Chocolate Hay with Frozen Toffee, Caramelized Ciabatta, and Freeze-dried Ginger Powder

INGREDIENTS:
METHOD:
In a small bowl combine glucose powder, sugar, xanthan, and cocoa powder and whisk until homogenous. Set dark and milk chocolate in a large mixing bowl. In a large sauce pot combine water and milk and heat to 70°C. Whisk sugar mixture into dairy, then stir with a rubber spatula to ensure the dry ingredients dissolve. Bring mixture to a boil and pour over chocolate in large bowl. Allow mixture to rest 30 seconds before emulsifying with a rubber spatula. Strain mixture through a chinois into a bain marie and chill in an ice bath until completely cool. Briefly immerse bain marie containing base in a nitrogen bath to chill the base further, but do not freeze completely or base will crack. Transfer bain marie of base to freezer overnight to finish freezing process. Next day, unmold ice disc by briefly dipping bain marie in hot water. Wrap disc in parchment paper, then plastic wrap, and store in a freezer at 10-20°F until needed.
In a small saucepot combine sugar and glucose syrup and cook to a dark caramel. Remove from heat and add butter, stirring with a rubber spatula to emulsify. Carefully add heavy cream and salt, stirring until mixture is homogenous. Cool caramel in a bain marie set in an ice bath, with plastic wrap pressed directly to the surface of the caramel to prevent a skin from forming. Transfer chilled caramel to a piping bag, place in freezer, and freeze to -2°C.
Heat oven to 185°C. In a small pot combine sugar and water and heat to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature. Using a meat slicer, slice frozen bread into very thin pieces, and lay flat on a sheet tray lined with a silicone baking mat. Brush with cooled syrup to saturate bread slices. Bake until bread is toasted and sugar has caramelized. Cool, uncovered, then store in an airtight container with dessicant.
Pipe about 2 teaspoons of the Frozen Toffee into the base of a chilled bowl. Set a piece of Caramelized Ciabatta on top. Shave about ½ a cup of the frozen Chocolate Hay base into a chilled container, then spoon it onto the Caramelized Ciabatta. Drizzle olive oil around the Chocolate Hay, and sprinkle Maldon Salt and Dehydrated Ginger Powder on top.

Pastry Chef Rick Billings
- minibar
855 E Street Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20004
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