2ND VEGAN BREADMAKING COURSE at The Planet Cafe, Taunton

Tuesday 20th September 2016
Arrived late tonight - traffic in Taunton was pretty well grid-locked, due to Station Road closing to allow a new bridge being placed in position. A couple of the students were also late - but with breadmaking being such an easy activity, we soon got back on track.

Focaccia and Chelseas tonight:

Not sure who loaf this belonged to - but it's a well-risen loaf

Another good loaf - and this time I can identify it to Sarah H

(Note: I ask the students to place an initial on top of each batch of bread - for two reasons; firstly, so the students can be re-united with their own bread - but also so that I can identify these breads when I'm putting these pics up on here.)

This is one of the ovens we use in the session

Sarah H's buns - before the topping

I think these are Sydney's

I suspect the initial was removed before I had a chance to take the pic! :)

As you can see from the last photo, we came close to burning those buns. We need to watch the bread more closely in the oven. But we got away with it - just.

The students also made a high hydration (very wet) - 70% - dough through the evening. This is where the dough is very wet and sticky to begin with - it's kneaded for 10-20 seconds every ten minutes or so, and each time the dough is more manageable. They all took the dough home to bake.

And at 2155 tonight, I had an email from Kevin - he'd turned the bread dough he took away with him into this wonderful loaf:

Kevin's 4-strand plait

Very nice, Kevin!

Monday 19th
Each week I ask my students to have a go at making the bread we made in the session - and send any pics to me. And Sarah did just that today:

Sarah's fruit soda bread

Tuesday 13th September 2016
...got underway tonight with 6 students making Soda Bread (plain and fruited) and Fancy Dinner Rolls.

Most of the students hadn't made bread before - with any degree of success, that is. One echoed Andi Peters (a trained chef in an earlier life) in saying, as he did when he was a judge on Junior Masterchef, "When I see the word yeast on the page, I turn over." Thus possibly turning off hundreds of thousands of children from ever making bread!

After the usual intro's, icebreaker, explanation of how the course would progress, I demonstrated my version of a soda bread, the students followed suit, and the bread went directly into the oven.

I had just sufficient wit to take one pic:

This was Sydney's loaf. With 2 Sarah's and a Sydney on the course, the letter S was in great demand,  so Sydney took the letter Y.

We repeated the process with the Fancy Dinner Rolls - and once again, I only took the one pic:

These were Annie's rolls.

Everyone was pleased with their results - and even the prospect of homework* didn't seem to damp their enthusiasm!

[*Their homework is to go home, find someone who doesn't know how to make bread, and teach them what they've learned today! :)]

And here's the happy group, with some of the bread they made this evening:

Carol, Annie, Sarah, Sarah, Kevin and Sydney

Next week the students chose to make focaccia and Chelsea buns. They will also make a bread dough for them to take away and bake at home.