Baking at the Emporium

After a little bit of a break over the summer, I held my first workshop of the (rainy) season a couple of weeks ago at the Homesteader's Emporium on East Hastings in Vancouver. I say "I held", because Lisa, who is my helper and my inspiration when it comes to our "academic" endeavours, is for the time being (and for a little while longer) still in Germany. Alas, such are the crosses we all have to bear!

Rick and I had been talking about a bread baking class at his place for quite a while, and on November 4, we finally were able to fit one in our oh-so-busy schedules. The workshop went extremely well, we all had some very good interactions, we learned a thing or two, and, above all, we had lots of fun. In fact, what struck me (and what I so easily tend to forget sometimes), is how much fun these workshops always are for us. If there is something I miss from my bakery days, it's the interactions I had with my customers: the chats, the discussions, and even the heated debates that would sometimes ensue. I (and we) get some of that back when we teach our workshops, and it is heartwarming to see how much people enjoy taking these classes, and afterwards sending us photos of their loaves, staying in touch, reading this blog, etc.

We are going to try to stay active on that front throughout this fall and winter, and hopefully into the late spring. In the next little while, we are looking forward to a series of four beginners workshops at UBC Farm (on November 21, December 13, January 23, and February 20), with three more to follow in the spring, when we plan to do at least one advanced workshop.

I would like to finish by thanking Shannon, Nicole, and Elton for sending me photos of their baked loaves (Can you believe those beauties?) and allowing me to share them with everyone. A special thank you also goes to Erin, who has had some very kind words about my workshop on her own blog (Erin at Large). I really like the part where she calls me "unfussy".

And finally, a very special tip of the hat to Rick Havlak the owner of the Homesteader's Emporium. I met Rick last year, when he was still in the process of opening his shop. He was on a quest to take as many homesteading workshops as he could in as short a time as humanly possible. At least that was my impression of him. In the meantime, he has opened his place at 649 East Hastings Street, and he's become an expert in many of the activities that he is selling supplies and materials for. He has also become a magnet for the community he lives in, and people sometimes drive across town to buy his wares. Give his place a try, if you live in Vancouver, for anything from baking tools, to cheese-making supplies, to advice and know-how on bee- and chicken-keeping.

Hands-on!

After quite a long summer break, on Sunday, November 4th between 2:00 and 5:00 pm, Florin is holding his next workshop. Hurray! It will be hosted by Rick Havlak's Homesteader's Emporium at his amazing store down at 649 East Hastings Street.

The workshop will be a three hours journey into the world of artisan bread, where you can learn the basics of baking: pre-ferments and soakers, mixing your dough, kneading and other techniques that will help you develop not just the dough, but also your baking skills. Finally, the shaping and baking of proofed loaves will be explained. You will be able to ask all those baking questions that have haunted you for ages.

Since artisan baking is quite a lengthy process, everybody will produce their own dough at the workshop, then take it home and bake it later on in their home oven. You should end up with the irresistible smell of freshly baked bread in your own kitchen and one or two beautiful loaves of bread, that you'll be able to share with family and friends. But be warned: This is the type of bread that doesn't last long!

To find out more details (what to bring along, cost, etc.) or to book your spot visit Rick's site.

We're also looking forward to a series of four workshops at UBC Farm this season. More details to follow soon.

The Twelve Steps

We have a little hand-out that we ... hand out every time we do one of our bread baking workshops. It outlines the twelve steps of baking, and over the course of three hours we go over and explain every one of the twelve steps. At the end of it all, everyone should have a better understanding of how it's all done.

I didn't come up with this concept; I have seen the "12 steps" treatment done in quite a few really good baking books, most notably "The Pastry Chef's Companion" by Glenn Rinsky and Laura Halpin Rinsky (the original inspiration for this hand-out), "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart, and "Bread" by Jeffrey Hamelman.

I thought I might add my little list to this blog for all of you out there who might want to look at it. It can be found here. Hope that it all makes sense. Enjoy.

A scholarly weekend: The Report Cards

After our latest round of bread workshops (which we talked about in an earlier post), and after what must have been a very long day for all participants, we all went home with about 2 kilos of dough. Everyone was supposed to turn that dough into two loaves of bread "at a later date" (either later that evening, or the next day).

We asked everybody to submit pictures of their results and we promised to post them on our blog.

Here are the pictures we received. These are some pretty awesome-looking loaves!

Thank you to everyone for attending our workshops, and thank you in particular to Masae, Cormac, Sophia, Kevin, Janette, and Ludmila for submitting their photos.

A scholarly weekend

This weekend, we held another round of workshops at the UBC Farm in Vancouver. This time around we decided to do two beginners workshops one after the other (one on Friday evening, the other on Saturday evening).

As always, we had a really good time and everybody present seemed to enjoy themselves. The people were quite a diverse crowd, but all really eager to learn the basics of baking bread at home.

We learned about bread, took lots of pictures, baked some bread, shared a few laughs, ate some bread, and, at the end of it all, went home happy and content.

The students left the class with a batch of dough each, to be baked at home later that night or the next day. I am hoping to get some pictures of their amazing loaves to share on this blog.

Farmer's Dotter

On our way to Nelson, BC, we stopped in Cawston (just outside Keremeos), where a friend of Florin's used to own an organic garlic farm. It is on this farm that eight years ago a small team of artisan bread and wood-burning oven enthusiasts assembled for an oven-building workshop conducted by Alan Scott. The Alan Scott.

