A Master Class in Bread Baking at PAUL Patisserie
seems to be coming into my life a lot lately. Firstly I attended a Sourdough
bread making class at the beginning of January and now a French bread making
class in London at the renowned Bakery and Patisserie PAUL. The bread making masterclass was held at
their Bankside shop although if you check out their website you will find all
the other London locations.
trains were having problems with signalling because of the floods in the
Farringdon tunnel which meant I was about 10 minutes late for the class but I
was welcomed and allowed to catch up with the others.
Baker for the evening was Felixe who knows bread baking inside and out. He
explained the processes to us, showed us procedures and then let us have a go
at the dough we had started.
the dough we were making would not be advanced enough to bake during the class
we set this aside and worked on some dough already made (in the ‘Here’s one I
made earlier’ category!)
kneaded, shaped, rolled and rested our little loaves under Felixe’s expert eye
putting them inside the specially shaped baskets for their final proving.
When the dough was ready we were shown how to put it on the paddle, score it and put it into the ovens, even pressing the button for an injection of steam, very important to the bread making process.
Whilst
the dough baked itself into bread we went upstairs to their balcony seating area for a veritable
PAUL feast! Salami, sliced meats, cheeses, pesto, roasted peppers and much more
(are you drooling yet?) were waiting for us as well as the PAUL house red wine
which I absolutely adore.
When
we finished eating we went downstairs and our own dough had been wrapped up to
take home to bake that evening or put in the freezer for another time. I want to use mine when the little people
visit and get them to roll their own bread rolls.
of course the loaves that we had put in the ovens ourselves were ready, warm
and inviting and were intended for us to take them home. I loved sitting on my train home with the
smell of warm dough all around me!
host their French Bread Masterclasses on a Tuesday evening every other week at
Bankside and every other week at Covent Garden – there is no excuse not to
attend one!
The photos from the night were taken by the
lovely Marco who was helping Felixe and who took everyone’s camera and made
sure he photographed everyone have a trial at doing each stage. Many thanks Marco and to Felixe as well for
an enjoyable and educational evening.
own.
This looks like fun and those loafs look DELICIOUS. I'm not a huge cook, simply because I've never really been taught how, but I've always wanted to get better and improve. I'd love to attend a class like this and learn how to bake properly and traditionally!
These are some good tips! Although I don't have kids myself, I can understand the predicament you're in – it's tough being hard on someone you love so much but sometimes tough love is the answer. I think you'll do a great job when it comes to the terrible two's as long as you remember to stand your ground 🙂 Good luck 😛
Louise @ http://www.inspire-magazine-online.blogspot.com
Thanks for your comments about the bread however I don't know what you are talking about in paragraph two!
What great fun Heidi! I bet you made the other travellers on the train ravenous 😀
Janie x
The carriage did smell rather lovely!
looks like u all have fun and enjoy it.
It's a good excuse to get your hands dirty!
That looks fun.. wish I was there too.
You would have had a great time!
French flour is so different to ours, and it makes such a lovely crunchy crust! I hope the bread you cooked at home came out well too.
It is so tasty and simply flour, water, salt and yeast!
How exciting. Heidi, is this course only for one evening?
Mayuri it is a one evening course which is available on a Tuesday. You must try it!
Good job there Heidi!
A light hearted evening and a good skill learned!
How I would have LOVED to have attended that course Heidi! Looks AMAZING! Karen
It was fun Karen, you should do it.