(Housing Works Used Book Cafe in New York is operated by volunteers, & the profits are used exclusively to help the homeless & people with HIV/AIDS. The welcoming environment has towering bookcases with new, rare, & dog-eared books. There’s plenty of comfy places to sit, & it has brilliant cafe serving drinks, cakes, snacks, & warm food. Good cause, good design.)

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Let me share with you today my friends, my dream.

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I have a dream that one day I own my very own shop. It’s an idea I’ve been toying with ever since my passion for chocolates & pastry became obsession.

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Exact ideas of it keeps changing, no, more like evolving.

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First it was a 100% chocolate shop selling my handmade bonbons/ truffles alongside the best & largest collection of chocolate bars from around the world lining one wall. I thought of tricks like “Top 10 Bars of the Month” & “Coco&Me Reccommendation” panels just like what you’d see done in large bookstores, & to make brands compete. I imagined it as the ultimate hub for serious chocolate lovers in London where they don’t have to sift through inferior brands to find the gems. - The working kitchen would be visible from the shop so that the customers understand straight away that the bonbons by the counter are all properly handmade. There’ll be me, moulding chocolate shapes in this kitchen, & I could organise demonstrations & workshops to be held there too. - The shop will also have a small cafe area to serve the best hot chocolate in town, & plated desserts such as warm chocolate souffle served with cacao nib clotted cream ice cream. - The shop decor would be :: clean but warm & comfy like visiting grandma’s old kitchen, slightly scandinavian in design, lots of quality wooden furniture, with original shaker stove with it’s black pipe work dominant.
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As my passion for pastry became too prominent for me not to ignore, the shop idea evolved to also serving cakes, etc. I would display the cakes just like I do at the market - on one long table. In the ideal world, I would live above the shop a-la “Chocolat” the movie. No wasting time with commuting in to work, & I’d also be able to be around to see my kid grow while I work.
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Then my fascination tentacles started to touch the subject of Tea & Coffee that I’d want to serve in my cafe. First off, I bought two dozen tea types from Whittards online (darjeeling, kenya, keemun, assam, lapsang souchong, white tea, etc). As I go through my stock of teas that will last me for many years to come, I read up several books on tea (about origins, how to pour the best cuppa, & how to appreciate each flavour).

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Next, I wanted to learn how to do latte-art, so I bought this fantastic book from amazon.co.jp called 女性トップバリスタが教えるエスプレッソ&コーヒー which has a teaching DVD of a barista showing you how to draw with the milk foam, aswell as the correct way of making different types of coffee with different equipments (ie: filter, syphon, etc). I really think that if a cafe served their cappuccino like the pictures below, you’ll be the talk of town for sure!

(This latte art design is called rosetta)

(Any Miyazaki fans recognise this? Yup, this most amazing art is ‘Kiki’ (Japanese animation character), drawn with a tip with melted chocolate. - It’s to be found at the cafe of Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Japan. They also draw other famous Ghibli characters on your coffee, such as Nausicaä, Raputa & Totoro!)

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Anyway, to cut this rather long blog-post short, I’ll fast forward away all the other ideas I’ve been pondering on, & write about my most recent idea for my shop.

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The idea came when I saw an article on Housing Works Used Book Cafe in New York (see picture of cafe at the top of this post). First off, I fell in love. It’s the sort of place I would L.O.V.E to go to - even on my own. And that’s mighty special because I’m a sort of person that just CAN NOT go places alone because I’d be too conscious with the other people in the room, I just won’t be comfortable.
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When I found out about the HW cafe, I felt instantly that this was the ‘plus alpha’ that I was looking for. Y’know, that ’something’ that makes a place special. I can imagine running a small patisserie in a used book shop. I love books, I wanna be surrounded by books, & the more I think about it, I really think that secondhand books are the way to go, what with today’s consumers are so much more conscious in terms of recycling!
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Currently, I’m pondering wether it should primarily be a “library” with a purchase option, if the customer decided to buy the book instead of borrowing it. I think I prefer it that way. Yess, a library with a very tasty patisserie/ cafe/ tea room! - I love that the Housing Works’ profits goes to a worthy cause, I myself personally donate to three organizations every month since 2 years ago, & I’ll want to duplicate their ethos & put the profits from the library part to a charity too.
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To be honest, there’s so much I want to do - I want to serve full english breakfast in the morning, I wanna do ‘afternoon tea sets’, I want to serve alchohol & open late in the evening, like til 2am. I’d organise events & workshops. I’m imagining the cafe to be a self-service style - they get a tray & I serve them from behind the counter. Easy style. It’ll be a quiet, cozy place with varied selection of books, where there’ll be comfy armchairs & proper desks to work on. Oh, & most importantly, clean bathrooms!

