From Scratch: How to Bake in Three Days

A hands-on in-person cooking class. Alongside the baked goods, a hearty snack of cheeses, veggies and dips, and a seasonal salad will be served with wine and beer. This class is limited to 12 students. Review our registration and cancellation policies here.

Have you wanted to bake from scratch but felt intimidated? Are you a seasoned baker struggling to discover what went wrong in your latest creation? Join Chef Jennifer for this three-day workshop and have your fears and questions answered. To become a star baker, you only need to understand a few baking principles, techniques and basic mixing methods, all of which will be reinforced throughout the workshop. There are only a handful of techniques involved in baking, and once mastered, endeavoring to make a new recipe will be stress-free and easy. 

Jennifer’s years of scientific training will be woven throughout the workshop. Baking isn’t a mystery; if you want to know the reason behind baking fundamentals, Jennifer will be your resource!

This three-week series will empower home bakers with the fundamental skills and confidence to bake whatever they desire.
 

Day 1 is Sunday, February 2, 2024, from 4 to 8 pm.

• Explore the Baking Arsenal. You will learn about the necessary baking tools and equipment, how to read a recipe, and how to measure and prepare ingredients correctly. By the end of this course, your ample experience in weighing, preparing, and baking will see you through many stress-free recipes.
• Together, we'll examine the science behind creaming butter and sugar, baking soda versus baking powder, different sugars, and high and low-temperature baking.
• The Mixing Methods and the Function of Ingredients: Throughout the course, you’ll learn about the basic mixing methods and their modifications. We’ll examine how each fundamental baking ingredient affects the final product and how to make substitutes. In this first class, we’ll use two of these methods to bake cookies and muffins.
• Techniques: 
  • Creaming Method: We’ll make chocolate chip cookies, varying the ingredients and process to see how each affects the final cookie. We’ll also make a classic sweet, crisp tart shell to bake and freeze for next week’s French Lemon Tart.
  • Muffin method: We’ll make spiced pumpkin muffins, fill them with maple syrup-cream cheese, and top them with Pepita Streusel.

Menu for Day 1

• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Pepita Streusel and Maple Syrup-Cream Cheese Filling
• Sweet Tart Shells
   

Day 2 is Sunday, February 9, 2024, from 4 to 8 pm.

• Explore “The Incredible Edible Egg”: We’ll learn all about eggs and their importance in baking. You’ll learn the custard mixing method, which uses egg yolks to make silky smooth baked custard (Crème Brulée) and a thick, unctuous, spreadable stirred custard (Pastry Cream). You’ll finish this class using an egg foam (aka meringue) to make a spectacular gruyere souffle.
• Techniques: 
  • Baked custards: We’ll use egg yolks to make silky smooth Crème Brulée.
  • Stirred custard: We’ll make two custards here: a thick, unctuous, spreadable Pastry Cream (an indispensable recipe everyone needs in their repertoire) and a puckering Lemon Curd to fill the sweet tart shell we baked in the last class.
  • Layer cake: We’ll fill two vanilla sponge cake layers with pastry cream and finish the cake with bittersweet chocolate ganache. 
  • Egg foam: We’ll use separated eggs to make a delicious Gruyère cheese soufflé.

Menu for Day 2

• Crème Brulée
• Pastry Cream
• Boston Cream Pie with Chocolate Ganache Icing
• French Lemon Tart
• Gruyere Souffles

Day 3 is Sunday, February 16, 2024, from 4 to 8 pm.

• Explore versatile Dough: Pie dough, flakey dough, sweet tart dough and bread dough. You’ll learn to make flaky, all-butter pie dough and tender, sweet, short dough (similar to a cookie). Then, it’s on to yeasted bread dough.
• The Biscuit Method, used to make pie dough and biscuits, involves incorporating cold butter or fat into flour to produce a flaky texture. 
• The straight Dough method is the most basic and easy bread dough, where everything is mixed at once.
• Techniques: 
  • Flakey pie dough: We’ll use butter to create a dough that, when baked, creates a tender, flakey crust. 
  • Straight dough: We’ll make long parmesan cheese breadsticks and focaccia, all using yeasted dough. You'll feel like an Italian nonna.

Menu for Day 3

• Flaky Pie Dough
• Apple Galette
• Parmesan Breadsticks
• No-knead Focaccia with Rosemary and Olives

Now, channel your inner pastry chef, tie on an apron and let’s get baking!
 

This menu contains the following common allergens: Egg, Soy, Tree Nuts, Dairy, Wheat. If you have allergies or dietary restrictions that concern your ability to cook along, please e-mail info@18reasons.org before purchasing a ticket.

Let’s Cook Together! 

Jennifer Altman began her culinary journey at age eight baking and cooking for her family and friends. After a career in science, she followed her passion and became a pastry chef. She is now a culinary instructor teaching both professional and amateur cooks nationally and internationally. She loves anything to do with food—cooking, gardening, recipe developing, teaching, and is particularly interested in food sustainability.