Week 8 Ice Cream

Who doesn't love ice cream? I am not your friend if you don't love ice cream... haha.

This blog is full of first trials. This week is my first time making ice cream. I was so excited! Even though the flavour that we had to make wasn't my favourite, it didn't matter, it was still ice cream. We made poppy seed & honey ice cream. 

I first heated the cream, milk and poppy seed in the pot. In a separate bowl, I mixed in the honey and egg yolks. Once the milk was boiling, I poured the milk mixture into the egg mixture and whisked it to combine. Then it went back on the heat to cook until it thickened.

Then it was cooled and refrigerated. 

The magic starts when the mixture is poured into the ice cream machine where the cream is churned in a cold container and then it turns into ice cream. It was so simple. It makes me want to get one of those fancy ice cream machine!! Then I can have homemade ice cream with the good ingredients. Imagine how much I can save in the long run from not having to buy ice cream from the store! haha.  Anyway, then the ice cream goes into the freezer until ready to serve.

Poppy seed & honey ice cream just out from the machine.

 Strudel dough is basically flour, water, salt and oil. Hmm... which is exactly the same ingredients for when we make "mian fen gao"(面粉糕) which is like a doughy noodle cooked in soup. But strudel is more troublesome to make. For the strudel dough, we put the ingredients in the stand mixer and mix it with a hook attachment for about 20minutes until the dough is stretchy. That is when the gluten is activated. Then the dough is left to rest for an hour. 

Now it's time to stretch the dough. Does it look like roti canai? Can you see how thin it is? (Ignore the mess around it though)

Stretching the strudel dough

Then we brushed the surface of the dough with melted butter and sprinkled cake crumbs on it. The apple and cherries were arranged on the pastry and rolled up like a swiss roll. The thick edges of the dough were cut off. Into the oven it goes for almost 45minutes.

Apple and Cherry Filling in Strudel.

It was a little under baked but still looks good right? haha.

Apple & Cherry Strudel fresh from the oven.

Making the créme anglaise was a pain. My first batch curdled because I had the heat too high and the second batch nearly curdled but I took it off the flame just in time. Luckily the trainer said that it was good. 

Apple & Cherry Strudel served with créme anglaise

The ice cream was to be served with pancakes. I didn't know what Flapjacks were when I read the menu. It is actually just pancakes in a different name. So I made some pancakes. I burnt a few before I could get the perfect golden colour. 

Flapjack batter resting. 

Flapjack with ice cream and maple syrup. 

 Look at the pancakes and ice cream. Doesn't it make you want to have some? I ate most of it after the trainer tasted it. He liked it too. 

 Danish pastry. We prepared the dough two weeks back and had it in the freezer and today we get to make some danishes with hazelnut filling and some with poppy seed filling and créme pâtissiére.

We made envelope, windmill and horseshoe shapes.

The layers were good for the danishes but it was so difficult to make the shapes because the dough was getting so soft from the heat in the kitchen. But we managed to get some nice ones. 

The windmill is topped with créme pâtissiére.

 I had a great day, it was a Basically Pastry Day! Everything went well except having to make the créme anglaise twice and throwing out the first few pancakes. I am so glad to have our current trainer. He is friendly and always willing to help. He shows things in detail. When to use the whisk, when to use the wooden spoon. But the sad thing is I don't think we will have him for the next stage.