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Reality check:

I know that now is not the right time to make this a reality. Right now, I have a much more important project at hand: being a mummy to my little kiddo. I’m up to my neck with life as is now, so how could I possibly add any more projects?! I don’t know anything about running a proper business, & I certainly haven’t a budget for it! And so even though today & tomorrow, it won’t happen, I will like to think that I’m in the ‘process’ toward it. So with this faith, let me ponder away til then & keep on dreaming!

This week, I spent my blogging-time setting up a webpage listing some of the cooking books, foodie films & baking equipments that I highly recommend! So please have a look by linking to www.cocoandme.com/store. Many thanks!

(The other week, a photographer called Gideon came by my stall to take some pictures for a picture library. What was really nice was that he has sent me the pictures, like he promised to! - So refreshing, coz I’ve had so many photographers promising to send me a print, but then never do so… - Here’s two of them that I especially liked!)

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This week, it’s about the tart dough I make every week.
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Like all the recipes on my blog, it’s tried & tested - I can confidently say that it works & it’s the best. It’s actually tasty & flavourful, you can happily eat it on its own, - not like a bland tart casing that gets forked to the side of the plate with dissapointment.
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(O.M.G, I’ve come across sooo many unappetizing tart cases in cafes & restaurants, you wonder why you’ve bothered paying your hard-earned money for such a boring tart!

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And has anyone noticed that many of these establishments are now using ‘ready-made’ empty tartelette shells they buy in bulk from the catering wholesalers? When I was in Bond Street a couple of weeks ago, I had the time to wonder in to a reputable department store there, & as I do, I check their basement cafe, hoping for quality inspiration, & was bitterly dissapointed that the fruit tarts they had on display were using the ‘ready-made tart shells’! With a more than worthy price tag nevertheless! The cheek! £3.75 for a factory made, poorly made, puny fruit tart anyone?

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It reminds me a bit of that chef off the telly who keeps using ready-made sponge flan bases from the supermarket in his desserts - honestly, why use inferior products with additives & god knows what else in it, & spoil the taste of the dessert you’ve been slaving on?? It really angers me when I see such products advocated. I think the guy is missing the point of “fine pastry making”…)

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Pâte Sucrée:

Pronounced “paht sou-kray”, the texture of pâte sucrée is crisp & crumbly like cookies such as shortbread. The taste is buttery rich, but not overly sweet like what the name suggests. It can be used to make sweet tarts & as a thin sheet under mousse. The left over can become delicious cookies that children would love cutting shapes from. Pâte sucrée is known as a ’short’ dough, because of its high fat content to flour.

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Please note, my recipe is a little different compared to the classic Pâte Sucrée recipes around, as it uses some almond powder in it. I think that’s what makes this pastry dough especially flavourful!

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Pâte Sucrée Recipe:

(To make enough dough for a 8 inch/ 20cm tart)

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter at room temperature … 55 grams
Castor sugar … 32 grams
Eggs … 20 grams
Almond powder … 15 grams
Plain flour … 100 grams

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• 1. Place the room teperature butter in a deep mixing bowl (so that it doesn’t spit everywhere when you’re whisking).
• 2. Cream the butter using a whisk or an electric mixer, beat it till it is ‘creamy’ soft, smooth & light from incorporating the air.
• 3. Mix in the sugar.
• 4. Add the eggs bit by bit & whisk it all in.
• 5. Then mix in the almond powder.
• 6. Next, in goes the flour. Using a spatula, mix it all in by pushing it against the bowl. Or do what I do, which is to wear food gloves & get in there with your hands. It’s so much quicker to do it like that when you have a large quantity like I do.
• 7. Pat it in to one big mound, & clingfilm it tight.
• 8. Refrigerate overnight.
• 9. When time has come for you to roll it, first prepare a lightly floured clean surface (I use a lightly floured silpat).
• 10. Get your chunk of chilled pastry dough in the middle.
• 11. Lightly flour the rolling pin & roll firmly in one direction only, then turn it 90 degrees and roll again. Repeat until desired thickness. Never ’stretch’ it by hand as this would cause the tart to shrink in the oven!
• 12. Once the pastry circle is larger than the size of the tin, roll the sheet of pastry around your rolling pin & lift it up.
• 13. Gently lower it on to your tin. Unroll.
• 14. Using your fingertips, take the edge of the pastry & ease it in to the sides.
• 15. Roll the rolling pin across the top to cut the excess pastry off.
• 16. Put the tin in the refrigerator to rest for atleast 30 minutes before baking.

