Un Pastiche

I recently saw this quote, and it struck a chord in me: “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone“.

 I’ve realized lately that I’ve been sticking too much to my comfort zone for baking, and not venturing outside what I’m familiar with. In fact, joining events like Aspiring Bakers was meant to push me outside of my comfort zone, but I’ve used time constraints as an excuse not to challenge myself. In fact, it’s been months since I’ve participated in any online events :/ So for 2013, among other goals, I’ve decided to set myself a challenge.

I’ve always harbored this dream of attending Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Of baking sweet things and eating sweet things every day. But as of now, that is still a dream, and not a viable one because of bonds (sigh) and money. Besides, I’m building myself a career and I still don’t see baking full-time as an alternative career…yet. Since time and money is not on my side, why not widen my baking repertoire and give myself a LCB education by learning from what they are baking?

So the challenge – I’ve listed out 100 items, these are things that LCB students usually bake, and also include things that I wish to master as an amateur baker. Some of the items I have already attempted and found a favorite recipe, but I’ve still listed it down nevertheless because I have yet to take photographs of them and I really should since this blog should be a complete online compilation of recipes I’ve tried. In light of the rather daunting list, I’ve decided to give myself 2 years to complete every single item on this list. Why 2 years? Because this list is in reality more than 100 items because of the way I’ve grouped things, and because after 2 years, I’ll be at yet another precipice in my career, and I think that would be an appropriate time for me to re-evaluate my choices and aspirations. So 1 January 2015. It is exactly 2 years from now, but I guess it’s appropriate because if I wish to quit my job then, I’ll have sufficient time to serve the long notice ;p The good thing also is that I’m sure between thinking of this list (sometime earlier in 2012) and posting it now, I have accomplished several of the items below, so all I need to do now is to take some time to type the recipes up, take photographs, and post them!

Breads

1. Artisan bread – baguette/ boule

2. Babka/ Challah – sweet bun dough

3. Bagel

4. Beer bread/ Irish soda bread (quick bread)

5. Brioche

6. Ciabatta/ focaccia/ pizza – olive oil dough (with biga/starter)

7. Donuts – fried

8. Kouign Amann

9. Pain de mie (Pullman loaf)

10. Pretzel

11. Multigrain rolls/ Kaiser rolls/ hamburger buns

12. Sourdough artisan bread

13. Sweet Asian bread

14. Yeasted coffee cake

Basics

15. Biscuit jaconde/ joconde

16. Caramel

17. Compote/ Coulis

18. Crème anglaise

19. Crème au beurre – French, Italian, Swiss, American

20. Crème bavarois

21. Crème chantilly

22. Crème diplomat

23. Crème frangipane

24. Crème mousseline

25. Crème pâtissière

26. Croquant

27. Dacquoise

28. Fruit curd/custard

29. Gelée

30. Genoise

31. Glacage au chocolat

32. Macarons

33. Marzipan

34. Nougatine

35. Pâte brisée (shortcrust pastry) – no egg no sugar

36. Pâte sucrée (sweet pastry)

37. Pâte sablée (rich sweet pastry)

38. Pâte Feuilletée (puff pastry – English, French, Scotch/rough puff)

39. Pâte Feuilletée Inversée

40. Pâte à choux – Cream puff/ Croquembouche/ Éclair/ Gateau St Honore/ Gougere/ Paris Brest/ Profiterole/ Religieuse

41. Praline

42. Sabayon

Cookies and bars

43. Biscotti

44. Brownies/ Blondies

45. Chocolate chip cookie

46. Cracker/ soda cracker

47. Financier/ friand

48. Ladyfinger

49. Langue de chat/tuile

50. Madeleine

51. Oatmeal cookie/bar

52. Rugelach

53. Sablé

54. Shortbread

Cake

55. Angel food cake

56. Bûche de Noël

57. Butter cake

58. Carrot cake

59. Charlotte

60. Cheese cake – baked, non-baked and Japanese

61. Chiffon cake – normal, tang mian

62. Chocolate cake – flourless, german, devil’s food cake, sachertorte

63. Cupcakes – basic vanilla and chocolate

64. Frasier torte – strawberry cake

65. Gâteau Opéra

66. Kugelhopf/ Rum baba / Stollen/ Savarin

67. Marble cake (gâteau mârbré)

68. Mousse cake/mousse gâteau /entremets

69. Muffins

70. Pound cake

71. Sponge cake – whole egg, separated

72. Swiss roll

73. Traditional steamed egg cake

74. Vegan cake

Pies and tarts

75. Chocolate tart

76. Crème brulee tart

77. Lemon meringue pie

78. Linzer torte

79. Pecan pie

80. Pie with lattice tops – savory, fruit

81. Quiche Lorraine

82. Turnover

83. Vol au vent

Pastries

84. Croissant – almond, plain

85. Danish

86. Mille feuille

87. Palmier

88. Strudel/Baklava

Other desserts

89. Crème caramel/panna cotta/baked puddings

90. Crêpes– galettes, sweet ones

91. Marshmallows

92. Pâte de fruit

93. Scones

94. Spun sugar

95. Sorbet/ice cream

96. Soufflé/chocolate fondant

97. Truffles

Savoury/Others

98. Handmade pasta – gnocchi, etc.

99. Homemade dairy – ricotta, crème fraiche

100. Risotto