The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Been a bit too hot to bake

yozzause's picture
yozzause

Been a bit too hot to bake

We have experienced some extreme  hot weather over here in Perth Western Australia for the Christmas / New Year  break  record temperatures  with 42 degrees and sustained high 30's for a couple of weeks the only baking was the poor plants in the garden that got well and truely frizzled

Fortunately we have just had a bit of a reprieve which was really good  as i had a bread baking class that was booked through an on line agency this last Sunday, The participants were both newcomers to bread baking and as part of the service i travel to them and we have a baking session in the comfort and familiarity of their own kitchen. i have in the past been able to conduct classes in a technical college which was great with the latest whizz bang mixing machines proovers and ovens etc but i realised that after those classes the participants  went home to a much different environment. So now that the Technical college has closed i  thought what could be better than have someone come to you that could coach you through the process.  I bring along all the necessary bits and pieces as well as the ingredients and we make two doughs by hand so that the sense of feel can be appreciated, but quite happy if they have a machine and want to use that too.  All that is required is some bench space and a working oven.i am able to show them the little tricks that we can employ to achieve desired results in the home setting. i am able to tailor the days class to the participant, from first timers through to more experienced enthusiasts that would like that guiding hand for the day. 

There is a on line booking agency that promotes a range of local and indeed Australia wide experiences, and creative workshops and they take care of promotion and bookings and payments.  They have a huge range of different classes from clay throwing , cooking, sour dough bread baking, candle making, painting, drawing, pasta making, sushi making , cocktail classes and so on. Lots of the classes are held in the larger venues with varying numbers being able to attend where as i offer either 1 on 1 or just you and a friend and  i come to you.       So i have done a couple of these now  and i must say it is a really good feeling when you have been able set people off in the right direction so here a few pictures of yesterdays baking day where newcomers to bread baking Kim and Sophie tackled a 50% Wholemeal  Coopers Stout dough with two loaves being produced 1 with raw onion incorporated and baked off in the Romantoph Clay baker whilst the other was proven on a linen couche  before being hand peeled onto a baking sheet. and scored. A rich fruit dough was also tackled and this was made into Cinnamon Scrolls  

    

Comments

rgreenberg2000's picture
rgreenberg2000

Well, not the weather, I guess... :) This must be a really fun thing for you to do, and I bet a fantastic way for new and experienced bakers to get some 1:1 instruction!  Thanks for sharing!

Rich

Benito's picture
Benito

That’s totally awesome Derek.  I was just wondering what you were up to earlier today and it sounds like you’re still doing what you love.  It would be great to be able to bake with an expert like you and improve one’s baking, your students are lucky dogs.

Benny

naturaleigh's picture
naturaleigh

The Christmas scrolls (fruited bread) caught my eye immediately.  You've given me inspiration to tweak my fruited dough recipe into rolls (or scrolls) as an alternative to my usual slice and toast loaf.  Happy baking!  Wish I could be in the kitchen barefoot right now too ;-)

yozzause's picture
yozzause

You can combine the two roll up as for cinnamon scrolls but bake whole  as in a loaf  you can then cut slices as big or as thin as you desire!  The barefooted baker is Kim with his first loaf of Bread which explains the big grin.

 

happycat's picture
happycat

Must be interesting for you to survey, characterize, and adapt to the contextual factors of your changing kitchen environments.

yozzause's picture
yozzause

Yes indeed it does and can be quite fun. Just after i retired we took a trip to Malaysia and whilst in Kuala Lumpur  had a baking day with Betsy who i met in Perth through TFL  a year or so earlier anyway she opted for us to go to her daughters new home  because of the big island bench and to fit her friends around everything went well until it came time to use the oven which was a whizz bang top of the range digital wonder and i couldnt get it to go any higher than 160 which wasnt going to be to good especially with Pizza made for lunch. Turns out the oven had never been used as the owners frequently ate out and even the maid didnt know how to operate the thing. The day wasn't lost though as one of the other ladies lived only 5 minutes away so we moved house and finished the baking there. i think i worked out some time later with my son in laws oven  that the oven wouldnt go above 160 if the steam function was engaged. Anyway so far no suprises. it is quite satisfying to see newcomers  getting stuck in or even those that are familiar with baking making big strides forward with that guiding hand giving them confidence.