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Top Tips:

• Do not over mix. It produces gluten & make the dough tougher.
• Try to work quickly, minimizing the amount you’re handling it.
• Work in a cool room. You don’t want the butter to melt in the dough.
• I wear food gloves. Not only is it hygienic, my warm hands won’t be in contact with the dough.
• Pick the surface with fork if you’re blind baking.
• Be absolutely precise with the measurements. if not, you’d either end up with sticky wet dough, or a crumbly dry dough! I always use a digital scale.
• If the dough becomes too soft while you are rolling, re-chill for a while until it’s manageable again. Adding more flour to it to make it firm is a definate no-no. It’ll unbalance the carefully considered measurements.
• And remember, prepare in advance! You need to rest the dough in the fridge for a whole night to let the gluten relax. It’s to make the dough workable & to prevent shrinkage. And when you’ve rolled it on to a tart tin, you need to put the tins back in the fridge for 30 minutes atleast - again to prevent shrinkage.

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(Covertiles from Studio JSPR. These are ceramic tiles that reveal the working parts, encasing the pipes & make a visual statement while at it! Comes in either black or white.)

(Picture courtesy of Shaker Museum And Library. I would love the kitchen to be in the original Shaker style, surrounded by expertly crafted wood furniture & white wall. The counter with thick marble top looks amazing.)

(36″single bowl belfast sink. I want a really big sink like this that would fit my big pots!)

(Ceramic drainer to put on top of the counter, along side the belfast sink. It’s slightly slanted for better drainage. Loving the subtle criss-cross lines.)


(Antique Japanese kitchen cabinets from www.tansu.co.uk - Traditional & functional statement furniture.)

(Zettel’z 6, 1998. Designed by Ingo Maurer. Imagine having the recipes hanging from this pendant!)

(For the lighting, I’d also want to install this Jean Prouvé’s Potence lamp. Another design classic. The single metal rod extends almost 7 feet and pivots 180 degrees, so it can light various parts of the kitchen! Available from Vitra.)

(Uten.Silo designed by Dorothee Becker, 1969. With its different-sized & shaped containers, its metal hooks and clips, Uten.Silo is a great organizer! Another design classic again from Vitra.)

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The last several months we’ve been looking ‘n looking ‘n looking for a house to either buy or to rent, as the sale of our family home is nearing it’s completion in coming September. Anyone who’d ever been house-hunting would agree that it’s a total ***** to go through - as you face the depressing reality of how little your money gets you, as you face the dissapointment of your offer not being accepted, & as you consider compromizing, ie, good location but small house VS bigger house in the sticks.

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BUT, I am very glad to announce, after many heartaches, we’ve found ‘the one’ just last week! And our offer’s been accepted! Huurrayy! Yay! Yippee! - I know I know, there ain’t no ink on the papers yet, & some of my girlfriends would say “Oh don’t jinx it”, but I don’t believe in this ‘jinx’ business anyway. Infact I hate it when friends don’t tell you things, but goes on to tell another friend anyway, calling it a ’secret’ & wink “Don’t tell anyone yet” - pure school playground behaviour if you ask me. As for me, when I’ve got good news, I’m just too happy to keep it schtum!

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Anyway, one of the major deciding point for wanting to buy this particular house was because of the kitchen. It’s a pretty big size room with a slightly higher ceiling than normal, I fell in love with the space right away. And as you’ve probably guessed, I spend A LOT of time in the kitchen, so size matters big time.

