Workshop: Artisan I, May 2009

Course Content
This is a well-rounded program covering the art of bread making. Some people in the class were professional bakers and some of us were home bakers. I found that even though there were two groups with different levels of expertise in the class, the course was targeted to those with more experience, thus creating tension for those of us that didn't fully understand all of the information being presented.

Organization
Both the classroom and lab were appropriate and very nicely set-up. The TV monitor in the classroom was installed off to one side of the room making it difficult to see and read the PowerPoint Slideshow from the other side. The curriculum was pretty complete, even though some topics were not discussed in depth in the classroom so that a clear understanding of the procedure was reached before going in the lab and doing the work.

Once in the lab, we were pretty much following the instructor's directions as to when to hold water from the mix, switch to 2nd. speed, stop mixing, do folds, without an adequate explanation from him about what was happening to the dough at those particular moments in order to make those decisions. Even after taking the class I still don't know what to look for in the dough to make some of those decisions! Pre-shaping and shaping techniques were covered in the lab in a fairly quick and short demonstration, and the little information in our binders covering that information was insufficient. Instead, we were expected to take notes and make sketches during the lab demonstrations making it difficult to pay full attention to what was being shown. In the lab, the instructor wasn't mindful to speak up loudly enough during the demonstrations or ask students to keep conversations to a minimum, making it very difficult at times to hear what was being said.

Instructor
The instructor knew the curriculum very well. Unfortunately he didn't convey the information clearly and effectively. Even though the curriculum was well-organized, the instructor's teaching style wasn't because he kept jumping forwards and backwards throughout the information in our binder during the class.

On day four I made a suggestion about his presentation and his response in front of the whole class was to just say "whatever". Frankly, I found his dismissive response insulting, disrespectful, and inappropriate for a learning setting, and it clearly reflected poorly on him and on the SFBI. At that point I realized he lacked the capacity, sophistication, sensibility, and sensitivity to properly communicate to the diversity of his students.

There were other times when I asked him a question and he would plainly ignore me and walk away from me as I was talking. It was hard for me not to take this personally but I have come to understand that he wasn't capable of simply saying "this isn't a good time for me, could you please ask me later". Thus when it came to asking questions, which I certainly did, my impression was that questions were not welcomed. And when he did answer questions his answers were sometimes inconsistent, creating more confusion and thus the need to ask a further question.

I had the impression that the group would have really enjoyed getting to know him had he joined the group at the lunch table even for a few minutes at any one point during the course of the week and this in turn would have allowed him to genuinely find out more about his students and their interests.

Schedule & Pace
The schedule was heavily packed and the pace was fast and demanding. However, all of it was achievable and very close to what you would find in a professional setting, which was great. Even though I had never made more than a loaf at a time and it would take me practically all day to make it, here we were making in excess of 25 loaves in a day out of 5 different mixes.

Balance of Time
The amount of class time, lab observation, and lab action was fairly well balanced, with the exception of those topics that were only covered in lab and not in class and vice-versa.

What, if anything, should we add to the curriculum?
More time discussing and practicing Baker's Percentages, probably from day one of the workshop. Ten minutes covering this subject and one example on the last day of class it's not sufficient amount of time spent on this topic to fully comprehend it and to feel that you can leave the classroom and do it at home.

Was the SFBI staff helpful to you? What else could we do to give you the best possible experience?
Yes, most of the staff was very helpful, friendly, and approachable, in particular Mr. Suas, the other instructors, and the people that ran the kitchen. Also the students doing the 18-week professional training program were very nice and willing to share their experiences at the SFBI. I did notice that even though the staff was very nice and helpful, they kept to themselves and seemed somewhat reserved when it came to interacting with the students especially in the dining area. It would have been nice to see the staff, including Mr. Suas and the instructor, sit with the students during lunch at least once during our week-stay at the SFBI.

What additional workshops or events would you like to see at SFBI?
More two-day workshops. Possible topics: Pizzas, Operating a small baking business.

What was your favorite thing about studying at SFBI?
Meeting the different, interesting, and diverse people who have a similar passion when it comes to baking as I do. Not to mention the wonderful breads we got to make, taste, and take home at the end of each day.

