By Tim Bruderek

Dave Crofton, head baker at One Girl Cookies, is a warm guy with a big personality. He has a unique passion for baking that’s inspiring to watch. But Dave’s story does not follow the traditional path to success.

Dave graduated from ICE’s Pastry & Baking Arts program in 2003, working during the day and taking his classes in the evening. Upon completing the program, like most graduations, Dave began his search for a job in the field, and his Career Services advisor gave him a lead that sounded interesting. Little did he know this new job would change his life for good.

Dawn Casale, founder and namesake of the Brooklyn-based bakery One Girl Cookies, was becoming well-known for her delectable sweet treats, but was seeking some help with the growing demand and notoriety of her business. Dave contributed his baking talents, and soon enough, the pair was working diligently to make One Girl a success. But they got more than they planned – they ended up falling in love and getting married.

Flash forward a few years, and now Dawn is running the business side of things, while Dave serves as the company’s lead baker. The shop has become famous for its cookies (as the name suggests), but has grown to offer a huge variety to satisfy their customer’s sweet cravings. The pumpkin whoopee pie has become the shop’s most popular item—with pillowy cookies sandwiching a smooth vanilla cream cheese filling, it’s easy to understand why!

This spring, Dave graciously returned to ICE to teach a class, sharing stories about his success and recipes to make his delicious cookies, cakes and other desserts at home.

A student learns to pipe the pumpkin cookies for One Girl’s whoopie pies.

The class featured many helpful tips (proper dough preparations, mixing techniques and baking tricks), and secrets to One Girl’s top recipes (such as their famous chocolate cake, prepared with zucchini to keep it moist). Aside from the seductively sweet whoopie pies, the aforementioned chocolate cake and several varieties of crispy biscotti, the class whipped up a citrus olive oil cake to spice things up.

Light, airy, with a touch of citrus zing, this delicate cake allows the flavor of the olive oil shine through. For an extra sweet and salty crunch, we finished the cake with a sprinkling of sea salt and turbino sugar. It was my clear favorite recipe of the evening, is easy enough to prepare at home and special enough to impress dinner guests. Scroll down for the recipe, and don’t forget to stop by one of the two One Girl Cookies Brooklyn locations to say hi to Dave (and indulge your sweet cravings)!

One Girl’s Lemon Olive Oil Cake. Photo Credit: UltraTeg.com

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Yield: Makes 1 (9-inch) cake

Ingredients

• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 5 large egg yolks
• ¾ cup olive oil
• 1½ tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup cake flour
• 4 large egg whites
• ½ tsp table salt
• 1 tbsp Turbinado sugar
• ½ tsp coarse sea salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9-inch round cake pan by greasing with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Using both hands, rub the zest into the sugar, breaking up as many lumps of zest as possible.
3. Whisk together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Continue to whisk for 3 minutes, or until the mixture has become light yellow. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and whisk 1 more minute. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the cake flour.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until they are frothy, about 30 seconds. With the mixer running on medium-low speed, add the salt and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Increase the speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form. Using a spatula, carefully fold the whites into the batter. Make sure that all of the whites are incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the Turbinado sugar and the sea salt on the top.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, and rotate the pan in the oven. Bake for 25 more minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes. The cake will shrink from the side of the pan and have a rustic appearance. Turn the cake out onto a clean plate, remove the parchment paper, and turn the cake back over onto a cooling rack. Let the cake cool completely.

Whisk yeast into water, add flour and salt, then mix until smooth. That’s bread dough. Humble ingredients that—once combined, nurtured and baked—amount to much more than the sum of their parts.

Launching ICE’s new Techniques & Art of Professional Bread Baking program this spring, Chef Sim Cass explained to his students that creating bread is alchemy: the seemingly miraculous transformation of one thing into something better, like lead into gold or humble ingredients into crackling loaves.

Yeast is the transformational ingredient in bread making. A living organism that requires food, moisture, comfort and time in order to thrive. The job of the baker/alchemist is to provide yeast with those conditions. In return, he or she will be rewarded with complexly flavored, wonderfully textured bread.

