Artisan Bread Classes

Artisan Bread Classes

This offers a discussion on the artisan breads and an overview of the classes that I have been teaching at the Whole Foods Cooking Studio in Overland Park, Kansas and will be teaching in my own kitchen.

These breads are all based on the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. As I mention elsewhere on this site, this book and the techniques I have learned from it have totally changed my bread-making, releasing me from having to plan - often days ahead - in order to have fresh bread for that night’s dinner. With a batch of dough already made (mixed in 5 minutes - no kneading) and sitting in the fridge - it literally is as simple as the title states. I have shelves of bread cookbooks that have all been made obsolete by this terrific book. Their new book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, due on October 27, is anxiously awaited by those of us who choose to bake with as much whole grains as possible.

The initial class begins with the basic bread, the French boule - an artisan free-form loaf, made simply with flour, yeast, salt, and water. All other breads build on this recipe and technique. I teach a range of recipes that expand your bread-making possibilities in many directions. One day you will find yourself creating your own recipe and you’ll realize that you too are a bread baker and not just a recipe reader!

Check out Jeff & Zoe’s website and explore all the possibilities they so generously offer in recipe form - but above all, do buy their book.

In response to a students’ request last week, Jim has made a nice narrower peel. I had entertained a similar thought but hadn’t mentioned the idea yet. I’m glad it came from Joann. This peel is a great size for the one-pound boules that don’t take up much space and it can still hold two boules front to back. I’ve been playing with a cooking stone from Pampered Chef that’s shaped like a baking pan with sides. It will hold at least three boules at a time but the larger peel pokes into the breads already placed on the stone, so this smaller size is nice for multiple loaf baking.

The breads to the right were all cooked in a joyous afternoon of wonderful baking! Clockwise from the top row are Strudels filled with sun-dried tomato goat cheese and sautéed spinach and onions in the Basic Bread dough; Olive Bread with Kalamata olives and a simple Boule, both in the European Peasant Bread dough.

The strudel dough was freshly made and after the initial couple of hours of rising it was fine to work with, although it probably helped that it was rolled out flat in flour, making it less sticky.

Great! My new brioche pan arrived today and I’m excited to make the Brioche a Tete. I can already see that I should have ordered a couple more and the cute little paper brioche pans at King Arthur Flour are calling me big time. They look wonderful for holiday gifts and would be so cute on platters of cookies and candies. The brioche variations in the Artisan Bread in Five book look wonderful and there’s more on their website.