Guy Allan Davis Shared Helpful Tips about Dessert Decorating
Guy Allan Davis: Gluten Free Breads and Desserts
Guy Allan Davis is a Master Chef based in Kelowna, British Columbia. He received his Master Chef certification from the World Master Chef Society in 2007. The Society recognizes extensive international and cultural training methods in its members.
Guy Allan Davis received his international training in Europe, where he interned in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and France. His specialties include bread baking and pastries, and he has developed gluten-free breads and desserts.
Also read: Guy Allan Davis is A Veteran Pastry Chef & Consultant
“Gluten free” has become something of a buzzword for many people in recent years. “Gluten” is a general term for the proteins found in certain grains, in particular wheat, barley, and rye. It’s also in other grains in the wheat family, such as wheatberries, durum, semolina, and spelt. Gluten is what helps bread dough get its sticky quality; in fact, the word “gluten” is derived from its glue-like property.
The problem is that many people are sensitive to it. The most extreme form of gluten sensitivity is called celiac disease, which affects about one percent of the population. It is an auto-immune disorder. People with celiac disease often suffer from digestive problems, tissue damage in the small intestine, and other problems. For most people the solution is to avoid grains entirely.
As many as thirty percent of Americans are actively avoiding glutens, even if they don’t have celiac. The term “gluten free” is appearing on food product labels everywhere, even on non-grain foods like canned tomatoes.
For people who would, quite literally, like to have their cake and eat it too, gluten-free breads and desserts, such as those developed by Guy Allan Davis, are a Godsend. Davis, who is known for his skill as a pastry chef and baker and for his focus on his work, says the gluten free breads and desserts that he has developed taste as good as they look.
Guy Allan Davis is an Advocate of Using Local Ingredients in His Cooking
Guy Allan Davis is a certified Master Chef, and a journeyman baker specializing in whole grain breads and laminated doughs.
He is also an advocate of using local ingredients in his cooking: the idea that the closer to home your food is sourced from, the better off you are. There is general agreement among food lovers and food experts that local ingredients are healthier for you, and perhaps more important, better tasting.
Next time you’re in the grocery store, take a look around: what do you see? There are far more processed foods on the shelves than there are whole, unprocessed food, and those canned and boxed goods may come from hundreds of miles away. Less than twenty percent of the average grocery store’s square footage is given over to fresh produce.
One reason for this is purely economic: processed foods are less expensive, have a longer shelf life, and are easier for stores to stock and sell. But they also tend to be much higher in sodium, artificial sweeteners, preservatives like butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and other ingredients you’re better off avoiding. Processed food does not automatically mean that it’s bad for you, but who wouldn’t choose fresh blueberries or strawberries over frozen or canned?
Many consumers, and food professionals like Guy Allan Davis, are acutely aware of the downside of processed foods, and the benefits of fresh, unprocessed foods – in particular, those that are sourced close to home. Arguably, one of the best things about buying and consuming locally sourced foods is that it helps to support the local economy. Money that is spent on locally grown or produced food products stays closer to home. Instead of adding to the profits of a corporation in some distant state, or even some distant country, it helps to support your neighbors.
Guy Allan Davis: Gluten-Free Levain
Guy Allan Davis is a MasterChef based in British Columbia. He has worked and trained in several countries and he specializes in allergy-friendly goods like gluten-free bread.
Mr. Guy Allan Davis also specializes in levains, or breads made with a sourdough starter. Though some write off sourdough all together if they receive a Celiac or gluten sensitivity diagnosis, or switch diets, you don’t need to.
In fact, you can start a gluten-free levain and care for it just as you would a traditional levain. Basic instructions are below:
- Mix:
Start your levain by combining equal weights of gluten-free flour (an all-purpose blend works well) and water in a bowl. Whisk until smooth, leaving breathing room on top.
- Feed:
For the first six days, feed the levain twice daily with equal weights of flour and water. It should become bubbly and develop a sour smell as wild yeast takes up residence.
After the initial six days, feed the starter once weekly. When it forms a bubbly dome hours after each feeding, it is ready to use.
- Bake:
Use the levain in gluten-free recipes ranging from pancakes to breads to cakes. Look for recipes that call for a gluten-free sourdough starter (levain) to begin, and then experiment with using it in other recipes.
Recommended to read: Tips for Making Better Bread
While you learn to bake gluten-free levains, try foods developed by experts like Guy Allan Davis at local gluten-free bakeries. You’ll be surprised at how little of a difference there is.
Guy Allan Davis: How to Find Inspiration for Dessert Themes
Guy Allan Davis has a lot of experience with dessert themes. When thinking about a theme for your dessert, you never want to start with a blank slate. Conduct an assessment of the event or the occasion. Learn more about the celebrant and his or her tastes and preferences. This should give you a number of ideas that can guide your inspiration. Other than that, your inspiration can come from anywhere. It can be a famous building, a fashion movement or a book. Unless a celebration is very traditional, you can create any design that you want. You can take a look at the designs that surround you in your daily life, look at photos of events that inspire you or pictures of the celebrant. In certain cases, honorees can tell you the theme that you need to stay close to. It may be football, something about flying or a theme connected with high school. You may not have a vision of the subject, in which case you can find a lot of pictures and descriptions on the Internet to draw your inspiration from.