Each day Chef Sim, in his uniquely charming way, guides his students through the deceptively simple process of mixing dough. Temperature, as it turns out, is king. Water must be cooler than the 100°F that many baking books have been preaching for decades. The dough should be left to rise at a cool temperature as well, so that the yeast can develop slowly, creating a potent mixture of carbon dioxide and organic acids that allow the dough to rise and develop flavor.

Throughout this process—known by its scientific name as “fermentation”—the students were shown how to fold the living dough into itself and turn it over several times. This gentle action evens out the dough’s temperature, strengthens its gluten structure and gives the students a sense of how the dough is developing. A baker can tell a lot about dough through the simple act of touching it. “Your body is your thermometer,” Chef Sim extols. If a dough feels too warm, he won’t hesitate to put it in a refrigerator for a half hour to get it right.

Hands identify more than temperature. As a dough ferments, there are subtle changes occurring in its textures well. As it rises, its surface grows tense, the starches in the flour continue to absorb moisture, and that too changes the texture. No book or blog post can give credit to the tangible methods that the expert chef shows his students through looking, feeling and assessing. A baker/alchemist needs to experience these transformations in order to guide them.

There are, of course, different techniques of mixing and maintaining dough, many of which Chef Sim will delve into as the program progresses. Students will use pre-ferments to further extend the yeast’s fermentation time, and they will learn how to create a natural ferment (or “sour starter”) in which no commercial yeast is used at all. But even when the bread making techniques become more challenging, it always comes back to four humble ingredients miraculously changing into something better: artisanal bread.

By Carly DeFilippo

As we gear up to launch our new Techniques and Art of Professional Cake Decorating program on May 2nd, we are very excited to share one of Chef Toba Garrett‘s cake and icing recipes.

Almond Paste Cake

Tools: 5 or 6 Quart Mixer

Yields: 2, 10” cake layers or 3, 8” cake layers

 Ingredients:

• 9 oz (255 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 oz (170 g) almond paste
• 24oz (680 g) granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 ½  tsp almond extract
• 12 fl oz (340 g) whole milk
• 18 oz (510 g) cake flour
• 1 ½  Tbsp baking powder
• ¾  tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175-177˚C).  Vegetable spray and parchment line three 8” (20.32 cm) cake pans.  Set aside.
2. Cream the butter, almond paste and sugar for 4 minutes.  Stop, scrape the bowl, and cream for 60 seconds more.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, to the creamed mixture.  Beat in the almond extract.
4. Sieve together the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the creamed mixture.  Ladle the mixture into the baking pans.  This is a thick batter.
5. Carefully smooth the batter with a metal offset spatula.  Hit the pan against the counter to burst any air bubbles.
6. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 minutes or until the cake slightly shrinks and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Cake can last for 3 weeks in the refrigerator if wrapped well and can be frozen.

A buttercream frosting cake featured in Toba Garrett’s book, “Professional Cake Decorating”

FRENCH VANILLA BUTTERCREAM

Tools: 5 or 6 Quart Mixer

Yields: 2 ½ to 3 lbs (1.13 to 1.36 kg)

Ingredients:

• 12 oz (340 g) of granulated sugar
• 6 fl oz (177 ml) whole milk
• 1½ Tbsp (3/8 oz) all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp (1 ml) salt
• 1 Tbsp (15 ml) pure vanilla extract
• 3 fl oz (85 g) heavy cream
• 1¼ lbs (57 kg or 568 g) unsalted butter (cut-up)

Or, for a larger quantity:

Tools: 20 Quart Mixer*

Yields: 10 to 10.5 lbs (4.45 to 4.76 kg)

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs (48 oz or 1.35 kg) of granulated sugar
• 24 oz (710 ml) whole milk
• 6 Tbsp (90 ml or 1.5 oz or 38 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp (15 ml) salt
• 2 fl oz (57 g or 59 ml) pure vanilla extract
• 9 fl oz (266 ml) heavy cream
• 5 lbs (2.27 kg) unsalted butter (cut-up)

*Recipe can be multiplied 5 times for a 60 quart mixer.

