Sunday, October 28, 2007

Chef's Choice Baking Class

This weekend, DH and I attended a bread baking class at Johnson & Wales in Charlotte, NC. The class was called "From Wheat to Eat: Flavorful Whole Grain Breads" and was taught by Peter Reinhart, the author of several baking books. We loved the class and had a great time. Above Pedro is standing next to Chef Reinhart as he is signing our copies of some of his books.

Here I am standing near Chef Reinhart as he is explaining the process of creating a soaker and its role in whole grain bread baking.

Here we are rolling out dough for whole grain crackers.

This is the bounty of bread we brought home from the class. Clockwise from top left, Spent Grain Loaf, Vollkornbrot Loaf, High Extraction Flour Country Miche Boule, Whole Wheat Mash Batard, and in the bowl are Three Seed Crackers. I can't even come close to picking out my favorite. I love them all! And a bonus, not pictured, is that we were able to bring home some 100% whole wheat starter and some 100% rye starter.

4 comments:

  1. :( The "bounty of bread" pic is missing.... I didn't even know Johnson & Wales was in Charlotte... it sounds like you had a great time!

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  2. Hmm, are others not seeing the photo too? it shows on my computer.

    Amy: we LOVED the class, and are actually going to be taking another there! Johnson & Wales has campuses in other cities too, with classes available to the public. But Charlotte has the bread baking classes we wanted.

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  3. Wow, all the breads look delicious! I am a big fan of whole wheat bread too so (much so that I don't even touch the white stuff anymore!)
    I can just imagine how great your cooking/baking class was!
    I loved the looks of the crackers in the picture, and due to some stomach issues crackers are much more digestible for me than bread... is the recipe in any of his books? Was it difficult to make?
    I have been making a Vegan Pumpkin Muffin lately that is extremely good. I posted the recipe on my blog the other day and it reminded me of your blog, full of yummy vegetarian goodies!
    Ana

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  4. Hi Ana! Yes, there are many cracker recipes in Reinhart's new whole grain bread book. And, they are not difficult at all! You just mix the dough, let it sit for about twenty minutes. Then roll it out with a rolling pin, cut the crackers with a pizza cutter and bake. You can brush egg wash on them for a shiny look. And you can sprinkle them with seeds or leave them plain. Lots of variations.

    Mmm, pumpkin muffins!!

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