When I got there she was making croissants. She was rolling out the croissant dough to have them proofed because most dough needs to be proofed. Then she rolled out more dough for the chocolate croissants. She put 2 chocolate log things in the center and rolled them a little. Then she put them in the proofing cabinet. She showed me around her kitchen and told me that she had to get stuff done really quickly because many of her things need to proof like her cinnamon rolls, bagel dough, and croissants. She said “it’s like a math equation” because she has the oven set at 400℉ for the bagels but she has to give it time to cool down to 325 for the croissants. She says that if she gets behind stuff might go wrong so she needs to stay on top of everything. Then Harris told me how she makes her bagels. They are proofed in the fridge slowly before she boils them. She said, “It creates that outer layer that’s kind of chewy.” To describe what boiling the bagels before putting them in the oven does. Then she puts them on trays to put everything bagel seasoning on some and poppy seeds on some. She told me that she mostly used her own recipes or adaptations of recipes she’s liked. For example, she said she adapted the recipe she uses for her bagels from a recipe she used in pastry school. That recipe made sweeter bagels than Harris does. She then put all of the bagels in the oven at 400℉. She says that croissant dough is hard to make so she tries to use all of the dough no matter what. So she used the scraps to bake in muffin tins and puts cinnamon sugar on top to sell to customers. She says she really tried to minimize waste because butter is expensive. Then she put the proofed cinnamon rolls into the steam oven she has.
Then Harris rolled out more croissant dough. She said that temperature really matters because the butter is shown in the dough and it could crack in low temperatures when you’re rolling it out. Also, she told me that if the dough is not rolling out well and not going as thin as you need it to be then you just need to walk away for 10-20 minutes and it will spread better. Then she checked on the bagels and turned them around in the oven. She measured the croissant dough very carefully so she could cut it evenly. She cut them into large triangles. Then cut the access dough into little slivers. On the bottom of the proofing cabinet, she put the frosting so that it would get to room temperature faster and be easily spreadable. She learned this from her previous job at Gramercy tavern. Then she made more chocolate croissants. She gave me a plain bagel as soon as they were out of the oven! She then put all the access dough into the cinnamon sugar cardamom mixture and she put on gloves for this because she said the texture is annoying to work with your hands. She also said she mostly only wear gloves when her stuff is out of the oven because there’s very little cross-contamination, and no one will get food poisoning because there is no meat and rarely any nuts.
She’s partnered with an app called Too Good to Go and they minimize food waste. She puts $15 worth of food in a bag and it’s called a “magic bag” and people come in and only pay 5 dollars for it. She presses some butter in a plastic bag and took out more croissant dough. Then she rolled it out a little, put the butter in the middle of the dough, and flipped over the two sides of the dough. She then brushed the edges with water so they would stick together. Then she rolled out the dough length-wise. Then she filed it over twice again and rolled it out again. Her favorite things to make are croissants because they’re a challenge and it’s rewarding to see how they come out. As well as the bagels because they’re so simple. Then she filed and rolled out the croissant dough a few more times, put it on a baking sheet with parchment paper and cooking spray, and then put it in the fridge to cool and proof slowly. Then she took out more cinnamon roll dough which is brooches dough and rolled it out. She sprinkles flour on the rolling surface often with a small strainer. Then she put the filling of the cinnamon rolls on top of the dough. The filling is brown butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a little salt. Then she rolled it up and measured out where to cut for each roll so they would be even. Then she put them in two baking pans to be proofed. Then she took out the already proofed croissants to brush with egg wash before baking in the oven at 325. The egg wash helps them get a better color to look shinier. She said to check if they’re proofed enough they should wiggle when moving the sheet a little. Then she prayed a muffin tin with cooking spray to prepare for the access croissant dough. She rolled a few pieces together making them into a crossed ball and put them in each little tin. Then she started to clean up a little bit. She got all the flour off of her rolling table and cleaned it with a rag. Then she prepped the display case with all the goodies that were done. She cut the banana bread into even slices and arranged them nicely for the display. Then she cleaned some of the stuff she used and put them into the dishwasher. Then she turned the croissants around in the oven and made some coffee. 
Harris told me she went to a French school growing up and spent some time in Paris. Her sister also has been living there for around 10 years. Harris speaks French but she says it’s gotten worse because she hasn’t been to France in two years. She then prepped some more croissant dough and took the cinnamon buns out. She then put cream cheese frosting that she already made on top of the cinnamon buns. Then she took the croissants out of the oven to cool. She told me how to make brown butter myself. Just to put it on the stove and heat it up on a low heat and don’t burn it but almost burn it. Then Harris took out more proofed croissants and brushed them with egg wash before putting them in the oven. I asked her if she would go back to making custom cakes any time soon and she said that was the plan since covid is getting better but she doesn’t have enough room to store the cakes in this bakery. She also mentioned that this business is doing well so she doesn’t want to mess it up but hopefully someday soon she can open another location for custom cakes. I asked her if she would write a cookbook and she answered that she doesn’t think she would have enough of her own thought to put into one. She would love to and she said “maybe one day” but she feels like right now she would be putting someone else’s work into a book. She gave me some Instagram accounts to look at for cakes and think I bake and she told me a good trick for making perfectly round cookies. She said to use a cut-out and right when they come out of the oven to scoot them into a perfect cookie shape!
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