Instructions:

1. Make custard by heating milk and sugar over a double boiler until sugar crystals dissolve.  Remove from heat and add flour and salt and whisk until flour is incorporated.  Place over an ice bath until the custard has slightly cooled.
2. Pour custard mixture in mixer bowl with paddle attachment.  Add cut-up butter and heavy cream.  Mix on LOW speed to fully incorporate ingredients or until mixture starts to thicken.
3. Mix on NEXT highest speed until mixtures starts to look light and fluffy.   This can take 7 to 10 minutes or longer if making larger batches.
4. Store and refrigerate buttercream in an air-tight container.  Freeze for up to 2 months.

Note:  If the buttercream curdles, it will just take a longer time for the butter to warm-up.  Continue beating until the butter softens and the mixture looks light and fluffy.

© 1995, 2007 Toba Garrett, all rights reserved

By Carly DeFilippo

ICE is excited to launch its first-ever artisanal bread program: Techniques and Art of Professional Bread Baking. This 8-week, intensive course, kicking off on March 18th, was designed and will be taught by ICE Chef-Instructor Sim Cass. Known as the “Prince of Darkness” for his deeply toasted, crusty loaves, Sim began his career as a Pastry Chef in London and went on to become the Founding and Head Baker of Balthazar Bakery, one of the most highly regarded restaurant and wholesale bread producers in America. We checked in with Sim to learn more about the new program, and discovered how he became a baker himself.

What was the inspiration behind this new program?

I developed a program for the regular curriculum, which is only one week of bread, and that is satisfactory, but I really feel that the school needs a large, more extensive program, that covers more practices and many more different types of breads and methods, which isn’t possible to do in one week. So we’re doing 40 classes, and we’re gonna go into depth into natural ferments, breads made the ancient way, and breads made throughout time and history, up to now.

Actually, everyone has gone backwards, all the most successful bakeries in America are using these old fermentation techniques that we used to envy in the French and the Germans. So what happened is in Europe it’s slowed down, because all the small bakeries went the “way of the dodo”, really, because of the supermarchés and hypermarkets that make bread in-house. They profess to be natural ways of making bread, and the product looks pretty good, but the taste and the crumb and the crust is always slightly under par because of the mass production and the use of commercial yeast.

Will the program address this conflict between small and larger, commercial bakeries?

The program will cover the A-Z in terms of how to adapt to any stage, even large scale – Balthazar is ten times a day natural ferment – so that is what I’m preaching, natural fermentation. But not only natural fermentation, because there are some breads that work very well in a combination of the old and the new.

Are there any current trends or innovators in the bread world that you find particularly interesting?

Natural ferments are the trend of the moment and the one that’s making the money. I have my own versions of trends; I’m really big on foccacias and into the pizza world, the trends in that. I think Paula Oland is the best baker out there – she and I did Balthazar together and she’s my mentor, she’s my favorite. She was involved in so much in the baking world, and she was inspirational to work with.

How did you get into bread baking, and how did you decide to make it your career?

At 16, as soon as I could leave school, I was already working in a butcher’s shop. It was in London, and the butcher just offered me a job – cool outfit, long white coat, big bicycle. I wanted to cook because of butchery. I had gotten into the zen of butchery – the cutting of meat, the making of sausages. That is cooking, but it’s “pre-cooking”, so it was a logical step for me to go and learn how to cook.

First I was a culinary chef, then I was a pastry chef, then I ended up in a 5-star pastry kitchen, and there I did advanced pastry and baking. In that kitchen I did a lot of breads, lots of pastries, lots of laminates, lots of croissants, viennoiserie stuff. Then I got a job on a ship, and the most favorable shift in the South Pacific or Indian Ocean is the night shift. So rather than three shifts a day for twelve hours, you just work overnight for twelve hours in one go, and get the next twelve hours off to sleep. And that’s when I got into the bread field.

The Spanish bakers say once you’ve touched and worked with the dough, you have to go back and touch it again, the feel of it. I started to yearn for the bread.

