We can DO IT

Today was a very productive day, Alexandre and I just pumped stuff out. I really feel like I’m more efficient and therefore faster now and I can still improve. Alexandre also has the same view about setting up and work flow, gets everything ready that you might need and then you work like a factory, with a system and just pump stuff out. My back also hasn’t been hurting as much so I think my body is getting used to the height as well.

I got to mix the ciabatta, pain viennoise and the kamut. All which were mixed a lot as is usual for the French methods. Yan was “un sac de merde” again today...he keeps telling me to clean or what to do but he’s also new and I just do it for now but soon I’m going to tell him to “mange un bite”. He’s just slow and forgets stuff and you can tell from his body language that he won’t last long.

Today I got to score and bake some baguettes. On about 65% of them my scoring/ “laminé” was ok, but on the rest it wasn’t very good and I was pissed off at myself. I am used to scoring more around the loaf and not down the length of it, with a larger angle between the start and end of my cut. Here, the scores are more done with withe end and tip being maybe 1.5cm apart, but all cuts straight down the middle. Also using the very edge of the lame as if you score too deep it opens up more aggressively.

French people like the baguettes to have a nice thin crispy crust and a soft interior, so the baking time is not too long and unlike larger loaves where you open a vent for steam to escape (well, quite a lot), here you just leave it in the oven like normal until it’s time to take out but you don’t “dry out” the baguettes as they become too hard then. Every day I will score and bake the last 120 baguettes that we do as practice.

After baguettes I watched Alexandre as he laminated the butter into the croissant doughs. They have a different what I’m used to but it actually incorporates the butter a lot more effectively with less intensive folds and also, after folding the dough and before starting with the next fold, the side where the dough folds over is cut so there is less tension in the dough when you roll it out again. Makes complete sense but I never thought about it.

While Alexandre and I were shaping the croissants and the pain au chocolat for the next day, we were discussing different traditional customs and holidays and recipes. We discussed work philosophies and difficulties of staying in the industry and how your life is changed and that the work isn’t just a job any more, it’s a lifestyle that not everyone understands. I dig these long mass prep sessions as they’re a great time to really get to know someone.

Alexandre told me of a trick his father told him about when deciding whether or not to employ someone. While talking about this Alexandre knocked a brush onto the floor which I just picked up and put back as a reaction. That was the test...his father would purposefully drop something to see whether or not a person would react and pick it up or just leave it there. If you think about it carefully this is a brilliant way to weed out the people who are just clocking in and who won’t put in effort.

After work I played with the cats again...vie decided on bonnie for the female, but I felt that Clyde just wouldn’t suit the males personality so I have to think about it some more. They really are so adorable and the male with force his head under my hand when he sees me.