Aloe Vera to the Rescue

 Thank heavens I had brought in an Aloe Vera plant to the catering kitchen. The Aloe Vera plant is small, green, and a succulent that doesn’t need to be watered, often, and the thick leaves, which contain a sticky substance that can be used for medicinal purposes.

I seldom burn myself. But the past two weeks, I managed to burn my left arm and then my right arm. Both burns hurt and after I swore, and saw stars, I cracked open one of the fat stems and rubbed the gooey substance heavily on my burns. I did this throughout the work day and it helped the burning sensation. Eventually, the red marks went away without leaving a scar.

I hate burns! When I mentioned that to the Chef, my daughter, she suggested that I wear long sleeves. My thought was maybe I should wear armor on my arms but that would be difficult, bulky, hot, and uncomfortable.

Maybe being more careful and having an Aloe Vera plant close at hand is sufficient enough.

Hey, I'm a Plumber, too!

Cooking or baking in the catering kitchen can be busy as well as interesting. When everything is going well…it is great. But, sometimes, a cooking or baking problem might occur. And sometimes a non-cooking problem can arise when you least expect it.

There was a time when the oven doors stuck and we needed to use a flat headed screw driver to open the oven door. This became a pain, especially when the food or baking was done and the trays needed to be pulled out. This problem went on for a long time until it was taken care of by Chef Jeff, who came to work in the kitchen. Chef Jeff always carried a tool box in the back of his truck and he fixed our problem. That tool box came in handy as well as the chef knives that he carried with him.

Then there was the time that I had to figure out how to re-light the pilot light that went out, under the commercial ovens. I hate gas stoves for this reason. This is a minor problem but I hate doing this job, and I hate lighting matches as well.  But it can be remedied by not using the exhaust fans and sweating in the kitchen.

Finally, I put on my plumber’s hat, when the dishwasher wouldn’t fill up. I remembered my daughter telling me how she fixed it. So, I poured a bucket of water down the dishwasher’s drain and pulled the plunger up and down a few times and hoped for the best. I pressed the fill button for the water and, voila, to my utter amazement…it worked!

Oh yeah…I now have earned my plumber’s badge and can add it to my expanding resume!

Commercial Proofer

Now that I am baking for my daughter’s deli, I get to use her Commercial Proofer. A Commercial Proofer is a large metal cabinet with a thermostat. It is used for freshly made dough or frozen dough. The dough is placed on a long sheet and the sheet slides into the shelf. The Proofer allows the dough to ‘rise’ before baking.

One of the most important things to remember when using the Proofer is to always make certain that there is water in the bottom of the Proofer. The water keeps the Proofer from burning out.

I find that working with the Proofer is kind of fun. I like watching how quickly the dough rises. Mostly, using the Proofer makes me feel like a real baker!

Pepperoni Bread

One of my baking jobs is to make pepperoni bread for Erin’s Deli. The job isn’t difficult but it does take a while to get the breads made.

*First, remove the frozen dough and leave it in the refrigerator to thaw out.

*Next, when the dough is thawed, I take it out of the refrigerator.

* Take out the dough from each bag, cut it in half and roll the dough flat on a floured surface.

*After I get a few flat pieces of dough, I brush on an oil mixture with herbs, then place pepperoni on the top, and sprinkle a generous amount of mozzarella cheese.

*I pull the sides of the dough together and roll it up with the seam placed down on a sprayed parchment paper, on a sheet tray.

*When I get at least 9 pepperoni breads, I put two slits in the top of the roll, brush on more oil mixture and place three cut pieces of pepperoni on the top.

After I complete all the breads, I bake them and when they are a golden brown, I take them out of the oven and leave them on cooling racks. After the breads are cooled, I place them in a plastic bag in the freezer to be taken down to the Deli.

The delicious breads can be purchased at Erin’s Deli, downtown. The hardest part of this job is not to take one of those delicious breads for myself!

I Love Scones

Scones are considered a quick bread or cake. They are made with all-purpose flour or other types of flour. A variety of different ingredients are added and to sweeten the scone, sugar is added. Scones can be made in all different flavors, like Blueberry, Raspberry, Strawberry, Peach, Pumpkin, Lemon, Chocolate Chips and more. The Scone can be glazed or un-glazed. It can be served warm or eaten cold. They usually are shaped in triangles or in circles.

I personally love Scones because they are not too sweet. The Scones that are make for Erin’s Deli (in downtown Pittsburgh) are the usual ones. These are on the menu and are popular with the customers - the Blueberry Scones and the Chocolate Chip Scones.  The other popular scone, that can be called Erin’s signature one… is a Savory Scone of Bacon, Cheddar, and Jalapeño. At first when I heard about this scone, I made a face. Then I followed the recipe and made them. I tasted one after it was baked. OMG! Yes, it was that good. After one taste, I definitely understood why the customers like this Savory Scone!

I’ve made other scones: Strawberry and White Chips, Peaches and Cream, Lemon, and an Oatmeal with Cranberry and Nuts.

The scones have their own icing. Butter and brown sugar tops the Savory Scone and the Oatmeal Scone. Lemon icing is used for the Lemon Scone. Vanilla Icing is drizzled on the Blueberry and Chocolate Chip Scone.

Now that fall is underway, look for some new fall scones!