That’s when I came to America. And my old friend Keith McNally says I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse. You become my head baker for just one year – at Lucky Strike – and I’ll give you support to move forward with your career. I worked as Keith McNally’s bread baker from 1989 straight through til I came [to ICE], in about 2005, working at Lucky Strike, Balthazar on Spring Street, and then Balthazar in New Jersey.

At the time when you first started working for McNally, what was the “bread scene” like?

There was hardly any bread scene. When we started doing natural ferments, doing bread that tastes like what bread’s supposed to taste like, it took off so fast. That’s when I realized that we really did believe what in what we were doing. We didn’t take any nos from anybody else, people who said, “you won’t be able to sell that bread because it’s too dark.” But we were like, “No – that’s how we’re cooking it.” Twenty years later…and we were the ones who started it.

I think it all comes from seeing how the Balthazar thing. [McNally] served a beautiful rye (natural ferment) and a levain (sour, natural ferment), one dark and one light at your table when you sat down. That to me is one of the reasons why that restaurant was so successful – it became iconic for its bread.

What would say to someone who wants to pursue bread as a career?

You’ve got to do the practice – the repetition – and the real joy is in the end result that comes from that repetition. That’s how you’ve got to learn. Most things that you do in a bakery, you end up being able to do with your eyes closed. It’s a feel, a tactile feeling.

You’ve got to get to work in a bakery or other environment and learn to love the “zen of repetition”. You need to go somewhere with good bakers, and start by shaping, to get all the shapes and the timing. At the end of a shift, you’ll be exhausted and yet feel like a king. And you’ll strangely be drawn back the next morning – even if you’re hating it today, it sort of draws you back.

For no reason at all it can go terribly wrong and it’s very, very humbling. You can make a mistake without realizing you’ve made a mistake – things always go wrong. But it’s learning to deal with the things going wrong, to make it right. It puts you in your place.

What are the your most satisfying moments are a baker?

The big one is at the end of a shift, where you’ve produced really a lot of bread – especially if you work the ovens. The ovens to me is where you can run into a lot of problems. Once you’ve baked large quantities of bread, it’s such large volume that you feel a real sense of achievement, in a way that people, unless they’ve done it, could never understand what that feels like. Once you’ve experienced it, that’s the addiction. You want to go back, you want to do it again – even though you’re like, “We’ve got to make how much bread?” – you want to do it again.

[In this program] students will get that satisfaction from the repetition; they will produce a fair amount of bread.

What will this program prepare students to accomplish?

I see them being prepared mentally and “dexterily” to get their foot in the door and say, “Yea, I’ve done a bread program; I’m very interested in bread.” I want them to be able to get in on the table and shape bread and understand what is going on – the fermentation process, really how to make proper bread – and, at the same time, how to make proper bread in a less complicated way. You would even learn a lot if you own your own restaurant or are a pastry chef and just wanted to up your whole game. It’s very doable.

To learn more about ICE’s new Techniques and Art of Professional Bread Baking course, click here. 

By Carly DeFilippo

This month, ICE had the pleasure of co-hosting a very special event with the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance: a conversation with renown home cook, food writer, francophile – and new bakery owner – Dorie Greenspan.

The first time Greenspan attempted to cook, she burned down her parent’s kitchen. It wasn’t until she became a young bride that she returned to the stove, and when she first pursued a job in professional baking, she was fired for “creative insubordination”. Greenspan’s entry into food writing was something of a fluke. A friend introduced her to a contact at Food & Wine, who invited her to submit a proposal. She naively mailed a basket of samples to the magazine’s office, with a hand-written note stating that she’d like to publish the recipes. Needless to say, her innocent strategy worked, and her first piece was published in 1983.

Despite Greenspan’s unconventional, lucky first steps in food writing, her career wasn’t all eager acceptances from national magazines. After her initial big break, she wasn’t published again for a full 2 years. “There have been plenty of dry spells,” she explained, “It always looks good on paper.” Greenspan also openly admitted that while she “said yes to everything”, she would have felt more comfortable in her abilities had she pursued professional culinary training.

