11+ Secrets of a pastry chef who tests different recipes and gives valuable cooking tips

Many cakes today contain such unusual ingredients that it would not be a bad idea to consult an experienced baker to gain more knowledge on the subject. Andrei is a professional confectioner and author of the channel Bumbich desserts on the Yandex.Zen portal. He carries out all kinds of culinary experiments: he tastes colorful coffees, compares cheap and expensive products and recalls nostalgic “grandmother’s” recipes. In addition, her blog is a veritable chest of confectionery treasures and everyday cooking tips.

We, from incredible.club, our mouths are open when we discover that we spend our whole lives breaking the egg the “wrong” way and we do not use the full potential of the sieves. And in the bonus, Andrei will tell you how we can prepare a quick and easy porridge for breakfast. Follow!

The original recipe says that you should put all the ingredients inside a bottle and then shake it until you reach a mass of uniform consistency. I did just that. The first problem was trying to pass the flour, which got stuck in the narrow part of the funnel. I had to push it with wooden toothpicks, but it passed. Don’t expect your countertop to be clean after this.

To mix the ingredients it is suggested to shake the bottle for 5 minutes🇧🇷 I got tired in the second minute. Also, when I put some of the dough in the pan, there were still lumps of unincorporated flour, so I gave up. I threw it all away.

In my opinion, it’s much easier to make pancakes the traditional way. Don’t waste your time or products trying to optimize an already simple process.

Most of my friends crack eggs against the edge of the skillet that will be used for cooking. This is not the most “correct” way. In most cases, the edge of the pan will “pull” some of the egg’s contents out🇧🇷 And when you open it, there’s a greater chance that bits of skins will fall into the pot.

The way recommended by chefs kitchen professionals is as follows: hold the egg as pictured above and tap it against a flat surface right in the middle (this is the place with the least resistance). This will cause a small crack. Then, carefully slide your fingers to the sides and the egg will open on its own.

If a piece of skin still falls into the pan, don’t worry, there’s an infallible trick to solve this mishap: take the pieces of shell in the pan with the egg shell itself whatever is in your hand.

My younger brother’s friends recommended me a coffee shop that sold colorful coffees. Most of the products were prepared in a special machine, which cost about 25 thousand dollars (something around 130 thousand reais). I was interested. I’m not a cappuccino fan, but I ordered a cup to taste the pink coffee. It didn’t reach my expectations. The taste was similar to McDonald’s coffeebut I had to pay 20 reais at this restaurant compared to the 6 reais I would pay at the chain fast food🇧🇷

I had the impression that the attendants were praising the machine, which prepared the products, rather than the product itself. The truth is that having a good instrument does not mean that there will be a good result.

I’m going to list the objects without which I couldn’t cook:

I have many kitchen towels🇧🇷 As a general rule, 3 or 4 are always around. Around my waist, I usually hang a damp cloth to clean my hands and use to pick up hot dishes.

Metal sieve for tea or coffee🇧🇷 Few people know all the functions of this tool. You can also use it to sift the icing sugar when preparing some candy. Furthermore, the sieve can be used to add some seasoning to grains in the soup, without them getting into the food: place the sieve in the soup with the seasoning and, after cooking, just remove it so that the grains don’t get into the meal. .

With the help of a wire whisk (or fouet, in French) I make most of my cakes. It is also useful for mixing ingredients in other preparations outside of confectionery.

Silicone baking mat or silpat and spatula🇧🇷 I use both all the time for everything I prepare. Baking sweets on the silicone mat is excellent, as nothing will stick to the bottom. The spatula is essential for stirring jellies, mixing doughs and, above all, removing the entire contents of a container.

Paper movie I buy in bulk. It is not only for storing products, but also a great substitute for the kneading roller. You can handle sticky bread dough, for example. But it should always be discarded after use.

It was called “Tangerina” and cost 55 reais. What surprised me was that the appearance was identical to the fruit. The “shell” was a layer of chocolate dyed orange. Inside, there was a vanilla mousse and delicious orange marmalade. This masterpiece was presented on top of a chocolate “sand”.

