BREADMAKING WORKSHOP AT WELLS

Breadmaking Made Easy Workshop, 10.00am - 4.30pm 

12th March 2016 Portway, Portway Ave, Wells BA5 2QF

Dear Student,

This letter sets out what I intend will happen on the day and includes a list of ingredients and utensils which you will need to bring. If you are new to breadmaking, let me reassure you that it is much easier than you have been led to believe.

The session will begin in a relaxed fashion – the first thing you need to do is to find somewhere to park all the stuff that I ask you to bring, get yourself a drink and somewhere to sit down. 

Then there is a little paperwork we need to complete – I’ll guide you through that, if you can bring a pen that would come in handy.

Before we start breadmaking I’d like to spend some time finding out what you expect to get out of the day’s session so that I can hopefully meet all your requirements.

The breads we will be making will include 2 types of soda bread, fancy dinner rolls, bread wraps (which we’ll have for lunch), fruited bread from which we’ll make hot cross buns and Chelsea buns, loaf of bread, focaccia and pizza.

My aim is to turn you into a competent home baker (if you’re not already!) able to bake any bread you fancy.

The kettle is always on for a mug of tea or coffee (cost 20p). For lunch we’ll have a couple of the cheesey wraps.

Bring a large basket or cardboard box to carry all your equipment and ingredients - and the finished products to take home with you!

I want to reassure all those students new to breadmaking that my first aim for this workshop is for everyone to enjoy their learning – I always delight in these sessions, and it’s my job to see that everyone else does. Breadmaking is an easy, everyday craft – as you’ll come to realise!

If you have a particular variety of bread you'd like to make instead of one of the breads on offer, I'd be very happy for you to do that. Get in touch if this idea appeals to you and we will see how we could fit it in to the programme. Or if you have any questions, doubts, suggestions at all, please don’t hesitate to ring or email me.

I have a blog - part bread making, part vegan cookery - in which I detail all my breadmaking activities. Here's the post I've opened about this workshop.

Finally, I’d like to draw your attention to the word ‘Companion’. The ‘com’ part means together – as in community – and the ‘pan’ part of the word means bread. So the word ‘Companion’ can be taken to mean, ‘Someone who makes bread with his or her friends’. Which is exactly what we shall be doing!

I look forward to meeting you and welcoming you on the course.

Paul 

Ps. I’ve just heard there are 11 students signed up, so this is going to be a really busy workshop. We’ve reached this number due to the cancellation of a planned workshop in Frome. So, welcome to the Frome students - I’ll do my best to make sure that you find your journey worthwhile.

There are a couple of things I’d like to draw your attention to (I’ll mention these again in the session, of course):

Because it is such a big group, I’m going to be more dependent than usual on student cooperation. I’ll be giving everyone as much attention as I can, but if I’m occupied elsewhere, and you can help your fellow students, that would be a huge benefit. Bread making lends itself to co-operative endeavour in my opinion.

I’ll be bringing my own ovens, which are small (but very efficient), about the size of a microwave, with 3 shelves. To fit 3 trays in the ovens, we don’t want the bread to rise too high. So, flat(ish) breads are the order of the day. The ovens are very good, with 2 elements - the top element bakes the top of the bread, whilst the bottom element bakes the underneath. So, the trays need to be circulated - top to bottom to middle, etc. Timing is very important, so please bring a kitchen timer if you can - I wish to avoid any burnt bread if at all possible.

Ingredients:

Flour. Don't forget to specify strong flour, as this is sold especially for breadmaking. Own-brand flours are fine.

Yeast. The most convenient for our purposes is fresh baker’s yeast – if you can’t get hold of any, I’ll have enough for everyone.

Olive oil. This is much cheaper these days, and it does improve the bread. Once again, buy the cheapest you can - £1.99 (I think!) for 750ml at Lidl!

Shopping list:

2 bags strong flour – one white and one wholemeal, or 2 white

Baking powder

250ml olive oil

100g sugar

Salt

50g fresh yeast if you can get some – or I'll have some for 10p

Sesame/poppy seeds

200g sultanas or any dried fruit 

Mixed spice/cinnamon/nutmeg

150g grated Cheddar

Tomato sauce of your choice for the pizza

Dried oregano if you have it

Rosemary – fresh or dried

Black pepper

Some tomatoes/mushrooms/onions/peppers for the wraps and pizza

You will also need to bring:

An apron

A couple of tea towels, both to cover your dough whilst it's proving and to wrap any warm bread in to take home.

Baking parchment or paper (this is unlike greaseproof paper as it contains silicon)

Something to carry away the finished products (a large basket or cardboard box lined with tea towels would be ideal)

Sharp knife

Mug for hot drink

BREADMAKING AT HADSPEN VH, 2014

Breadmaking made easy workshop, 10.00am - 4.00pm

28^th Sept and 5^th October at Hadspen Village Hall

Here's where I shall post everything about these two workshops - the planning, the breadmaking, the pics.

