Journal...day 5

Today was the end of my première semaine (first week) at Institut Paul Bocuse. I was feeling quite tired today as I didn’t sleep very well. Since I had accumulated sleep deprivation I napped as soon as I got home yesterday and then while still feeling quite awake, I tried to go to sleep just after midnight but struggled. First waking up around 1am with the feeling like an small animal was trying to get to my head, like scratching on my pillow...it was almost like lucid dreaming as I wanted to “wake up” but I had to fight to do so....I suppose it’s also from lying on my back which is how you induce lucid dreaming. Then again waking up at 4am, thinking that someone was trying to climb onto my balcony, even though I’m on the septième étage (seventh floor).

Anyway, today was good…the brioche for the viennoiserie was baked off and we had some. Despite my doubts as to the texture, it was light and fluffy, similar to the recipe I use, except that since mine is bulk fermented overnight it has a more yeasty flavour, whereas chef Berthomier’s recipe has levain (almost all of the breads and viennoiserie has levain and then a small amount of fresh yeast) and a much more subtle flavour.
The brioche praline was good, but I’m not a big fan of sweet sticky things. The brioche chocolat is much more to my preference.

We made pain de campagne today (mix of T65 and seigle[rye]) and to la moitire de pate (half the dough) we added L’epeautre (I found out that this is spelt...the French refer to it as “grain l’accienne” or ancient grain) which is what we had with the duck for lunch yesterday. Pain de Tradition (1 bac de cinq cent cinq kilo (5.5kg) avec  multi-cereals, the fermented mixed seeds). And pain de meule (1 bac de cinq ans cing kilo avec de 275g de pesto (the pesto powder we used earlier in the week).
And for the viennoiserie for the next week we made croissants.

Every day, after we have baked off the viennoiserie for the day as well as made the doughs and folded most of them (rabat), everyone goes downstairs for a small break, usually a coffee and a cigarette to go with whatever goodies we baked that morning, and basically make small talk.
A LOT of people in France smoke (fumer, verb for smoke)...I’d say about 80% of the people at the school smoke. And its not cheap, about 6.5 euros a box of 20’s

Today chef pretty much left us alone after the dough had been made, to see if we remembered and understood what we had learned during the week. So we divided and shaped the boules and baguettes and I was in charge of making sure which ones were farinee and which weren’t (if the dough contains farine de seigle then we use that, otherwise we use T80 as T65 gets absorbed and then the dough will stick to the couche (baking linen).  Paul & I did the scoring and loading while the others made the croissants.
After baking, chef graded the baguettes on the crust (la croute), the colour, and the shaping (la faconnage) from 0-5, 5 being the best. Most were around 2-3, as most of the other students don’t have as much practise as me, but I still struggle with the softer dough that we work with. All in all, chef was happy with the bread. He reckons it takes about 6 months of baking every day to become a good baker.

After we were done, we cleaned down the kitchen: moving all the tables and equipment, sweeping up the flour, then hosing the floor and scrubbing it and then moving all the water into a drain in the floor with a “raclette” a big floor squeegee. Chef helps us clean as he believes it’s important to lead by example which I admire as it’s something I try to instil in students as well; that being hardworking and humble are good traits to have. My classmates say he’s the only chef who helps with the cleaning and for chef, he says that the students are more like his kids so since they’re only with him for 1 week at a time, he’s not as strict with them as he would be if they were working for a longer period. It’s like the “one team one dream” vibe...or as I like to say “ we ride together, we die together”. Bad boys for life” J so whether someone’s doing well or whether they’re having a bad day, the team sticks by them and conversely, if they’re hanging or having a crappy day, they still have to stick it out.

Lunch was “tacos a la Mexican” which was a taco with avo, beef, my favourite processed cheese slices that were cut into strips, some lettuce and tomato.
main was “saumon a l’italian”, oven roasted salmon with tagiatelle, roast broccoli and cauliflower and a delicious dill infused cream.

Some of the institute’s students are going away for vacation from this week and some from next and they all got their marks for the semester.

After getting off the bus, I saw that there was a produce market near my residence. The quality and variety of stuff they had was incroyable (incredible). I’m talking cherries, strawberries, nectarines, raspberries, all sorts of other fruits et legumes (fruit and veg) like haricot fine (fine/green beans), swiss chard, about 4 kinds of courgettes that I saw, spring onions WITH THE BULB STILL ATTACHED :D, lettuces, tubors...man I could go on...

There were also 2 stands selling various cheeses and a man selling some meats and sausages from a refrigerated unit. The market was placed in a line so as you get off from the bus/metro station, you can walk down and buy your things. There were lots of' tannies' (South African colloquialism for 'old ladies’) getting their shopping done for the weekend... btw, the cherries were selling for the equivalent of R45/kg so I nabbed a handful for 55Euro cents, about R7.

Tomorrow I’m meeting with some interns from America who are here just for a week at the institute and then head back on Monday. They want to go to a market and then they’re going on a tour of old Lyon so I won’t feel too bad about looking like a tourist if I’m in a group of them.

I’m going to meet up with Pierre and charlotte in a bit and go for dinner at a brasserie somewhere. Details to follow tomorrow.

Bonne weekend :D