Heading back to Michigan, my mother passed away
this morning in her sleep. It was a long battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
COPD.




Its really hard to describe in mere words the affect my mother has had on my life, maybe another day in different post, but she was and always be my best friend and the greatest mother to me.

She died fullfilled in life without any regret;

nothing more to see
nothing more to try
nothing more to cook
nothing more to bake
nothing more to eat
no where else to travel

she raised two daughters, two sons, and was married 35 years,
throw in a few grandkids, and a couple more great grandkids, and life gave her everything she wanted.

I have wanted to make some sort of savory danish sort of play on a sausage roll but for breakfast tonight was the first try. We grind some already cooked breakfast links then quickly cooked to remove some of the fat, then mixed with flour to keep from losing any liquid as it bakes in the dough.

After rolling up like a danish we portioned at about 150g then allowed to rise about a hour, topped with a cheese topping. Before going in to the oven we added a egg, the look is very clean.


Needs some work tomorrow will try to add some more flour to the cheese mix some more flavor also,
the sausage filling needs something else maybe potato and chives, and the shape needs to be more like a pocket so the sausage is not exposed when baked. I love the egg idea we will remove the egg next bake and make a flavor custard, maybe a shallot custard.

Hen and the Baker just doesn't seem to make the cut, after months of name searching
i think simple is better so the blog will stay the same but if we opened the bakery today it
would be called................................. The Bakery " . "  and in small print the word period
as in the Bakery Period other choices we thought included

city bread and food
ch bread
hen house
oven to table
desert bakery
Sin city bread Company
American Breakfast Company
Good
Bread and Butter
Flour, Water, Yeast and Salt

anyway good, bad or ugly its only a name how important is anyway?

have a merry christmas and a happy new year

I had a friend ask me to make a cake for a Party he wanted to bring dessert, well from what I heard they are still eating cake. All Ten pounds of pure "Dark Chocolate Love"

Danish Dough with gingerbread rolled in the layers







Then we sheet the dough and get this sort of snowflake shape, then we allowed to proof and then
baked nice and crisp, when out of the oven we brushed with gingerbread spiced glaze and allowed to cool.







It ate really help, like the shape and the idea of the danish, just need to add something to it tomorrow
will try with some dried fruit paste like a Fig Newton filling.

So every weekend we try to do a breakfast pastry special for Brunch and every Wednesday I say
" What's the special for the weekend going to be?" Its a open book anything is game I ask everyone if they have any idea what they want to try and in 6 years only a few culinary students have taking the challenge mostly they wait for me to throw out a idea and then we go from there, which after 6 years you start to pretty much make every idea that you thought of.

But for the last year some really good ideas have came from the same people Renee, Luis, Jesus, couple guys who have ambition, ambition that is rooted in hard-work, dedication, awareness, organization, and not being scared of failure.

 Not every idea works out but it tells me there are thinking and thinking for yourself is that one thing I hate about schools they don't teach you to think.

Here is a Jesus idea that came out pretty nice: Roasted Pear and Cranberry Brioche with Cinnamon Danish topping.

July 1st 2010

My last day at Bouchon Las Vegas,

the company has been great to me working for one of the best chef's in the world has giving me great exposer and a wealth of knowledge. Working with probably the best General Managers, Chefs, Pastry Chefs, Bakers in the industry allowed me to really become well balanced in the education of restaurant management. I went to culinary school in Michigan for a degree, went to Minneapolis to be a Baker, Worked in NYC to be a Pastry Cook, Came to Vegas bring it together, Went to work for Thomas Keller to get my P.H.D.

So for me it's more a graduation that actual quitting somewhere I can be proud say I worked at but also its a place I helped create and that alone has been worth every moment I have walk thru the doors, and walked up the steps to the kitchen, and baked a loaf of bread.

When I was younger I would ask my dad what it was like driving the same road everyday back and forth to work he worked 35 years at the same place, used to say he seen the road get build, then get repaved again, again, and again. I always thought that would never be me until one day Last month they started blocking off sections of the express way that I take to work to build a new airport terminal boy did the six plus years pass before me so fast.

There is probably never a right time to leave, most people think I am crazy to leave my job:

the economy is crap, health insurance gone, 401k gone, little guy just born,
security of a steady income gone, house that is worth nothing, it's a huge gamble and one that
keeps me up at night thinking about.

But my thought is "You can wait your whole life for the right time, or you could have the right time your whole life and be to scared to see it"

Its that saying "IF you knew you would not fail then what do you think you can achieve?"

So we have 6 months to open a place, or I will be baking bread out of my house for fun.

Let the Good times begin.

Why should you eat Breakfast? Well here are a few items I found online.

then you just have a shared hand washing area, really saves money, space, and looks cleaner

There was a person in taking pictures the other day of the bread baking, here are a few of the photo's.

Here is some of the Holiday Cookies we have Started for the Christmas Season.

Tomorrow working on some fun GingerBread Boys and Girls. the picture to the right is Chocolate Covered Shortbread with a Chocolate transfer sheet placed on top. (Chef Rubber Product) basically transfer sheets are plastic sheets with a design made in cocoa butter and when the warm chocolate touches in melts the cocoa butter design, then when cool remove the plastic and the design stays.

                                                 Here is a Egg Nog Macaron

Almost all our Macarons are the French Style made with Almond flour, Sugar and some form of Whipped Egg Whites, when baked they come out very smooth on top, crunchy, and soft textured.

Here we spiced the batter with Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Vanilla Bean, Rum, Brandy then Baked and filled with spiced butter cream.



Here we have rice crispies that we blogged about in the past, but this time we layered four times, 2 red (peppermint) 2 white (vanilla bean) on a sheet pan. then sliced about a 1/4 inch laid back in the oven to get soft and shaped like a Baguette. Wrap very tightly in plastic wrap then bend for the
Cane. This was just a practice run, for sale we will leave in sticks just easier to make allot at one time.


We will also be selling fruitcake, that is bench mark for fruitcake, there is so much love involved I hate to even sell i would rather keep and give to close friends.

There is this new little Breakfast/Lunch Spot on Water Street in Downtown Henderson that just opened
Called 155 Cafe. Two women that used to work for Joseph Keller and they decided to go out on there own. I went the other day for lunch to help support the cause they do a good job the meatloaf sandwich inspired me to come up with one on my own, all the breads and morning items are made right there and baked fresh in the morning. I wish them the best of luck, Water Street is a tuff sell need all the support they can get. If you are in the neighborhood stop in and see Jennifer she is really nice and see the build-out very nice like the drawings on the wall will keep that one for my place the tables are a cool clean design, and the red on the ceiling makes it pop. Hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily the address is 155 water street

Good Pricing Ordered Sandwich, Tomato Soup (that comes with bread), Diet Coke, and Three pastries to go came in around $17.00 with tax

Made a cake for a chef friend it was his wives birthday, came out nice it has been a few years since the last ribbon and blown sugar bulb I made but it is always fun.

When I was younger my mom would teach me how to make gum paste and buttercream flowers we turned a spare bedroom into a decoration room with table small kitchen aid it was nice used to practice practice practice she is very patient. Next time I go home will have to pullout those old piping bags and give it a spin.

One other time I was in high-School all the guys would give out roses around Valentines day well for my girlfriend at the time I made pulled sugar rose bouquet it totally destroyed anything anyone could have bought and for me it was just sugar and water. That was my first lesson in Food Cost cut out the florist and save the money. $1.00 for a bag of sugar  or $25.00 Dollar Roses she was a nice girl..........but not that nice.