Photo Credit: BeurreAndSel.com

Today, after writing ten cookbooks, winning six James Beard awards and receiving numerous other awards and recognitions, one would assume Greenspan would have overcome any insecurity in her culinary abilities. Yet, enmeshed in the opening of her first bakery, Beurre & Sel, Greenspan claims she still feels scared by the responsibility of consistency and of trusting other people with her product. Opening a cookie bakery was her son’s idea, Dorie explains, “[and] because we don’t know what we’re doing, we can dream – if we were smarter, we wouldn’t have gone into business.” If irresponsible, this dream has garnered Greenspan even more support from her loyal followers and fans – not least of all the “Tuesdays with Dorie” baking club.

Photo Credit: BeurreAndSel.com

In fact, Greenspan’s success as a blogger was one of the subjects of most interest to the NYWCA members, many of whom are successful writers or food professionals in their own right. “Tuesdays with Dorie” grew out of a request from two women who wanted to blog about baking her recipes. The group continued to grow, and with it, Greenspan’s interest in “the power of the Internet…to really connect people with like interests”. She credits the incredible success of her own blog and social media presence (more than 128,000 Twitter followers) to this genuine love of connecting with other cooking enthusiasts. “You can’t just talk about your work…[you] need to really consider yourself a part of the community.” Just one example of Greenspan’s dedication to her many fans? She personally answers every question posted on her blog.

That said, the Internet has also been a source of increased pressure on Greenspan, especially when it comes to testing recipes. The regular feedback that her fans provide is “both gratifying and terrifying.” To this point, Greenspan tests her own recipes several times and always sends a finished copy to a recipe tester for further refining.

Beyond the importance of hiring a tester, Greenspan had very practical thoughts for those interested in the competitive field of food writing. “Everybody who tastes food thinks they can write about it.” A blog is a great way to create a presence, a portfolio that editors can reference. But you may also need to write – for free – for another publication, to get your foot in the door. “To say, ‘I’ve done this work.’ counts for a lot.”

Hard-working, humble and obviously passionate about her work, Greenspan’s most telling remark was that which concerned her motivation: “I’m not proud of my work. I’m happy it’s being used.”

Photo Credit: BeurreAndSel.com

When we hear the word “start-up”, typically what comes to mind is a small, forward-thinking, creative company in the technology sector. But in the food world, start-up ventures are equally exciting, innovative…and risky. That’s why ICE instructors Kathryn Gordon, Jeff Yoskowitz, Jessie Riley and Alan Someck created Food Start Up Help, a consulting service for food entrepreneurs looking to launch a new business.

Jeff Yoskowitz, Jessie Riley, Kathryn Gordon and Alan Someck

Where did the idea for Food Start Up Help come from?

Jessie: I got the idea from watching Chef Jeff and Chef Kathryn repeatedly help students with various projects; alumni would also come back for their help. I thought they should formalize their knowledge into a consulting service, since there is a clear demand for bakery-related, start-up guidance.

What is each of your experience with starting a small food business? 

Jeff: I have started a pizza restaurant, a wholesale bakery, a line of boxed petits fours and am currently a minority partner in a start-up frozen muffin batter company. I’ve also benefited from the experience of managing a start-up kiosk, restaurant and catering company. In addition, I was the Pastry Chef of a bakery that expanded into a second retail location, and through that experience learned what not to do in that circumstance.

Kathryn: I’ve worked for some “mom & pop” food service operations, which were underfunded. That’s a very painful situation to be in. I’ve also worked for the three highest grossing restaurants in the US and trained at two 4-star restaurants, which is about as different as you can get from start ups. Previous to working in Pastry, I received an MBA in Finance from NYU, so I’m also able to bring a business perspective to clients’ challenges.

Jessie: I grew up in a family that loved to cook, and early food exposure allowed me to develop a good palette. Combining that with training in a 3-star restaurant, work as a private chef and time working with two bakeries in France, I learned to create unique and delicious recipes for clients. I have also spearheaded food industry events, and am able to share those organizational skills with clients.