Additional comments
Taking this workshop at the SFBI was certainly a worthwhile experience for me. Mr. Suas, President of the SFBI, has put together a wonderful place for people from many walks of life and backgrounds to come together and learn the ins and outs of baking. And even though I wish I would have left at the end of the week feeling that I understood fully the curriculum I signed-up for, this experience has offered me the opportunity to learn about many aspects of baking that I hadn't even considered. Unfortunately because of the personalities involved in the process my experience was somewhat bitter-sweet. I would definitely consider taking other workshops offered at the SFBI. However, I feel that I could only do this when the points that I'm raising here have been acknowledged and addressed to ensure all students are made feel welcomed and encouraged to ask questions in a learning environment that promotes dignity and respect.

The reason I emailed this evaluation is that under these circumstances and given my personal experience I knew it would take me more than 5 minutes, rushed at the end of the long 5-day class, to fairly and objectively critique the class and the instruction. Furthermore, hearing the instructor say jokingly, though unprofessionally, that he would look through the evaluation forms and any that weren't "good" wouldn't make it to Mr. Suas, made me feel uneasy about taking the time to fill it out right there and then, and just turn it in at the end of the class.

article on buckwheat from the SanFrancisco Baking Institute - Fall '08 newsletter

Renewed Respect for Humble Buckwheat

http://www.sfbi.com/FileUpload/files/SFBINewsFall08.pdf

The San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting article on the San Francisco Baking Institute, with a recipe and techniques for making baguettes:

 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/23/FDST12VPFT.DTL

SteveB

www.breadcetera.com

A birthday present and long time no baking: had to use the present and bake some!

Suas' Cinnamon Rolls

Ever since I started baking, now about 2 years ago, I hated our tile counter tops which are not suitable for working dough etc. I had worked on a marble slab since, but it was small and got me into trouble with larger batches, or longer breads (like large challah). Yesterday my solution arrived (two day early father's day/birthday present) in the form of a maple countertop, standard depth (25"), 48" wide and 1.5" thick. You can see it in the background of the photo above. While meant to be an actual counter top, I put some rubber feet under it to prevent sliding, and put it on top of the counter. Heavy lifting, but solid and immobile (might leave it on permanently). Wonderful! Now I needed to make/bake something.

I got Suas's book (Advanced Bread and Pastry) a while ago and read almost the whole thing (the technical stuff, not all formulas) in just a few days. I really like this book. This weekend I finally had time to make something from it (work has been incredibly busy, so little baking happened in the last few months, except the routine sandwich bread). The choice was actually from the Viennoisserie section, page 360/361: Cinnamon Rolls made with "Sweet Roll Dough", and  "Sticky Bun Glaze" (p. 394) on the bottom and "Flat Icing" (p. 646) on top. Although not in the recipe, but apparently present in the photographed version, and consistent with that, I added golden raisins.

Suas' Cinnamon Rolls Inside 

Of course, and as fairly typical for me diving into formulas in books, I found an error in the "Sweet Roll Dough" formula right away. I found this because I use my Dough Calculator spreadsheet and it comes up with different answers. In this case the conversion from metric to US decimal was wrong in the formula on the line for Cake Flour, and as a result, the fractional representation of the decimal was wrong as well. In the formula, as presented, cake flour is 0.748 pounds, or 0.424 kg. That is incorrect. The correct number: 0.935 pounds (which is indeed 424 g). Also, the lbs & oz number, given as 12 should be 15 oz. Here is the formula I used (with different numbers because it was scaled down to produce 2 lbs of dough):

Suas' Cinnamon Rolls (12 rolls)

I did not have milk powder, so I used the Dough Calculator to convert to "real" milk (and presented above). Although the formula does not describe it here (but does in the book), I used SAF Osmotolerant Instant Dry yeast (available from King Arthur's Catalog). The high sugar content of the dough can make life a little difficult for regular IDY but OT IDY can handle this better. Fear not if you do not have it. You can use just a little more regular IDY and allocate a little more time for the proof and you should be fine. A similar comment applies to the use of cake flour. The texture will be better with it, but if you don't have it, try AP flour instead. 

