My wife has been an instructor in some women's groups recently that have had, as one component, some instruction in cooking.  She was a bit surprised to find just how much interest there was among the women who attended these sessions in learning more about cooking.  For some, it was an opportunity to expand their repertoire with new recipes or techniques.  For others, it was a chance to learn basic skills that they had not been taught previously.  

Based on those experiences, she has begun a series of classes in our home that will cover a range of topics; including meal planning, cooking and baking.  The first class met yesterday and I found myself instructing three students on the finer points of how to make a honey whole-wheat bread.  (My work schedule gives me every other Friday off.)  It's an old pattern; she has an idea and I have work.  ;-)  

We kept everything low key.  I had baked a loaf yesterday morning prior to class so that they could see and taste the finished product.  They got to see the differences in measuring by volume and measuring by weight, and were more than a little surprised to see that their normal measuring methods produced some significantly different quantities of flour, on a weight basis.  We allowed the whole wheat flour a short soak (not a true autolyse) and explained how that would affect the texture of the dough and the finished bread, as well as the amount of kneading that would be required.  We also covered the basic differences between enriched, straight doughs (yesterday's subject) and lean and delayed-fermentation doughs.  Although we weren't focusing on sourdough yesterday, I showed them my starter and explained some of the differences between naturally-yeasted and commercially-yeasted breads.  While their dough was rising, we sampled the finished bread that I had baked.  My wife also demonstrated some spreads and toppings that they could easily make, and provided those recipes.  By the time we were done, each student had mixed, kneaded and shaped their own loaf of bread, which they took  home to bake.  Although I stressed the importance of allowing the bread to cool to room temperature, one already e-mailed back to say that her loaf disappeared that same afternoon.  However, she is planning to make more!  

There's already talk about future classes for cinnamon rolls, pretzels, bagels, and sourdough.  We'll have to see how all of that plays out.  The good thing is that there are now more converts to baking their own bread at home.  And, yes, I pointed them to The Fresh Loaf as an excellent resource for additional information and help.

Paul

I posted about two months ago looking for books to use in a class a colleague and I will be teaching in April/May.  My thanks to everyone for great suggestions.  We have decided to go with Emily Buehler's Bread Science: the Chemistry and Craft of Making Bread and Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.  We'll be augmenting the readings with materials from journals and other literature (I'm currently researching discussions of bread in cultural context in literature.) We will start the students off with a no knead bread, followed on successive days by a sourdough bread, a soda bread and a flat bread.  I've got the no knead recipe chosen, we'll use the recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I've been testing it and getting very consistent results with it.  I've got a good sourdough starter, I'm now feeding several jars in preparation for the class, but I haven 't settled on recipes for the flat, soda or sourdough breads yet.  We're going with simple as it is turning out that none of our students have ever made bread and the majority of them have never seen it made.  If you have a favorite, easy, recipe, feel free to suggest it.  

We're breaking the class day up into two sections.  We'll start any bread that needs rising in the morning session then finish in the afternoon.  With the no-knead, we'll start it the first day of class and bake it the second.  We're developing a lab kit our students will need and cleaning out the local Goodwill, Salvation Army and Volunteers of America stores for 5 or 6 quart bowls and Ikea for measuring cups and spoons.  We each have our own scales and thermometers and will bring them in to use and we are scrounging baking stones to augment ours,but may have the students get King Arthur's bread whisk.  It is very useful.  

My colleague is going to handle the chemistry (thank heavens!) and I'm presenting on the culture.  I'm looking at how bread is a part of cultures across the world.  I've got some articles dealing with the role of bread ovens in communities and am in search of more.  We'll be visiting one of Michigan's mills and on the way home we'll stop for dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant so they can experience Injera, that delicious, spongy bread that I have not been able to produce in a consistent manner.  I'm not that great with pancakes either so there may be a link there.  A local church is letting us use their kitchen during the day so we have a place to bake. 

The class is coming together and I appreciate the suggestions you all made.  I'll let you know how it goes.