is there blood in baking?

After surviving my first weekend of pastry school, I have two answers to the proposed title question. Under normal circumstances, the answer is obviously no. But alas, in my case the answer is yes. That's right. This weekend there was not only blood, but also sweat and tears in the kitchen...

Here is a quick summary of my class schedule this term. Friday night: sit in a classroom and discuss strategies for success in the hospitality industry. We will work on our goals, attitudes, habits, behaviors and journal about what's going on in our lives. Easy, right? Maybe even a little too easy. Yeah, I think that only long enough to complete a full eight hour day in the kitchen on Saturday and realize that this Friday night class may be essential to keeping me sane for the next ten weeks. Or two years.

My Saturday class is titled "Introduction to Baking, Dough Formulas and Specialty Bread Products." That's right - bread. My favorite part of any and every meal. Unfortunately, my love of bread was almost the death of me. Here's where the blood, sweat and tears come in. With weekend classes, one week's worth of material must be crammed into our heads in one day, so we unwrapped our brand new pastry kits and baked two breads this Saturday. One item in said pastry kit is a huge knife that should only be used once one is shown how to use a knife properly. Lesson #1: Rushing around a kitchen with a huge knife to hastily cut off a chunk of soft butter can lead to this image...

Yes, this would be my hand bandaged up after a small stab in my palm with the end of a huge knife. My first thought was "Oh this can't be that bad, I'll just wipe it on my towel." However, after seeing blood running into my palm, I realized a bit of medical attention was needed. It was gushing out like I'd hit an artery or something. By the time two chefs had assisted me and made sure I was only crying like an idiot because of embarrassment and not pain, I was ready for a lunch break. Thank goodness my dad was in town to take me out for pizza and revive my wilting spirits. My easy Friday class was looking pretty great to me at this point. Plus I already had my first goal: learn how to use a knife without drawing blood.

The end results of the day turned out to be delicious. Our group made some very nice soft rolls and some durum rosemary flatbread. The intentional form for the rosemary bread was loaves and not flatbread, but mistakes can often lead you to discovering tasty new things (and my boyfriend especially loved them). 

Week one of pastry school is complete. I will be studying all week before our first exam next Saturday and one of the items I must learn is the "12 steps of baking." Anyone want to guess what they are??