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Everything’s in pristine condition, ready for me to start cooking straight away - only…, it’s not in a style I like! How can I explain it… the current one’s so bland, no identity. The colour is so not me, & the layout is odd with two round sinks (!) on the island in the middle of the room. And the oven is on the small side, under the hob, which means I’d be constantly crouching down to access it (my current one is at eye level).

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But I’m not too worried y’know, not only would it be a good thigh exercise to reach the oven (!), I know that it’s just a matter of changing it, getting a new kitchen installed. We won’t have the funds to do it for a looong while, but one day I’d like to. Oh heck, I’ll forfeit clothes shopping & going to the hairdressers, & skimp on giving tips at eateries n’ look bad to save money quicker to do it. For with passion for baking comes passionate ideas for the ultimate kitchen. It’s like hand-in-hand. And I can tell you, I’m a girl with serious backlog of dreams & ideas for ‘my’ kitchen!

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So for this week’s blog entry, here are some of the kitchen ideas I’ve been fantasizing (the collection of pictures above this text), although most of it is probably wishfully thinking - *sigh…* if only money was not an issue!

(Picture supplied by the happy couple, beautifully presented to me in a picture frame!)

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This week I was given some photographs of the wedding cake I made several weeks ago, together with a very touching thank you card. So here’s one of the pic minus their faces. Notice the cute fimo figures on the top? The clever groom made it himself!! Everyone, one two three, ‘Ahhh…’! I’m so happy it travelled well all the way to Wales, & that the tiers withstood being stacked up during their wedding day. It doesn’t look like the leaning Tower of Pisa like I nightmared about atall! Yay!
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Last Saturday at the market

… was H.O.T. And I find it’s extra hot under the plastic tarpaulin which covers our stall roofs. I was ‘baking’!

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The line up of the things I make has changed a bit because of the weather change too. The handmade chocolates have long gone from the line-up for the mo, what with chocolate starting to melt from something like 19-20 degrees apparently, I’ll probably start making them again in mid-Autumn.

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Others missing from the table are lemon-cream tarts, & chocolate cream/ ganache tarts, & so, to be honest, right now my stall table is looking rather ‘brown’ (except for the bright colours of the fruit tarts), just full of ‘100% baked’ goods. A ‘baking’ lady selling baked cakes… yup, that’s me for the Summer…

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PS: by the way, have you tried the new ice cream from Magnum called ‘Equador Dark‘ yet? Next time you’re choosing ice cream at the newsagents, believe me, give it a go. I can promise you it’s rather delish. (I was looking at the Magnum website, & they also have a single origin ice cream called ‘Colombia Aroma’ - has anyone tried this? Sounds good…!)

(Picture: I purchased two fresh cacao pod several years ago during the National Chocolate Week. The shop assistant told me they are from Cameroon. I bought them for £7 each. Très expensive. But it was an experience to remember for sure! - One was for keeping to dry, & the other for cutting open. The fresh beans were acrid & I didn’t like the taste atall, but the white pulp surrounding them was sweet & exotic like I never ever tasted before.)
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Here comes the big entry. I am finally tackling this rather lengthy subject of tempering chocolate, after avoiding it for sometime…, shunning it under the carpet of “let’s write about easier things for now”.

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But it’s become inescapable. I’ve already featured two recipes (ganache truffles, easter eggs & white chocolate wedding cake) in my blog requiring tempered chocolate to be used. Gotta press on with it, don’t I?

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And besides, I had this impelling will to write this to give any assistance I can to the people looking for this type of information on the world-wide-web. - Because when I was self-teaching chocolate-making several years ago, I used to surf the web day-on-end to find useful introduction to tempering, but never had any luck! So maybe…, my contibution here would help out someone somewhere who’s in those same shoes I was back then!
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One note to people new to tempering is that this technique is quite advanced. You’d certainly be practising this again & again. But don’t give up, don’t give up. You can use the same chocolate again to re-temper (unless it’s burnt). And cetainly don’t go spending silly money on automatic tempering machines which are notoriously temperamental.

After a dozen or so go’s, it’ll be written in to your body, straightforward like riding a bicycle, & you’ll be laughing about why it was so difficult in the first place.
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WHY :: The reason for tempering

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‘Tempering’ is a word to describe the very particular method of controlling the temperature of your melted chocolate.

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When you melt down chocolate, the chain of cacao butter crystals become intrinsically unstable and loses its neat formation. Controlling the chocolate with certain precise temperature (tempering) stablizes back the crystals that went haywire.

