Skip to main content

Taking Turns Baking

One aspect of a hands on class is learning and experiencing how to load the dough in the oven, basically baking the breads. I think i have attended at least 10 baking classes in my lifetime and i only had the chance to do some actual baking, meaning loading the mixed dough inside the oven once.

This is what i want my students to experience, even is some feel very intimidated by the prospect of getting burned, still i encourage the students to try it, even for just a couple of times. Not all students welcome this idea sad to say, but if i am a student, a beginning baker, i would love love love to have the chance to load the dough inside the oven myself. This is why it is called a hands on class right?

Male students are not fussy so they mostly volunteer to do the job. It is funny to see the hands and arm quiver since most have never done this before. There is always the first time and once must, i insist to go through it.





Best part of baking the breads yourself is the pride you have in you and the confidence that you can do it. The idea that the dough you just mixed a few hours ago has turned into something marvelously edible right before your eyes is incredible. Nothing beats that.

email me for hands on classes at sherqv17@gmail.com 

Group size is very small, so you learn more.

Block 6 Lot 11 Yakal street.
Northridge Park Subdivision
Sta. Monica Novaliches
near SM Fairview




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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