The instructions for making the dough are pretty standard. This dough should come out of the mixer fairly cold (72F) so you may need to use cold(er) milk. You can see the calculation for my case in the formula above, where I had to use 42F milk. My fridge happens to be set at 40F, so I used it straight from the fridge. Put all dry ingredients in a bowl, and mix well. Add wet ingredients, except butter and mix at second speed (even 3rd on KA mixers) until full gluten development, adding the butter in small batches starting about 2/3 of the way through mixing. Dough should clear the bowl and be fairly stuff, although supple because of the butter. If you desire raisins, knead them in by hand at this point (I used about 100 g).  Let proof on the counter for about 1 hr and then refrigerate overnight.

One of the problems with this book (in particular for the home baker) is that it provides formulas  (of course using baker's percent) for both large amounts (typically a 10lbs dough) and "test" amounts, but does not specify the yield for either. My prior baking experience told me to make a 2lbs dough to get about 12 rolls (I actually got 13). Likewise it talks about using the "Sticky Bun Glaze", but does not tell you how much you need, nor does it say how much cinnamon sugar and icing you need. I guessed the cinnamon sugar wrong, but here is how to make the right amount (prepare whenever, and store in moisture tight container):

Next morning, take the dough out of the refrigerator about 1-2 hours and let it warm up. While it warms up, prepare the "Stickly Bun Glaze" (optional) from the formula below. Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth, then add the remaining ingredients and set aside. Alternatively you can heat everything up in a pan until the sugar is dissolved and then let things cool down.

Degas the dough and roll out into a rectangle about twice as wide as it is long, about 1/8" thick. Brush the whole rectangle with water and sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar mixture, making sure to leave a 1" strip at the far (wide) end uncovered so the dough can stick. If you didn't do the raisins already, you could add them here (I prefer to do them earlier so the dough absorbs the raisin flavor). Roll up the dough somewhat tight, starting at the wide, sprinkled end, and ending at the other wide end, where a little pressure will "glue" things shut.

Prepare a baking sheet by covering it with parchment paper and spreading the "Sticky Bun Glaze" evenly on top of the paper. The glaze will melt and be absorbed in the bottom of the rolls and cover the bottom. Take a wet and sharp knife and cut 1" pieces of the rolled up dough and place sideways on the sheet. Leave room between the rolls for expansion. Twelve rolls, evenly spread out, will be about the right spacing on a standard home oven baking sheet. Let proof until about 1.5 to 2 times size. Pre heat the oven to 350F and bake on middle rack. You may want to consider putting another baking sheet immediately under it, to prevent the bottoms from burning. The rolls will be ready in about 15-18 minutes.

Now comes a tricky move. Take the sheet pan out of the oven, place a cooling rack on top, and then, without pressing, flip the whole deal over and place on a surface where you can deal with the dripping glaze. Remove sheet pan and parchment paper. If you used the paper this will be extremely easy! Now, to prevent too much glaze from covering the sides and top of the rolls, use a second cooling rack and invert again. Now let cool. This seems convoluted, but you do not want to handle the hot rolls with your hands: they're really hot, very sticky, and very fragile! Meanwhile prepare the "Flat Icing": 

Mix this together with spatula and try to not incorporate any air in the mixture. If you desire it thinner, add more water. This was just about right though, I think. Now, when the rolls are still somewhat warm, but not hot, put the icing in a piping bag with fine tip, or if you don't have fancy equipment, use a plastic baggy (sandwich size or so), and cut just the tiniest piece of a corner. Drizzle the icing over the rolls in the desired amount and let the icing set (a few minutes). Then, get set and eat!

Cinnamon Roll Sample

--dolf

See my My Bread Adventures in pictures 

Being a novice, I assume people already know this but fyi the SFBI newsletter is out and has several interesting things to say on the subjects that are discussed here. The article is too long to quote here but you may wish to read it and log your opinions here.

You can click on  SFBI  for a down load of the pdf version.