As an amateur pastry chef, I have an idea of ​​how this dessert is made. If we only consider the ingredients used, the price turns out to be quite high.🇧🇷 But, of course, the price is also made up of the restaurant itself, the work of the cooks, the salaries of the waiters, among other factors. So it’s up to you to decide whether or not it’s expensive for your pocket. I would definitely eat that dessert again.

A friend decided to make her first fruit jelly and sent me a jar to try. But the candy was not very good: there was a kind of “sand” in the jam due to unwashed fruit🇧🇷

To prevent this from happening, you need to:

Place the fruit in a bowl and fill it with ice water. Let it rest for 1 to 2 minutes. Rub each fruit with your hands inside the basin and very carefully. More time needs to be spent cleaning fruits with tougher skins. During cleaning, any dirt—bits of leaves, seeds, and twigs—that rise to the surface must be disposed of immediately.🇧🇷 Remove the fruit with your hands instead of draining the liquid. That way, any leftover dirt will sink to the bottom of the bowl. Put the berries in a colander and wait for the excess water to drain completely.

The famous sweet bombs, or also known as eclairs, can be done in different ways. I decided to do an experiment to compare 2 products. First, I bought a box of 3 candy bombs for 5 reais. They had an elongated shape and were prepared with vegetable fat, emulsifiers, preservatives and flavorings, identical to the natural aroma.🇧🇷 The visual appearance was quite sloppy, as if they had prepared it without much care. But the taste surprised me: it wasn’t too sweet, which is usually not the case with products made with vegetable fat.

Now the box eclairs more expensive was much prettier and tidier. The little tubes were symmetrical and looked like the syrup had been placed with a ruler. When tasting, it didn’t seem to me that they were made with vegetable fat or artificial flavoring🇧🇷

Conclusion: the cheapest sweet bombs are not bad, but you eat and forget. The more expensive ones are really tasty. My wife and I ate small pieces at a time and we felt satisfied.

Here are some recipes I’d like to share:

caramelized sugar🇧🇷 Maybe you already made this sweet in childhood: just take some sugar in a spoon, add a little water and put the spoon over the fire. The result is a caramel candy.

creamy caramel🇧🇷 For this, you need to put sugar and a little water in the pan, and then add sour cream and butter. This type of caramel is the same found in commercial chocolate bars, such as Snickers or twixfor example.

caramel candies🇧🇷 To achieve this consistency, just cook the creamy caramel longer and then add a little glucose syrup.

Hard candy syrup🇧🇷 The sugar in water should be boiled to 121ºC — 131ºC, which will form a very resistant ball. This syrup can be used to spread sweets and make coconut candies.

Crispy Honey Caramel 🇧🇷honeycomb caramel🇧🇷 This type of candy is made by melting sugar without water, then adding honey and a little baking soda to aerate the final product. Abroad, this candy is known as honeycomb (favo, in Portuguese).

First, wash the kiwi thoroughly under running water and dry it with a towel. Then remove one end horizontally with a knife. And with a spoonpass it between the rind and the pulp, gently loosening the inside.

If the fruit is too big, you may need to do the same on the other side. Once you’re done loosening with the spoon, simply set the kiwi on the counter and gently roll it to fully loosen the contents.

During the holidays, my father-in-law gave me a box of cookies he had received from a friend. When I opened it, I was horrified. They looked like muffins with a greasy and very colorful coating. The confectioner added so much coloring that even my fingers got colored after taking them in hand.

I don’t see anything wrong with artificial edible colorings, but I try to use as little as possible in my preparations. It is not known exactly where these products come from and what harm they do to the body. Furthermore, is it possible to dye candies with natural ingredientssuch as carrots, beets and raspberries.

Recently, I went to visit my parents in the city where I was born. Next to their house, there is a bakery where I always bought bread and cakes when I was a child. Loved all the products there. Today, however, production is no longer the same. There are many preservatives, stabilizers and additives in preparations. I certainly wouldn’t buy this for my kids., even if the prices are low. I prefer to do it at home.

When I think back to my childhood and those cakes from my grandmother, I remember that they were simply delicious. But if I were to prepare the same recipe today, it probably wouldn’t have the same result. I believe that…