Laduree, Paris March 2013 – sight of daily visits with Ryan
Reading last week’s article on macaroons in the Dining Section of the New York Times made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. In the article, Pierre Hermé makes the statement, “Any pastry chef who says he doesn’t freeze his macaroons is a liar”. Wow, I said to myself, Pierre Hermé? I heaved a great sigh and wistfully thought back to my Mom’s and Grandmothers’ kitchens where everything was, yes, fresh. I had in my mind’s eye a croissant or loaf of bread being paddled out of the oven on a dry and sunny day – ahhhh, perfection.
A cascade of questions flooded my mind: What does a Pastry Chef have to do to “keep it fresh”? When does the product of one’s art succomb to the parameters of “convenience food”. Why can’t macaroons be baked locally? Won’t people pay for a fresh cookie? Does anyone know the difference between a fresh and frozen cookie? Whose job is it to pass the torch to the new generation with standards intact? Don’t freshness standards matter?
I had numerous discussions with my chefs in pastry school about the subject of freezing. I also was also a keen observer and listener during my internship where I was exposed to some pretty heady talents. I came away educated. I even listen keenly to discussions on Baking with Julia and hear the phrase, “you can freeze these easily” or “these freeze well” thrown around often. Ugh, I say, each time I hear it. When Martha Stewart did her two episode stint on Baking with Julia and made her lovely wedding cake studded with marzipan fruits, it was the same thing.
When I was in Pastry School, one of my classmate’s sisters was getting married. She decided a couple of weeks before the wedding that she wanted to change the shape of her cake. When she called the bakery to discuss this she was told her cake was already in the freezer. My eyes went wide. What? I don’t know how much her family was paying for her cake, but right then and there I committed to a fresh cake, and a spare if need be, for when my daughter gets married. Really? People pay THOUSANDS of dollars for a previously frozen wedding cake???? I’m sorry, I can’t subscribe to this. The freshness issue is one of the major reasons I have not nor probably ever will open my own shop – If I can’t sell fresh food, I’m not doing it.
I am well aware of the issues facing bakers today in trying to stay afloat and eek out a profit. Their competition and cost burden is super-stiff – not to mention the sheer practicalities of volume producers, especially in the case of wedding cake bakers. Without a huge and unaffordable staff, no one can crank out a number of wedding cakes on a given day. However, the proliferation of bakeries in major cities and over hill and dale, and the explosion of people online who are devoted to baking confirm to me that the love of this art, this vocation, this calling, along with the obvious pleasures of eating the confections is alive and well. So, what’s a baker to do? Isn’t pride a huge factor in this business? Isn’t it a key to this business? Production Management is as volatile and critical as can be. Success at this IS success in this profession.
I did not do the Culinary Management portion of the curriculum at ICE when I attended. I have a degree in Finance and have been all through the rigors of inventory management instruction and related regimens in small business management. While that part was many moons ago I am guessing the fundamentals are still the same. (We don’t have to worry about derivatives and such in this business, right? Well, maybe there are some flavor derivatives.) Fads may come and go but I say, the need to offer the freshest foods is elemental and not subject to evolution. No one wants to walk into a bakery, look into the case and see a sad, age-laden and soggy offering – no one! I’m sorry, and yes, you can tell and you don’t need to be that astute. There will always be those consumers who are uninitiated, not possessing an astute palate or those whom just don’t care – they’ll eat just about anything. But, for those who do care the key words are pristine and fresh.
Sunday, I was in the Eric Kayser shop on Broadway – indulging in one of my very favorite pastimes – oogling pastries. I have to admit they all looked great. But, I got to wondering – how fresh are these? The Raspberry Tart was $32.00 – I think that was for the medium one, not the large one. Would I pay $32 for a tart which wasn’t fresh baked? No.
I am not a chemist and I am not some person of the most impeccable-palate quality. But, I do have the advantage of growing up in a home where everything was fresh-baked. For whatever it is worth, I don’t think you can maintain the texture of a fresh-baked cake or pastry once it is frozen. Nor do I believe the taste will be as pristine. While some flavor development does improve over time in the realm of cooking, this tends to be extremely seldom on the baking side and always, this has to be weighed against the downsides of “saving”. It has always been my experience that fresh-baked, and eaten, is best.
There can be a case made for freezing unbaked doughs, I suppose. This is because the oven has not performed its magic yet. Let’s face it – the oven’s magic is all that matters here – it’s what baking’s all about.! It’s what generates the crisp, the crunch, the snap, the crackle, the shatter. In many cases it’s about the “drying out” process – to its pinnacle for the particular item. Freezing can not maintain any of these – and throwing things back in the oven is a guessing game – will it work?
We all know about “oven spring” – the term was introduced to me by the inimitable Chef Sim Cass. While this is primarily associated with the initial stages of bread baking, really the meeting of any selection of leaveners with heat is critical – it’s the goal, the end-game, the fundamental process of baking. The relationship between evaporation and moisture is key in all baking. There is no benefit of adding moisture back in baked goods once they leave the oven – or of deflating. Just take a look at a croissant or scone on a humid day. This is what I believe is akin to freezing. I can’t chemically account for this, but the freezer can’t be counted on to maintain crumb structure or moisture content, or lack thereof and so, well, there you have it. Optimum spring can only best be maintained by a humidity level that is very low and and, in some cases a particular temperature range as well.
I’m sticking to my guns here. There is a reason why bakers the world over get out of bed in the middle of the night to head to their craft. It’s not to have their output sit on a shelf or in the freezer for days on end, I can tell you that. I’m still hoping that like many of the best practices of time, this too will not ultimately go by the wayside. However, if Pierre Hermé is freezing his macaroons, well then, what can I say ? I am “shattered”, like the great crust of a fresh macaroon or the best of the best croissants.
And so in my naivety, I continue on my little quest and response to my baking urges – to arise and have the little twinkly urge to get into the kitchen early in the day and get something going – to experience the delight of seeing my little scones slip into the oven in a moist state and exit with their crunchy-crackly toasty-brown tops, to have my pie crust shatter with the first tip of the pie knife, to have the bread knife shatter the thick and crunchy exterior of the loaf, to have my taste buds indulged in the textures of the very best croissants of Paris. This is the goal, the quest, the dream, the endeavor, what there is to strive for – the ultimate of “returns” of the morning for the baker.
In reality, I know he/she will have to persevere on the damp days too, but the heat from the ovens can be relied upon to dry out the room – it bakes the humidity out – keeps the process going – it’s the ultimate in the chase for the controlled environment.
I welcome any comments and disagreements. And, I am happy to challenge you with taste tests!
photo courtesy goodiegirl.wordpress.com