October class 2014

Thank you to the girls who made it to my class, your appreciation for the breads you all made is enough to inspire me to find ways to make the whole experience more engaging. My class used to have only 1 kneading exercise, but i decided to take it one notch further by adding another kneading exercise to the 4 day lesson and i am amazed at the outcome.

During the 3rd day class, students brought doughs that they kneaded at home using the sponge and dough method. The exercise reinforce the whole idea of gluten development and dough consistency among the many others. Can you imagine a novice baker, someone who has never baked nor touched a dough before turning up really nice, soft dinner rolls in your third day of class? I am overjoyed while my students, all 10 girls (what a treat), showed up with the properly kneaded dough, shaped it into a log, and cut them into dinner rolls.

I knew that if it was me, i would have gone through the roof and jump with joy. After all, when someone asks me how i end up learning all these by myself, my usual short answer is just "ONE SACK OF FLOUR". If only i had the same chance to experience the same thing, i would have saved a lot of dough, i mean money and time. Not to regret what i went through with my one sack of flour, i truly enjoyed and cherished it but then again, it would have been much different had i started it the right way. I am saying this because i never intend to be selfish when i teach. Always thinking how do i teach this method the right way especially when all 10 would have different preparations for the class.

Some students have baking experience, some do not even know what and how a dough looks like.

To my October class, thank you and i wish you all the best. To Michelle, i hope your baguettes turn out perfect this time, keep working on it and i am sure it will taste exactly the same as the ones we did.

We bake the French breads not too golden brown for toasting later on. 1 kilogram, 12 half baguettes.

November class is full, December to March is still open for reservation. Please email me at sherqv17@gmail.com for reservation details. Visit www.breadmakinglessons.com to see the complete schedule and lesson.

Comments

3rd Class Flour, What's It All About

For starters i cannot make this Hard Monay if i did not bring any 3rd class flour or soft weak flour to New York. Once i ran out of 3rd class and tried Cake Flour, it turned bad, do not even think of using All Purpose, it will be soft but not chewy as this one made with yes, 3rd class indeed. So third class is hard to find here in the US if you will use that term. You have to say or look for soft wheat flour, that's it, not hard wheat flour, not cake or All purpose but something in between these two. It is easy to find in the Phil., just ask your local bakery suppliers and they know it is Tercera. Tercera is not for bread, bakers use it basically for cookies, cakes and other pastries, but we bakers know how to create bread recipes using part of this flour with the bread flour or hard wheat flour. It makes a softer version of any of your fave breads, with a cheaper price tag. Plus if i own a bakery, i get to use the third class for my cakes and cookies, lowering my food cos

Cutting Pandesal, Baston Style

So how do we really do the Baston style "singkit" cut? First start with a slightly stiff dough, if your dough does not have eggs or eggyolks, a hydration of around 55% is ideal. I have seen bakers use less water, but that will make your Pandesal too dry and dense after 1 day or so so try to keep it slightly on the soft side, but not too sticky. Why? If you use a sticky dough for the Baston style cut, the dough will spread and will have a flat look rather than a rounded shape we are all familiar with. In Tagalog, "lalapad" ang dough so medyo flat ung Pandesal. So after you mix the dough, divide it into 2 to 4 portions if you are mixing kilogram. Experienced bakers divide their dough into 500 gram portions, i do mine the same way. Flatten the dough, focusing more on the length and not on the height. The height of the dough should be around 2 to 3 inches only. Next, fold the dough while pinching the edges making sure the dough surface

Kape at Pandesal

When someone emailed me about Kape at Pandesal, i suddenly felt home sick. Just these two words. Dipping Pandesal in coffee. Who got this phenomenon or practice started? We all know the colonial Spanish era and Gregorio Zaide mentioned our fondness for idling around in the history books (Juan Tamad and siesta), but for breakfast? Who wants to jump up and down when you wake up? This is the answer. Dunking the warm, crispy Pandesal into hot, steaming coffee. How did this thing start? Who invented it? What made the Pinoys dunk their Pandesal? Maybe the Pandesal in those days are rock hard, or maybe it is one way to sweeten the bread. Baka may alamat dito. Is it because the Pandesal is salty in those days? After all, sal means salt right? The Italians love to dunk their Biscotti in coffee, but the Biscotti deserves it. Seriously, Biscottis if not dunked in coffee can give you a free tooth extraction. But the Pandesal? Okay to some, it cools down the coffee. Don't tell me they

How To Bake Pandesal and Other Breads

Search This Blog