Alan: I’ve had over 25 years experience operating restaurants and starting a variety of related businesses. This has helped me understand some of the key factors that make an entrepreneur successful in this very tough industry. My strengths lie in my ability to assess the viability of a concept and assess the strengths an individual has and the areas in which he/she may need some help. I can also offer entrepreneurs a strong network of reliable, talented hospitality professionals who can help support a project and help them develop a comprehensive, practical business plan.

Are there any particular projects you are currently working on that you are particularly excited about?

Jeff: There’s one project in particular that Alan and I have been working on for several months. It’s an energy bar that is going to be distributed nationally. It’s really exciting to see how all of the components are coming together.

What are key concepts any new food entrepreneur needs to grasp?

Alan: Have a clear vision of your concept, or you cannot differentiate yourself from the competition or write a viable business plan.

Jeff: A realistic budget and adequate funding are key for a start up to survive. Also get the advice of experienced professionals (and listen to them), especially if you don’t have years of experience behind you.

Kathryn: You won’t generate profits if you don’t know and control your food costs; it’s pointless to sell great tasting food at a loss.

Jessie: Know how you’re going to produce your food product, because otherwise your operating costs may eat up your profits.

What are some surprising things you’ve learned since starting FSUH?

Kathryn: I love working on our free weekly blog magazine and visiting a wide range of businesses.  It’s evolved into a handbook for how-to-start-a-food-business. Some of the people we’ve interviewed have been brutally honest – about their own failures, lessons learned.  An entrepreneur can save a lot of time and money by reading the blog.

Jeff: I agree with Kathryn. Working on the blog and visiting all of the different types of food businesses – and discovering people’s varying approaches to them – has been incredibly interesting. I believe it is keeping me current on equipment, packaging, methods and sales trends that are very important to my profession.

How has your involvement with ICE influenced or supported this new project?

Kathryn:  We have access to a diverse group of alumni, and everyone we’ve asked has contributed to our blog magazine. I think that’s great. There’s a vibrant community of food entrepreneurs out there. We think we can help them, and they’re helping us – and others – by sharing their secrets of success.

ICE offers one of the country’s largest recreational cooking programs. With over 1,500 cooking classes and over 26,000 students each year, there is something for every cook looking to learn new techniques in the kitchen. Last month, food writer Jamie Feldmar, whose work is regularly seen on Serious Eats and in the Edible magazine series, tackled her fear of baking in Artisan Breads At Home with Daniel Rosati.

Like many people, I am afraid to bake. I can cook — not perfectly, but well enough to feed myself, and with enough confidence to occasionally feed other people. Baking, though, has never been my forte — the measuring, the careful mixing, and the endless waiting for the finished product — it’s just not for me. Bread, in particular, has always been daunting. I don’t understand yeast in the slightest, and I can’t knead to save my life.

So when I was looking for a class at ICE, bread baking was not my first instinct. But as I flipped through the enormous catalogue, circling savory cooking classes that sounded interesting, a nagging voice in the back of my head told me that maybe this was the time to take on a challenge. Maybe it was time to tackle bread. So I signed up, with great trepidation, for Artisan Breads At Home, taught by Daniel Rosati. More…

As long as I can remember I have loved baking. I attribute this infatuation to my mother’s shared love. Any time there was a birthday to celebrate, you could find my mom in the kitchen whipping up a delicious cake or cupcakes. I’ll always treasure my kindergarten birthday when she baked cupcakes inside ice cream cones, or in second grade when she spent three days building me the most beautiful Barbie cake from scratch. It was no surprise that when I got older baking became a hobby of mine. I love testing new recipes, mostly cakes, and more than baking, I love sharing my baked goods with others.

My mom recently planned a trip to visit me in New York and I knew this would be the perfect time to thank her for sharing her passion with me. I scheduled both of us in one of ICE‘s recreational baking classes — Italian Dessert Classics with Craft Pastry Chef Jennifer McCoy. My mom was beyond thrilled when I shared the news. This class would be the first time in over five years that we had the chance to enjoy time baking together. More…