Boulangerie--My feet hurt and I am hungry!

Baguettes are a labor of love

Well, we are only on day four of Boulangerie and I have already learned two important things. There are no breaks in boulangerie, and I am sad to say, I would rather pay 2 euros for a baguette than bake one!

To begin: Monday was the first day of my new adventure at LCB and it started with a party-I am using the word party loosely as LCB really doesn’t “party”, but there was a welcome event, and there was pretend champagne, and king’s cake so… who’s to say it wasn’t?

Not sure what this was—but it was not champagne even though the bucket said so!

Better than the faux party, the highlight was that I received a nifty new kit! It is different than the knife kit—and bonus—it is styled as a backpack so you can actually heft it on to your shoulders to more evenly distribute the weight. And it has tons of fun things it; like rolling pins and a flour dusting brush, a bread knife and silpat for baking on a tray. Additionally, we get to wear this cool new bakery cap that distinguishes the boulangerie people from the rest of LCB. I like it better than the little army cap that we wore for cuisine and patisserie. It never sat on my head correctly and always got stuck in my hair net.

New Gear!

Chock full of fun bakery-themed items!

Bathroom selfie of new cap

The welcome out of the way, Tuesday was straight down to business —making baguettes and preparing fermented dough. The baguettes were made by hand kneading, which is difficult, sticky, and requires a lot of slapping the dough on the granite counter in an effort to strengthen the “ gluten network”. I am going to have very strong arm and back muscles when I finish boulangerie. I kneaded and cut my dough for a solid twenty minutes before Chef said I was ready to pre-shape my baguettes and let them rise for the first time.

Relieved to have completed the kneading, my happiness was abruptly cut short, when instead of getting a well-deserved break, we moved right into preparing the fermented dough that will be used for a variety of future baked goods. This was a group effort and was made for the entire class—it had four kilos of flour in it and we got to use this giant industrial mixer with the biggest dough hook I have ever seen!

Big Momma

The fermented dough was not difficult, but it was time consuming, and the day went by fast with no lunch break. Meanwhile, outside the window it snowed and snowed. By the time I left on Tuesday, my feet were aching and I was so hungry that I stopped for lasagna at a very mediocre Italian place around the corner. The streets were covered in snow and I half hoped class would be canceled for Wednesday.

Snow on the Pont Neuf

That did not happen. I trudged to LCB at 6:30am yesterday in snowy Paris, intent on making three baguettes, which took from 7am till 2pm in the afternoon. I was on my feet from the time I left the house— with no food and no sitting—until I arrived home at 2:30pm. I now know there is a reason why chefs wear clogs—they are, oddly, easier on the feet than even tennis shoes.

But I digress—back to baguettes. I am just going to say it—hand-kneading baguettes is a dead art. It is so hard and takes so long that for sure no one in a commercial enterprise is doing it, and not sure that anyone else is either —other than for their own bragging rights.

These are pictures of like step three and step 20 in the process

All the while we were hard at work, snow fell in Paris for a second day. It may not seem like big doings to you, but snow in Paris is kind of a big deal. Especially when it snows hour after hour for two days! Snow aside, my baguettes were beautiful—though Chef said the slits I cut were not uniform, and they were a tad overbaked. However, that was not my fault—the team leaders were in charge of the ovens, and Lord knows they were shoveling them in an out as fast as they could, but it was hot and they are heavy!!

View out the window of the boulangerie kitchen

You knead hard and carry a big stick in boulangerie!

Not bad for the first week!

While the baguettes were baking we started making croissants and pain au chocolate. Spoiler alert: These and baguettes are going to be on the final exam and we are going to make them 10 times in the next six weeks. Mon Dieu! So much work! As you know from my stint at cuisine, croissants take forever-three rises of dough, lots of rolling, and a lot of resting in the fridge so the butter doesn’t melt from the friction. Fun times.

After we progressed to the final stage of proofing the croissants which takes a few hours, we were allowed to leave. It had stopped snowing by then but was very slushy, and I knew it was going to get slick come sundown. Not to be deterred however, I rushed home, dropped my things and ran up to the Musee d’Orsay before it closed, so I could see the last days of the John Singer Sargent exhibition.

It was well worth the trot up the quai. I loved seeing all the portraits on display that he had painted while living in Paris in the 1880s. My favorite, and many say his most scandalous, is Madame X. She of the low cut neckline and bare arms! Just shocking!

Shameless hussy!

Today came dark and early once again, and our task was to finish the croissants and also make some decorative breads. The croissants and pain au chocolate turned out perfectly and I ate three of them on the metro home because, as usual, I was starved. Grrrr…

Proud of these

The decorative breads were kind of funny and strange— they are supposed to be little hedgehogs. Why is that good to eat? I know not. But they did turn out kind of cute with their raisin eyes and poppy seed backs.

I am reduced to whimsical baked goods

Tonight I rest. And maybe order in. No class tomorrow—it got moved to Saturday afternoon and evening—boo. I detest Saturday night classes. But tomorrow is a free day and the Soldes (sales) have started!!! Cannot wait to hit the town and find some bargains!

On a last note, below is a picture of my hand after just four days. It is so dry here and I am washing my hands about 50 times a day. I am going to need a weeklong manicure when I come home.

boulangerie is hard on the nails