Last week I tackled pastry with the students. On Saturday we turned to brioche and Tuesday, we turned to puff pastry.
Fermentation and everything related to yeasted dough has always excited me and awakened my culinary curiosity. This kind of dough is immensely complex and so rewarding when handled properly.
Why does dough ferment? Observing dough ferment is extraordinary. In understanding why yeasted dough rises, we must note that the main ingredients in natural leavening are water, air, and most importantly, sugar. These are transformed into carbon dioxide, thus causing leavening. The carbon dioxide forms bubbles inside the dough causing it to rise.
I tell my students: Try to always remember this basic equation: fermentation is the transformation undergone by organic matter (sugars).
I adore brioche. The recipe that I taught my students came from my first fine dining restaurant job working with Alain Rondelli in San Francisco. In the process of learning to make brioche dough at the restaurant, after a busy night of service, preparing myself for shaping and baking the next morning, I learned some valuable lessons.
One night, the Chef angrily yelled at me because my brioche dough was not rising and it seemed very dense. He wondered why I was ill equipped to make his recipe. I was bewildered. What could have gone wrong? I knew my scaling was exact. What was it? And then, the ”ah ha” moment had arrived. Of course. The yeast was dead! I ran to the market, bought new yeast and remade the recipe. The difference was amazing: Silky soft brioche at my fingertips. Sheer bliss.
The angry chef threw his restaurant keys at me and said “be back at 3am to retard the dough.” As any good student would, I agreed. I arrived at 3am, in my pajamas, half open-eyed, putting the beautifully risen dough in to chill for 4 hours. I returned at 7am to shape, proof and bake the dough. My hands were greeted by soft, supple, and sturdy dough.
That lesson taught me humility with fermented dough and yeast, and it taught me respect for the living matter that makes it all possible.
I find myself continually reminding the students to be nimble, quick, and deliberate, but never dainty with their handling of the dough, whether they are working with basic, yeasted, or laminated varieties. As Robert says, “the old lady likes her liquor.” I say the “dough likes a cool hand and a quick mind.”
As they stir and mix and knead, I remind them: no hands on hips, stand at attention with all limbs ready to go. The dough does not appreciate being pregnant or bastardized. I’m not sure they know exactly what I mean with such abstract word choices, and yet, I can see them improve by the minute. There is joy in the students faces after they see the results of their awkward tinkering with new subjects in the kitchen.
–Kristen Murray
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