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Happy New Year, Happy Baking!

It was a very blessed 2014, not only in terms of still being able to teach but to meet new lovely friends in my class. I will say it over and over, i am glad that i made the right choice to turn on to baking breads and give it all a go instead of taking a short course in computer.

I was in the hallway of this popular computer school, scanned the area, looked at the students sitting in their benches probably waiting for the prof to show up and i did not like what i saw. I left after just a few minutes and told myself, it better be something else.

I love to bake. Before i enrolled in OBMCI's food service, i already bake cookies, cakes, and pies but was never successful with breads. When i saw an opportunity to get an apprenticeship in Purefoods Flour and Bakery product research and development, i had to wait for two months to get in. The wait was worth it. That was not enough though, i had to go to Binan and do some apprenticing, finish up 700 hours of work (i was paid handsomely for it amazingly) and decided to buy a large oven and a mixer to round off things.

I am saying all these because bread making is not like baking cookies. It seems to be a common theme, every month, students think that 4-5 days is enough to turn them into a master baker, or that all the breads they see in my website were made by someone who took a 3 day baking course.

I wish it was true, so everyone will be happy. But sad to say, it is not. Patience, hard work. timing, diligence. It is not enough to just see the breads done. Listen. Read the recipe. Follow the recipe.

Question. ''Shirley, bakit yung Hard Monay na ginawa ko ang liit, 2 hours ko ng pinaalsa pero maliit pa rin.?'' When this guy brought the bread to me, it was super alsado, owing to the 2 hour proof. I showed him a 100 gram bread and asked him if it was the size he wanted, and he said yes. "'well then Sir, you should have weighed them 100 grams instead of 45 grams, because a 45 gram dough will not look like a 100 gram bread even if you proof it for 4 hours."

Sometimes, we need to ask how and why, simply reading the recipe is not enough when you make breads. Certainly, bread making is not for lazy people. Read and find out why your bread turns out different from yesterday's batch. Love it. All this back and forth, all this bread talk is making me want to bake again even if my back hurts pretty bad.

To my students from last year, special mention to my December class who made me laugh even if i could barely take a shower, i love you guys!!! You are the reason why i still do this, so i can find people like you. I pray that you all come to love this craft as much as i did.

Below are some photos from last year's baking class.




Flavored Baguettinis!


Free form Pandesal, done without the baston style because AH is at 58%.



Honey Oatmeal, Artisan Style


This last one is my lunch, so tata for now. See you in my class!!!

sherqv17@gmail.com          www.breadmakinglessons.com


Comments

Unknown said…
Hi Ms. Shirley, how can I purchase the ebook and cd? how much po? I am a beginner and don't have much money, mag-aral po muna ako on my own and ibili ko muna ng equipment yung money ko kasi wala po kaming maraming pera kung hindi naman po ako matuto sa ebook then dun na lang po ako mag eenroll sa class nyo.

Salamat po.

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