And here's the previous post about breadmaking at Hadspen.

BREADMAKING IN WINCANTON 27th SEPT 2014

Here's where I'll post my planning and preparation for this workshop.

And here I've posted the result of a similar workshop I held in High Ham village hall, High Ham, Somerset in December 2013.

BREADMAKING AT HADSPEN VILLAGE HALL

Stop Press: The last I heard is that there are still two places left. Get in touch if this appeals.

21^st July 2013

Here's the letter I sent this morning for the organiser to distribute to the students:

Breadmaking made easy workshops, 10.00am - 4.00pm

27^th July and 3^rd August at Hadspen Village Hall

Dear Student,

This letter sets out what I intend will happen on the first day and includes a list of items which you will need in the session. If you are new to breadmaking, let me reassure you that it is much easier than you may have been led to believe. It is indeed, ‘easy peasy’! Oh, and it’s also a lot of fun, as you’ll find out!

The session will begin in a relaxed fashion – the first thing you need to do is to find somewhere at the side of the hall to park all your stuff, get yourself a drink and a chair to sit on round the tables in the middle.

Before we start breadmaking I’d like to spend some time finding out what you expect to get out of the day’s session so that I can hope to meet all your requirements.

Lunch. We’ll be eating around 12.30-1.00, and everyone will make their own. All you need to bring is a little cheese – say 50g – and a tomato or a mushroom.

Here’s the programme for the first workshop as it stands:

Soda bread – with variations

Sizzlers (wraps) for lunch + fancy dinner rolls

Loaf – wholemeal or white plus seeds

Chelsea buns, spicy fruit buns

Focaccia and pizza

Sourdough: Sometime on the first workshop, you’ll be creating a sourdough starter to take home. For this you’ll need a jar of some kind – an ordinary jam jar would be fine - a 1ltr Kilner jar would be perfect! On the following Sunday we’ll use this to make a sourdough loaf.

If you don’t see the bread you’ve always wanted to make on this list, get in touch and we’ll see how we could fit it in to the programme.     

I have a blog, which I call “No bread is an island”, in which I write about – among other things – my teaching practice. On here I’ve started a post, “Hadspen breadmaking”, which contains all (most) of what you need to know about the course, including all my planning:

http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/breadmaking-at-hadspen-village-hall.html

Keep an eye on this, if you can – and check out the many recipes on the blog, including those for the breads I’ve already mentioned.

I have several aims for this course, one of which is that everyone should enjoy themselves! Another is that everyone will make good bread. At any time during the day the kettle can go on for a mug of tea or coffee. Cost 20p.

I'm sorry if this all sounds a bit daunting. Please let me assure you that it will all fall into place quite easily. If you have any suggestions, (or concerns) at all, please don't hesitate to ring me, I'm always very happy to talk to my students about bread.

Finally, can I draw your attention to the word ‘Companion’? The ‘com’ part means together – as in community – and the ‘pan’ part of the word means bread. So ‘Companions’ are people who make bread together! Which is what we shall be doing over these two Saturdays!

Best regards,

Paul Youd (Course Tutor)

You will need to bring:

Apron

Several tea towels, both to cover your dough whilst it's proving and to wrap any warm bread in to take home.

Something to carry away the finished products (a large basket or cardboard box lined with tea towels would be ideal)

Mug for hot drinks

Jar for the sourdough starter

You can also bring the following items – but they’re not essential:

Set of measuring spoons

Any favourite cooking utensil – sharp knife/scissors are always useful

Your favourite baking tray

Your favourite weighscales

Overall programme:

Soda breads

Fancy dinner rolls and freeform loaves

Small filled savoury breads – from sizzlers through stuffed parathas to pierogis and baozi (Chinese buns)

Larger filled savoury breads – from pasties to calzones to pane casereccio

Hot cross buns, through Chelseas to apfel kuchen (German apple cake) or schiacciata con l’uva

Flatbreads – from naan through pitta to trenchers and focaccia to pizzas

Sweetened breads – from iced buns through Devonshire splits to pain au chocolat and jam doughnuts

No-knead overnight bread

Yeast-risen batters – pikelets and socca

1st July 2013

Following the successful Breadmaking Made Easy course at Hornblotton in May, I've been asked by a student on the course to run a similar course at Hadspen Village Hall in South Somerset, on July 27th and August 3rd.

Here's the programme so far:

Soda bread – with variations

Sizzlers (wraps) for lunch + fancy dinner rolls

Loaf – wholemeal or white plus seeds

Chelsea buns, spicy fruit buns

Focaccia and pizza

This is just the suggested programme – for those with some experience of breadmaking I can offer these variations – apfel kuchen instead of Chelseas, fougasse instead of focaccia, calzone instead of pizza.

On the second Saturday students will decide themselves which breads we make - possibly sweet calzone; cheese, broccoli and potato pasties; sweet and savoury canapés. But we'll definitely include sourdough.