Depending on how much time you have, you may want to first draw designs on a piece of paper and sketch a few ideas.
Don’t be afraid to scale down your approach. For example, you may decide that you want to create a cake that looks like a pirate ship and realize that it’s too much of an undertaking. It is okay to simplify and go with what you can accomplish in the allotted timeframe. Professional bakers like Guy Allan Davis understand the importance of having great food, but they also know that it’s important to adhere to deadlines.
Also Read: Guy Allan Davis: Planning Your Workspace for Dessert Creation
Guy Allan Davis: How to Choose a Dessert Theme
Before you decide on what kind of special dessert theme to create, analyze the event and the occasion like Guy Allan Davis would do. Talk to the person in charge and ask questions that will make sure that your creation will fit into the overall theme. While some questions that you may ask can deal directly with the dessert, feel free to get a better idea about the event and the occasion in general. You want your dessert to be well-suited for both the event and the celebrant. Find out if there’s a theme and a name for the celebration and if someone or something is being celebrated in particular. It is also helpful to know what hobbies, interests, and preferences the celebrant has. Learn more about the place where the event is being held and the predominant colors.
If the event doesn’t have a theme, you can create a dessert based on the information that you have about the celebration.
If there is a theme, you need to make sure that your creation will fit in. For example, if it’s a birthday party, then creating a Santa Claus dessert is not a good idea unless the party is happening in December and a wedding cake is not going to be a good idea if it is a celebration by a soccer team. While these examples are extreme, they do show that a dessert can be really incongruent with an event, which is why experienced bakers like Guy Allan Davis always do their preparations first.
Guy Allan Davis: Types of Ovens
The quality of the pastry depends on the oven, which is why experienced bakers like Guy Allan Davis always inspect their equipment. There are two kinds of ovens typically available to bakers.
Conventional ovens heat your pastry from below. They have a heat source at the bottom of the chamber. The source uses air to cook the food. Conventional ovens are the most popular type of ovens that you can find in the kitchens today. Most recipes assume that you will be creating them in a conventional oven.
Some ovens can’t fit large pans, which is why if you are working with an oven for the first time you need to make sure that your pans will fit into it.
Most ovens come in two sizes, twenty-seven inches, and thirty inches. Some upscale kitchens may have thirty-six-inch ovens that can fit multiple cookie sheets and pans with large cakes. If you are baking a lot, such an oven may save you a lot of cooking time, which in itself can make it worth the investment. When looking for a new oven, feel free to take your pans with you to a store and see how they fit into different kinds of ovens. This will help you get a better feel for different models and decide on an oven that is suitable for you and maybe even a professional baker like Guy Allan Davis.
Guy Allan Davis: An Overview of the Chocolate Industry
Even though cocoa beans grow in the tropics in wet climate conditions, they are then shipped and processed into chocolate and cocoa products in Europe, where Guy Allan Davis studied, North America and elsewhere in the world. Cocoa and chocolate products can be divided into cocoa products, chocolate products, and confectionery coatings. Cocoa products do not have any added sugar. They include cocoa nibs, cocoa powder, cocoa butter and chocolate liquor. Chocolate products have various sweetener additives. They are usually highly processed and more refined compared to cocoa products. While prices for chocolate products vary, chocolate is usually not cheap. Confectionery coatings are very inexpensive. They are usually made of vegetable fats, sugar, and cocoa.
Chocolate and cocoa products must meet standards set by law. These standards specify the differences between various kinds of chocolate products, but they do not eliminate the astounding number of choices when it comes to chocolate products. The standards vary from country to country. For example, the definition of milk chocolate is different in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.
Just like many other industries in the world, the chocolate industry went through a number of transformations. At a certain point, the industry consisted of small operations. Today the industry mostly has large players that process the bulk of the cocoa beans in the world. Because of the volume, these players manufacture consistent product at reasonable costs. One of the ways to maintain the consistency is to blend the beans from all around the world.
Lately, artisan chocolatiers have been producing small batches of high-quality products. They tend to use traditional methods of bean processing and create specialty products from single-origin beans.
While chocolate does have a rich and interesting history, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy it without the development of technology. Without technology, chocolate would never be able to become a quality product accessible to the masses. For example, the invention of the steam engine during the Industrial Revolution made it possible to transport cocoa beans at a reasonable cost. The invention of the cocoa press further decreased chocolate prices. Later Rodolphe Lindt invented a method of refining chocolate that enhanced the flavor of the product. Around the same time, the first milk chocolate was created. Developments in technology continue to this day and have a positive impact on the quality and accessibility of the chocolate that we consume.
One of such developments is the roasting process. It takes from several minutes to an hour and occurs at the temperature that ranges from 200F to 400F. Roasting conditions depend on the type of the bean and on results that a chocolatier like Guy Allan Davis wants to get.
Guy Allan Davis Tips on Baking Delicious Desserts
Experts like Guy Allan Davis have seen baked desserts that often have eye-catching designs, but sometimes they don’t taste great. The truth is that you don’t have to sacrifice taste for the looks and vice versa. The foundation of a baked dessert begins with your cake or mini-cake that needs to be moist and delicious.
Guy Allan Davis 