MAR 22 - With some amount of shock, I am here to say that I’m already halfway through my school program! Crazy to think it’s been over 6 weeks of bread baking, butter smearing, and friend making in the city of lights.

Last week, we had a guest chef come from one of the biggest (or the biggest?) flour mill in France. It turns out that mills here have head chefs whose entire job is to invent new recipes and techniques, and travel the world to give demonstrations to their customers or partners. Heck of a job, huh? Chef Maximilien has won several youth baking awards, then went on to win the French Cup in his 20’s, then the European Cup (all in baking). He’s competed for the highly coveted Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) award before (didn’t get it the first try), and intends to try again soon. If you don’t know, an the MOF competition in France awards the best-of-the-best craftsmen & craftswomen here with the title of being the absolute best. Many people think it’s only for food, but it can also be for things like leather craftspeople, upholstery and furniture making, and more. The esteemed winners go through years of training, and if you are awarded by the panel of judges as an MOF, you have the honor of wearing a blue, white, and red collar (the colors of the French flag). This award is so coveted that it is literally illegal in France to wear the collar on your shirt if you haven’t earned the title.

So all that to say, guest Chef Maximilien is a big deal. He’s not an MOF yet, but I think it’s anticipated that he can do it. He spent two days with our class demonstrating techniques for various viennoiseries (viennoiserie in American english: sweet, buttery, pastries). Brownies with berries wrapped in multi-colored croissant dough; brioches turned bright yellow and filled with lemon cream; pistachio flan in a croissant cup; and a myriad of hot dogs which I’m sure would lead to a very successful food truck in the US (consider that idea TM’d here).

One note - the head Chef teaching my class is not far from these standards, either. He missed winning the French cup by a 1% difference when the final points were tallied. He is respected by the other Chefs at the school for being incredible at what he does. He is, however fortunately or unfortunately, tasked with teaching a lot of novice bakers the most basic-basics of bread baking, which means we don’t necessarily get to see him just work in his natural element.

That said, our experience with Chef Maximilien was wonderful for a number of reasons. He, unlike my head chef, had the chance to come and purely demonstrate for us for two days. It was surreal to watch a master at work. He created things before our eyes, starting with the exact same flour, water, butter, salt, and yeast we use every single day, but making immaculate little creations with layers of flavor, color, and texture that I haven’t yet imagined. It’s like watching Caitlin Clark shoot threes, or Serena Williams serve an ace. It’s rare in life, perhaps outside of sports, that we get the opportunity to sit across the table from someone who is one of the best in the world at what they do, and just get to watch them do it. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we get to see the final result. Maybe we’re blessed to walk a museum full of Van Gogh’s most famous pieces. But did anyone actually get to witness as he threw blues and yellows at the canvas until Starry Night appeared? I don’t know!

**Art on Display:**

From left to right: cranberry, chocolate, almond brioche loaf // pistachio flan inside a puff pastry cup topped with toasted pistachios and a pistachio praliné // hot dog in a croissant // raspberry puree layered between two crispy “cookies” of puff pastry, dusted with powdered sugar // dark chocolate brownies topped with black cherries wrapped inside red-striped croissant dough // chocolate croissant crowns with chocolate hazelnut praliné centers // lemon brioche filled with candied lemon puree // hot dogs in puff pastry topped with baked cheese, mustard and ketchup (the croi-glizzy in GenZ terms) // mushroom parsley béchamel filled brioche tarts topped with a baked egg // chocolate cakes topped with raspberries, buried under gelatin raspberry puree inside a puff pastry shell // same brioche loaves as left side. End scene.

Flour, water, salt, yeast, and butter into the mixers. Sometimes some cocoa powder or turmeric for color. Mix, mix, mix, and perfect dough comes out. Then rolling, folding, rolling folding. Suddenly, lines of red criss-crossing white dough and slivers of perfect butter layers slide into the refrigerator. At the same time, pots bubble with béchamel and raspberry sauce; a blender turns candied lemons into a bright, delightful puree; brownies piped into silicon molds come out of the ovens with berries in the center. In my mind, Bach waves his arms so the orchestra plays in time with the opening and closing of oven doors. We go home after day one with fridges and freezers full of prepped doughs and creams and fillings and colors. We return next day to watch all of the pieces come together: the cello and the flute and the bass drums stop playing as individuals and suddenly a masterpiece forming right before your eyes and ears.

Above: things in proofers, cooling racks, or ovens as they make their way toward their final forms.

So the second bit of wonder: the smells, the sounds, the colors, and of course, the tastes. You’ll have to imagine how good a hot dog sitting inside a neat rectangle of puff pastry smells as it’s baking. If you haven’t before, I hope you get the chance to listen to butter sizzle and bread crackle as it comes out of the oven to cool. And finally, to taste pistachio flan wrapped in flaky pastry, topped with toasted pistachios?! Or lemon brioche filled with lemon puree?! These were some of the fan favorites, and left us all inspired.

A big part of the course is planning for our own final projects. For the boulangerie students (my class), we need to present one sweet and one savory dish. One must be made with croissant dough, and the other with brioche dough. They should be able to be “eaten while walking” to count as viennoiserie, and there are rules on how many pieces we must make. Other than that, the rest is up to each of the students. Chef Maximilien’s visit was perfectly timed to help us see what the world of possibilities might look like for our own little inventions. The initial recipes are due this week (eek!) and we’ll have our first practice session in two weeks, to see if we can start to make some semblance of our plan. I’ve been lucky enough to have family send me ingredients from the US for my ideas, but more on that later. I can’t give all my secrets away yet!

Being halfway through my course, I’ll finish with a list of some of my favorite moments so far:

Korean BBQ night out with friends, hosted by Yunhee. She is from South Korea, and ordered and grilled up most of the dinner. It was a night of laughing, eating, and watching Yunhee thrive as she got to share a little piece of her home with us.
Weekend in Barcelona with my friends from class - more on this in my next post 😊
Group trip to Champagne with all of the international students and our incredible team of teaching chefs.
Learning about a hundred ways to make bread and pastry, and the nuance that comes from different methods of fermenting the dough. The most subtle changes to the recipe change the look, flavor, and personality of the final product, and I think I’m finally starting to appreciate and recognize the differences.

Below are photos from the dinner mentioned above, class, and other nice moments in Paris with Anya <3

Thanks for joining me on this journey! Comment below if you have questions or want to know more about anything specific!

À la prochaine,

Jesi & Anya