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The chocolate with the temper treatment will have the most beautiful glossy sheen that screams sophistication & a crisp snap when broken.
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Chocolate needs to be tempered if you want to use it as-is, or for moulding (de-moulding would be easier as the chocolate will shrink), for coating your bonbons, & making chocolate decorations.

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If you allow your chocolate to solidify without tempering, or after inadequate tempering, you’d notice that you’d get the most aestheticly awful looking end-product with white streaks called ‘fat bloom’. Not only that, you yourself would be losing your ‘temper’ (excuse the pun! Had to say it didn’t I…) because it takes absolute ages to harden…

‘Fat bloom’ is a term used to describe the marks on your chocolate when the natural fat from the cocoa butter has displaced to the surface. Note it could also appear when you have nuts or nut oil in your bonbon filling. The nut oil will slowly migrate to the surface over time.

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Please note that improper storage with high humidity would also un-temper your chocolate, & unapetizing marks such as ‘fat-bloom’ & ’sugar bloom’ would appear on the surface.

‘Sugar bloom’ = the splotchy sweat marks after the chocolate had been in contact with moisture. The moisture dissolves the sugar present in your chocolate & when that dries, the dissolved sugar crystallizes leave marks behind. Also worth remembering that sugar bloom may occur when chocolate encounters sudden temperature fluctuations, such as when removed from the cold fridge & then left open in a room. This is because it condensates moisture from the air.

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With WHAT :: The indispensable equipments

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• Mixing bowls
• Spatula
• Digital probe thermometer, to constantly check the temperature of the chocolate. Once you’ve mastered tempering, you’ll ‘just’ know how the temperature of you chocolate is doing, & eventually & quite naturally this equipment will become redundant for you!
• Marble slab, larger the better. In the kitchen where I did my short apprenticeship, they had a slab that was huge - like around A0 size - it was too heavy for me to carry. The size I use in my kitchen is A3 size, which I think is the minimum size you’re required to have to do tempering on. Anything smaller you’d be encountering lots of over-spilling from the sides. - If you’re finding getting a marble slab a problem (I got mine from the local run-of-the-mill household goods store), I have heard that alternatively, you can try use a very clean & dry stainless steel surface, that is, if you don’t mind the potential scratch marks!
• Stainless steel scraper & palette knife for pushing, spreading & scraping the chocolate about on the slab. If you’re looking to purchase what the proffesionals use, try Keylink, a good UK supplier I’m constantly using for my chocolate making.
• Double boiler. To initally melt down your chocolates & then to keep the tempered chocolate at a constant & optimum temperature while you’re doing your chocolate work, such as dipping your truffles. I use a machine called Caloribac (purchased from Keylink). And oh, please don’t waste your time with doing a bain-marie over your hob (although keep in mind that this is purely just ‘my’ opinion!). I’ve tried doing that, & I managed to spill water in to my bowl of chocolate when I clumsily handled the extremely hot bowl with my oven gloves. Doh! And you can forget about putting the bowl back on the hob to keep the tempered chocolate at a constant temperature - It’s really hard to gage precise temperature control over it. You’re likely to lose the temper & have to re-do the whole tempering process again…

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HOW :: The tempering methods

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There are three methods.

The ’seeding’ method.
The ‘icy water’ method.
The ‘marble slab’ (tablage) method.

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The ’seeding’ method:

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Note, for this you need a supply of tempered chocolate, as the whole idea of the method is to introduce (’seed’) stable cacao butter crystals to unstable liquid chocolate.
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1. Put aside 1/3 of the chocolate & melt the rest. Melt until the temeprature of the liquid reaches:

55 ºC (130 ºF) for dark chocolate
45 ºC (110 ºF) for milk chocolate
40 ºC (100 ºF) for white chocolate

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2. Take it out of the double boiler in to a mixing bowl.

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3. Deposit the 1/3 you kept aside.

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4. Slowly mix it in (so as not to create air bubbles in your mixture). Constantly keep check on how the temperature’s doing. You need the temperature to go down to the following numbers before using it for your chocolate work:

27 ºC (81 ºF) for dark chocolate
26 ºC (79 ºF) for milk chocolate
25 ºC (77 ºF) for white chocolate

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The ‘icy water’ method:

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It’s a good way to temper on a Summer’s day when the kitchen is too warm.

