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Not A kOSHER Thing To Do


My Royal Icing class will learn how to do make their own sugar flowers, hopefully through practice they will make these lovely flowers after two weeks of constant piping at home after class.

I squeeze the said lessons only in between my private and group commercial bread making lessons, i am happy to know that more and more people are now getting into the food business. Kudos to you all, go for it, pursue that dream, that long time lingering thoughts of opening your small bakery could be a reality only if you make a small sacrifice. No pain, no gain. So true. So to all those who dared it, battling wind and rain to attend baking lessons anywhere, i wish you all the luck in the world.

There is only 1 thing though that i hope you would allow me to say here, NEVER START SOMETHING YOU NEVER WANT TO IN THE FIRST PLACE. If you think you can psyche yourself into liking bread making maybe after getting a couple of bites into that sweet cinnamon rolls, you are mistaken. I would like to compare breadmaking as demanding as raising a child, you never let your eyes off that child even when you are doing something else. Yes, sure, you can train someone to work on the bakery, but never abandon it, nor give your baker the idea you are.

Secondly, you really, as in really LOVE TO EAT BREADS, OR LOVE BAKING BREADS to start taking on that dream. If it is just a dream because you want to EARN MONEY, i think you should just sell lotto tickets or open a sari-sari store. Not a bakery. THIS CRAFT IS ALSO AN ART. An art that you get to share with the mass, something you have to be creatively be passionate about. That brings me to my point which is...

A. Please think carefully when you are deciding on taking on the adventure of learning how to bake breads and eventually selling them afterwards. Do i really like doing this or do i just love to eat breads? There is a difference there. Huge difference. I may love to eat breads, but i hate to work my hands deep in the dough, so nah, i don't think so. Leave it to the bakers. Then, right there, maybe you should not. Even if you are just taking the class so you can teach your bakers, YOU STILL HAVE TO BAKE AND LEARN THE WHOLE THING, not on morse code, BUT BAKE FOR REAL. The whole works.

It pains me to be in front of someone who does not want to eat breads, and worst,someone who does not want to bake breads at all. OMG. Me, the baker in me is screaming foul, but of course i cannot say a word. Hush.

My goal is to teach you how to bake, that is what i am here for, the best way i can, rain or shine. I love it when we talk about breads, when we share ideas and cross reference experience of our past failures and me telling you why you failed and how to make it right. How you can make it right the next time you bake. That is me. What you pay me for. Why i love doing this.

You will go home with lots of bread samples, breads that i am pretty confident will be different from the ones you normally eat since you learned that the earth is round. When i open the oven to unload the first batch of breads on Day 1, i get a burst of energy in me because i know you will like them. That is how good they are, not just from my heart, but from what my students tell me.

Pretty sad, and a waste don't you think when someone just does not want to do what you expect them to do during class. And you are here because? I feel like banging my head to the wall, coaxing someone to like this because? We all have our own personal motivations to start baking breads. I started out because..... I JUST LOVE TO EAT THEM! I don't care about rice, just give me good quality, preservative free breads and we will be the best of friends.

It is not a KOSHER thing to do, not at all. I am shaking my head right now.

Secondly, anothing UNKOSHER thing to do, please, please. I have already fanned my brain to make myself type this today. I don't think it is fair to ask me to teach you how to make "inipit" on;

A. the day you tell me you want to learn how to make one
B. when you are attending a breadmaking class, not a pastry or cake class. You cannot request for a pastry lesson right off the bat because it crossed your mind while you were sleeping the night before, very funny (at least i am now laughing at it)
C. not what we agreed upon, without me having the proper time to prepare for it, and not included in the cost of your lesson.

Not fair to me, not fair to you because you will be disappointed that i did not teach you how to make "inipit" or "chocolate mousse" when it was not part of the deal and totally not my fault. I am not superwoman, i cannot just make my assistant go to the shop and buy new ingredients, nor scour pages after pages of my recipes looking for the one you want. The day itself?

I have stopped baking most of these pastry recipes because i am doing cakes and breads, if you tell me ahead of time, i will make sure that i will bake and rebake that one recipe you requested, until i get the correct adjustment to the NEWER BRAND OF INGREDIENTS, FLOUR AND BUTTER, ETC.

To give you an example, the ganache that i love to make in New York was abysmally an epic failure when i used ALASKA cream to make one two weeks ago. I added gelatine to thicken it, but it did not work. Same with the chocolates that i used (because my niece ate the chocolates i brought for this purpose). I now have to find a good quality chocolate that is not too pricey, cream that will do the consistency i am looking for. It would probably take me 2-3 trials to get there, so for me to make a caramel mousse without cream in my pantry because you suddenly wanted one is impossible. ; Inipit needs boiled mashed potatoes. Do you honestly think i have a ready made mashed potatoes in my pantry? Or, boxes of cheese for the cheese cupcake?( Makes me feel sad, it makes you think i am holding back which is not. Had i prepared the ingredients and printed the recipe for you, AHEAD OF TIME, we will both be happier.

Geraldine, my niece also liked the Red Velvet Cake, i tested the shelf life and the cakes we baked last Sept 26 lasted for 10 days in the refrigerator. Amazing. I sandwiched the red velvet in between a layer of the chocolate cake and added the weeping mousse that never thickened. Everyone liked it, so never mind. :)
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