Yes, it was that time of the week again!

We started off by making our Pate Sucree for the tartlets before heading to the theory test.. It was interesting as it was our first exam with the different instructors and they do things a little differently.

We weren’t allowed to start early, even if we were there early (which is how I managed to finish my book in last weeks exam) and then after we had made the Pate Sucree we weren’t allowed to start the theory test until everyone was ready to. Thankfully after that we were allowed to carry on with the rest once we had done our theory without waiting.

I did something a little silly, and refused to wear the support for my hand during the test, as it hindered my rolling and piping abilities. We had done the practice run of the lemon meringue tartlets on Thursday, so I knew I could not manage a quality piece with the restricted movement. One of my instructors said she would tell me off, but she’d have probably done the same thing!

I think I did alright with the theory this week, I’m waiting to see.. at least I’m done with memorising the 12 steps of yeast dough production! It was questions like what are the three types of meringue – describe them, and what are the two pie doughs and the differences between them, differences between pies and tarts, butter and shortening etc etc.

I then rolled out my flaky dough (made on Thursday) for the blueberry pies and chilled that while I made the filling. Rolled out the pate sucree and chilled before I assembled the blueberry pies and got them in the oven. Made the lemon filling for the tartlets while the shells were par baking and assembled them quickly and got them back in the oven to cook. Made the Italian meringue, piped it on top and torched it. All by 9 o clock, half an hour before our deadline.

At this point I was beginning to regret not wearing the support, so now I had finished baking I went and put it back on. Got my products graded, lost 5 points for the falky pastry on the pies not being very flaky but got top marks for the lemon meringue tartlets!

So this week has been pies and tarts, and then next week we’ll move onto the petit fours, ready for the final week where my final practical exam is spending three days to produce a petit four platter.