. That and if they leave me alone I'm usually out of their hair in and hour.

Don't have to deal with line cooks. Just bakers:-)

Matt

By jeee2 on Monday, September 13, 1999 - 01:53 pm: Edit

Matt asks,

>>Gerard does you work area look like the layout in The Pastry Series :-) >>

No I think thats a school kitchen, not a production space. Tables with refrigeration underneath can make for sore backs. You can't get close enough or prop a foot on a shelf.
I'm also not keen on centrally placed equipment, too much running around the table.
I'm thinking of a re-design now, I'm putting new track lights up in the front store so maybe I should go all the way and redo the kitchen.

Regards, Gerard

By jeee2 on Monday, September 13, 1999 - 01:53 pm: Edit

Matt asks,

>>Gerard does you work area look like the layout in The Pastry Series :-) >>

No I think thats a school kitchen, not a production space. Tables with refrigeration underneath can make for sore backs. You can't get close enough or prop a foot on a shelf.
I'm also not keen on centrally placed equipment, too much running around the table.
I'm thinking of a re-design now, I'm putting new track lights up in the front store so maybe I should go all the way and redo the kitchen.

Regards, Gerard