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1. First melt all your chocolates to the following temperatures:

55 ºC (130 ºF) for dark chocolate
45 ºC (110 ºF) for milk chocolate
40 ºC (100 ºF) for white chocolate

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2. Take it out of the double boiler in to a mixing bowl.

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3. Place this bowl in a larger bowl with cold water & ice. 10 to 20 seconds at a time. It’s a good idea to place a pastry ring or anything similar in the water bowl for the chocolate bowl to rest on so that it doesn’t slip around & risk pouring water in to your chocolate by mistake.

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4. Spatula constantly, especially the sides & the bottom of the bowl where it cools quicker.

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5. Bring the temperature DOWN to the following:

27 ºC (81 ºF) for dark chocolate

26 ºC (79 ºF) for milk chocolate

25 ºC (77 ºF) for white chocolate

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6. Then place your chocolate bowl over another bowl of warm water, approx. at 35 ºC (95 ºF). Do this to bring the temperature UP to the following. Make sure you don’t go over the suggested figures or you’ll lose the temper:

30 - 32 ºC (87 - 89 ºF) for dark chocolate
29 - 31ºC (85 - 88 ºF) for milk & white chocolate.

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The ‘marble slab’ (tablage) method:

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1. First melt all your chocolates to the following temperatures:

55 ºC (130 ºF) for dark chocolate
45 ºC (110 ºF) for milk chocolate
40 ºC (100 ºF) for white chocolate

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2. Take it out of the double boiler in to a mixing bowl.

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3. Pour 2/3 of it on to your marble slab. (Leave the remaining 1/3 in the mixing bowl. - Make sure you spatula down the sides of the bowl, you don’t want to have thin layers of chocolate drying up on the sides of the bowl as you work on your marble)

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4. Using your palette knife, spread it across your marble.

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5. Use both palette knife & scraper to bring the chocolate in to a mound in the middle again to keep the temperature of the mass uniform.
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6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 (spread & regroup) while constantly checking the temperature. (If you’re fortunate to have a large marble slab, you’ll be tempering much quicker if you try shifting your scraping work from one end of the slab to the other. That way you’d always be using the cool surface that hadn’t been warmed up with chocolate yet!) Make sure you’re not introducing air bubbles to the liquid as you work it.
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7. Bring the temperature down to the following:

27 ºC (81 ºF) for dark chocolate
26 ºC (79 ºF) for milk chocolate
25 ºC (77 ºF) for white chocolate

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8. Pour back this chocolate in to the bowl where you’ve left the other 1/3. (At this point you’ve got to work quickly. The chocolate is rapidly cooling down as we speak!)
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9. Slowly mix the two mixtures with your spatula. Make sure you thoroughly mix.
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10. After mixing, the chocolate should reach the following temperature:

30 - 32 ºC (87 - 89 ºF) for dark chocolate
29 - 31ºC (85 - 88 ºF) for milk & white chocolate
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Top Tips:
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Take time melting your chocolate. There are 6 elements to cacao butter crystals, which has different melt points, & you want to make sure you break it all down. You’ll also get a thinner coating on your bonbons.
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Don’t go over the suggested temperatures when melting. The cassein & the milk protein in the chocolate will burn. And don’t go too low than the suggested temperature when you’re doing your chocolate work either - you’d end up with a layer of coating that’s too thick.
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Never artificially cool the marble slab, as it’ll get too cold. Tempering must be done by gradually cooling.

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Remember, the temperature & the humidity in your kitchen would seriously play a big part. Forget tempering in the Summer unless you’ve got a room cooler.

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I personally find the ‘icy-water’ method risky & fiddly. Not only there’s the danger of getting the water in the chocolate, the temperature of your chocolate becomes very uneven.

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Do use couverture, chocolate with real cacao butter, with atleast 31% of it - do not ‘coating chocolate’.

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It’s fiddly to temper a small amount of chocolate. Atleast half a kilo is required.

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A good way to test wether you’ve tempered correctly is to dip a clean knife in to it & pop it in the fridge for half a minute. If you see a set coat of shiny chocolate, you’ve got it right!

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Well, I hope it’s been of any help… Good luck… As for me, I’m off to bed…