We had an amazing three days building the oven. We made some good friends and some of the people present at the workshop ended up opening their own bakeries. There was only one regret we all had; none of us had ever seen "our little baby" in operation. It's a long story, but due to some unfortunate circumstances, Jenny wasn't able to open her bakery until about a year ago.

After all this time, Florin finally made it back to Cawston. We had planed our Nelson trip for a while now, and on our way there we decided to stop and visit the farm and the newly opened bakery. The place is incredibly beautiful and functional at the same time. The farm, and the bakery, are now owned by a charming couple, Yvonne and Morris (pictured above; Lisa has a hard time not taking amazing pictures all the time), who are hard at it working the land and baking fabulous loaves for the Penticton Farmers Market. Everything they do is organic, naturally leavened, and done with tremendous passion for good food. And, let us say this again, the place (and the oven) look fabulous!

We arrived quite late in the evening and found Yvonne and Morris in the middle of baking their market loaves for the next day. Despite the late hour and their being very busy, we were welcomed inside the bakery and given the grand tour. We talked shop for a while, took lots of pictures and even discussed the possibility of an "artisan bread retreat" on the farm at some point in the future. We shall keep you posted on this latter point if we manage to make it happen.

Check out Yvonne and Morris' blog to read about their story, their love of the land and how they got into baking.

Advanced bread workshop at UBC Farm

Our first advanced bread workshop finally took place yesterday at UBC Farm. This time around, we had quite a few familiar faces, friends and former customers from the bakery.

While our beginners’ class was all about the basics of baking bread at home, this one was meant to teach the subtleties of baking, to talk about the science of dough and to exchange ideas and stories. A few of the attendees brought home-baked loaves to the workshop, to have them sampled and discussed. After a bit of theory, talking about the different ingredients, showing different types of flours, as well as cracked grains, seeds and flakes, explaining the importance of preferments, soakers and mashes, autolyse, kneading and shaping techniques, we finally got to get our hands dirty. Together, we got to apply some of our knowledge to developed a formula for the evening’s dough. 

We had prepared beforehand a preferment, as well as two different types of soakers for the class. Everybody got their little share of the preferment and soakers, and then started measuring their ingredients, weighing water and flour, adding the yeast. As if by magic, the silent, focused group turned into a social and chatty gathering. After incorporating all the ingredients, and during a twenty minute break that allowed for the autolyse, we shared our sourdough starters, we sampled the home-baked loaves, and we chatted about baking and bread.  

The kneading part – after the autolyse is complete – is the stage where everybody always has lots of fun: thirty-two hands inside sixteen mixing bowls, kneading the dough to perfection!

Beginner bread workshop at UBC Farm

After a successful first workshop back in January, and because we had a long waiting list of students eager to learn more about baking artisan bread, we scheduled our second baking workshop at UBC Farm.

Based on feedback from our first class, we decided to do two workshops rather than only one, to meet the needs of all our students. One was designed for aspiring bakers, who want to learn the basics of dough mixing and kneading techniques, while a second one was meant for people who are already quite accomplished home bakers, ready to talk science.

Yesterday, shortly after 6 pm, fifteen students got together at UBC Farm equipped with mixing bowls and wide-eyed curiosity. Since making great bread requires time (and the more time you allow, the better your results), one cannot fit all the steps involved in a three-hour bread workshop. Therefore, our students, after mixing and kneading, had to take their dough home, and bake it when it was ready. 

In an attempt to illustrate the difference between two of the most common ingredients (whole wheat flour and white flour), three basic bread formulas were offered. One was a 100 % white loaf with 65 % hydration, the next was a 50/50 whole wheat and white with 70 % hydration, and the third a 100 % whole wheat loaf with 73 % hydration.

Every student received about 100 grams of "old dough" prepared the day before, which they added to their dough for increased flavor.

Three Basic Bread Formulas

100% white (65% hydration) 

1100 gr all-purpose flour (100 %)

710 gr water (65 %)                                    

22 gr salt (2 %)
11 gr yeast (1 %)

50/50 (70 % hydration)

530 gr all-purpose flour (50 %)
530 gr whole wheat flour (50 %)

740 gr water (70 %)

21 gr salt (2 %)

11 gr yeast (1 %)

100 % whole wheat (73 % hydration)

1050 gr whole wheat flour (100 %)

767 gr water (73 %)

21 gr salt (2 %)

11 gr yeast (1 %)

Warning: Do try this in your own home. It's tons of fun!

Baking at UBC Farm

 

We've been talking for a while now with the people at UBC Farm about partnering up for one (and potentially more) workshop(s). Gemma, their Volunteer Coordinator, was particularly helpful in making this a reality.

Last night, Wednesday, January 18, it all happened. The workshop was sold out long in advance and they're even talking about people adding their names to a very long waiting list.

The day was ugly and snowy, and as darkness started to descend over the farm, we were wondering if anyone will show up. In the end, everybody arrived, and what a blast we had! There were 14 participants, including a Kelly Marion from the Vancouver Observer, who took the above pictures and wrote a very good article about the workshop.

We will keep everyone informed if there will be more workshops soon, and also we'll try to post some pictures on Florin's Facebook page.