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The Case of the Missing Pandesal

These are the latest images from my October session. I took photos of the second day only, the first day went like a whirlwind, i did not even notice it ended but i had fun watching them knead towards the last part of the session.


French Bread, part of what the students kneaded on the first day. Half of which we made into pizzas and foccacias for their snacks. I still have a slice of the baguette, 3rd day after i made one slice into a sandwich, more or less giving you the idea that a retarded dough has a longer shelf life than the No time dough or Straight Dough method.

After kneading, i froze the individual doughs with their names on each plastic and thawed them for our second day session. Only 1 student managed to finish the dough in under 30 minutes, and was the only one to fully develop the gluten.

To each his own. She started with a very sticky dough and used her whole upper body to knead which was the ideal way of doing it. So you see, it is not the heft and the gender, the technique brings the dough to a slick smooth mass and this is the reason why she finished way ahead of the 5 boys. Way to go Christine, reminds me of this other girl who is only 23 yrs old, lean and so frail but managed to knead her dough in 25 minutes.




The Cinnamon Rolls and the Raisin breads or mini loaves with the baguettes.


By the end of the session, i was happy to know that this batch REALLY LOVED the breads we made, AND I MEAN REALLY REALLY LOVED THEM to the point where even when i divided the breads, one piece managed to get lost somehow on the third and last day. Ha ha ha, i will not get over this because first, it has never happened before, and second, i have never seen guys and not the girls as eager as this with their breads. I used the word eager for lack of a better term and i am laughing while i am writing this. It was so funny my helper and i still talk about it, the case of the missing whole wheat asado pandesal.

Wait just a minute, i think i know how to count two. So there i was, putting aside two each of the whole wheat asado pandesal, one round and one oblong, but when it was time to put them in each of their containers, one piece was missing!

At the end of the day, it was a blast, a huge compliment to me because it means the breads are really that good and i kinda agree. Especially THE MONAY, RIGHT GUYS? Good luck, i hope the same passion you have with the breads we made translate into a productive curious anxiety that you have to replicate the exact breads we made. Be inspired. Be glued to the whole idea of putting all the breads into your staples. Get your elbows dirty deep into the flour and just bake good breads.

Only way to have them is to make them yourselves. Thanks a bunch!

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