Behold, my rooster, perched majestically next to our head chef's sugar work at culinary school. (I like to think he comes to life when no one's watching and pecks his neighbor.)
Why did I make a bread rooster, an inedible one at that? Because the world's greatest pastry chef (you know who you are) offered to show me how to do it. I recently spent a Saturday morning glomming this rooster together from pieces of baked bread dough, using isomalt as the glue. Isomalt is a sugar substitute, a type of sugar alcohol that when heated to 300 degrees has excellent stickability similar to hot glue.
I am no sculptress, ask anybody, but something about this felt like Play-Doh. We weren't getting a grade on it, and there was no time limit for presenting to the chef. It was a chance just to play with dough, and it felt fantastic.
I had asked for this special class outside of class, because our curriculum doesn't cover bread sculpture and who knows, somebody might need a showpiece in this new economy we live in, I don't know. I live in hope.
Meanwhile, I did complete two original recipe entries for the California Raisins competition. Here's a glimpse of Blackbird Bun and Pain au Raisin. Done, gone, and in the hands of the U.S. mail.
Toque's off to the pastry chef who encouraged me to work on this lengthy project - the same one who taught the bread sculpture class. This journey is worth the sticky hands and the floury eyebrows.
It is my raison d'etre.
