Day 14 - Intro to Patisserie & Baking

Or we could call it Christmas for P&B students. Today is the first day of our Intro to Patisserie & Baking course. It is a fifteen day class. Today we received our tool-kits. There was so much stuff it wouldn't fit in one bag, so it's in the two bags shown in the picture below. The long case comes with a shoulder strap and it has three zippered sections and holds most of my goodies. Then there is a small backpack type bag which holds the rest. I'll have to rearrange it so that it makes the most sense to me as far as finding tools quickly. Do you want to know what is inside the two bags. We'll continue below and you can see a picture and list of the tools.

Below are all the tools pulled out of the bags and laid on a coffee table. I took them out of their plastic bags and pulled sticky tags off and now I need to wash them. Then tomorrow morning, I'll mark all the tools so I know mine from other peoples tools. The Chef marked his with two different colors of electrical tape so that they are highly visible. I think I'll do the same type of marking (just different color stripes). Just for the heck of it, I looked up the prices of everything on the internet and found everything with the exception of 3 small items and the little backpack. Without shipping and tax, it came up to about $560 (this amount has been corrected from original post due math error).

Here is a list of the tools included in the toolkit:

19" Maple Wood Rolling Pin - Ateco 19176Citrus Reamer - woodTerry cloth baker's pad w/strap - Wells Lamont - qty 212" Wire whip - Winco PN-1212" Tong - Winco UT-12-MT2oz. Ladle - Winco LDI-214" Silicone Scraper - Winco PSH-14Plastic Bowl Scraper - qty 2 Ateco 130311-7/8" Tan Master Chef Exoglass Spoon - Matfer 113330CIce Cream / Pastry ScoopVegtable peeler - Winco VP-32.5" metal strainer8" MicroplaneApple corerMelon Baller .12Melon Baller .22 .25Condiment Squeeze bottlePocket Dial Thermometer 50-550 degree - CDN IRT550Compact Digital Thermometer - Taylor 3519Candy-Deep Fry Thermometer - Taylor 5983Kitchen Shears - Mercer M330423-1/2" Paring Knife - Mercer M200034" knife guard - Mercer M33110P9" Chef Knife - Mercer M2060911" Wavy Edge Slicer - Mercer M2311110" knife guard - Mercer M33112P10" Sharpening steel - Mercer M21010Measuring spoon set - 4 pcs. Winco MSPD-4xMeasuring cup set - 4 pcs. Winco MCP-4P-MTNon-Stick Silicone Baking Mat 16"x24" - Paderno Qty 22" Flat Pastry Brush - Crestware PBF20Marzipan Sculpting Tools 5 pcsBaker's Blade - Matfer 120005Pastry cutter straight - Ateco 1322Pastry wheel fluted - Ateco 13234" offset spatula - Ateco 130510" offset spatula - Ateco 130910" straight spatula - Mercer 188004" pastry scraper - Ateco 13196" bench scraper - Ateco 1318Decorating comb - Ateco 144618" soft disposable decorating bags - Pkg of 25 Ateco 466516" polyurethane decorating bag - Ateco 331621" polyurethane decorating bag - Ateco 3321Decorating tube set - 29 pcs Ateco 782Closed star pastry tubes - 10 pcs Ateco 850Round pastry tubes - 10 pcs Ateco 810Petal Decorating tip - Ateco 124Leaf Decorating tip - Ateco 112Large Decorating Tip 680Plain Round Cutters - 11 pcs Ateco 5357Fluted Round Cutters - 11 pcs Ateco 5307Mercer Triple-Zip Knife Case M30429MMercer backpack

Today I realized that the OXO Kitchen scale might not be suitable for the recipes I would be using at school. The OXO scale measures in 1/8 ounce increments. Most of the recipes I would be using at school are in decimals. So instead of constantly converting fractions into decimals or vice-versa, I decided to look for a scale that displayed decimal results. I took the OXO back and went and found a Salter model 1008 which is an eleven pound scale as well. It displays in kg or lb. down to .05 ounce increments. I'll put this in my backpack to use at school as well as at home. The school has older mechanical scales which I would rather not use since they are less accurate.

After getting our toolkits and going through them to make sure we had everything, we started talking about the class. First we were assigned tables and a partner. My partner is an asian girl about my age. As luck would have it we are at in the last row and probably the fartherest from the Chef. The TV screen showing his work surface helps a little but he moves out of the camera view and it's hard to see. We'll see how that goes. Today a second Chef also introduce himself. He will come in and assist from time to time as we have 26 students in my class. The second Chef also teaches Culinary Arts class, so he brought over some food for us to taste today. Today he brought; creamed lentils, white bean salad, refried beans and humus. I only tried the humus and it was pretty good. Tomorrow we start making cookies.