A Stir The Pots Post

Schools out for summer…breaking my teeth on baguettes!

by | Aug 16, 2009 | SFBI

IMG_0614

Hydration, percentages, bulk ferment, levain, pre-ferment, biga…

IMG_0568

My baking vacation at  Michel Suas’s bread baking classes at SFBI left my head packed with, we’ll call them, “breadisms.”

IMG_0563

IMG_0572

This first course, Artisan I, was focused on baguettes, difficult yet simple. The egg shelled, soft crumb loaves, considered sometimes holy or holey. My first batches were horrible, I was out of practice, lacking bench time, not to mention without a deck oven at home. Regardless, no excuses! Just got to practice, practice and finally, one day, you can get a perfect baguette. Then you can make anything else; a batard, a boule, or even a miche!

IMG_0586

On arrival, my first quest for school was getting there. Or rather, walking there. For whatever reason, each morning I woke up with a first-time-at-kindergarten  butterflies. It’s been a decade since my first baking course and I now
get stage fright. A lot of dough has passed between my hands since those early days. Today I’m an actual professional chef, but still just
baking like a crazed uncontrolled yeast infection in my apartment.

Anyway, each day’s brisk walk to and from the school let me work my way through the anxiety, as it led me through an industrialized park, manicured lawns of a DNA company, even a nice creek with wild fennel and birds,and always at the beginning of the day, the rising sun.

CIMG6541

Wild fennel with escargot, hmmm nice flavors!

CIMG6610

Wild life amongst the industrial park, there is hope for the planet!?

IMG_0564

The sun came out of all the San Francisco fog, actually we had a few hot days.

I will write a lot more about the class, but I am heading out tomorrow for the other half of my vacation, sort of a working food trip… more on that later!

Finally just a thank you of course to Erin Bailey, Laura Luna, Safa Hamzé and all the interns who fed us daily! Oh, I can’t forget Michel Suas, for providing a rich environment for budding bakers to grow, like a levain, we just keep rising!

So here are some more baguettes.

IMG_0608

IMG_0676

4 Comments

  1. MC

    Great post and great pictures! I love it and can’t wait to read more. Have a great food vacation!

    Reply
  2. Nils

    Good stuff. Wow, baguette in the 1st course…tough. Did the other bakers catch up with you?

    Reply
  3. sydnee kennedy

    You are more than welcome for the food! And your baguettes look fabulous.
    -Sydnee Kennedy (SFBI Intern)

    Reply
  4. Hilmar

    I was looking for information about SFBI and found you.
    Great blog! I love it!
    Happy Holidays!

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Find More

Follow Us

Feel free to follow us on social media for the latest news and more inspiration.

Related Content

Brezlen

Brezlen

Pretzels, or Brezeln, are the iconic knot-shaped bread from Germanic origins that I can't get enough of, especially...

read more
Rosetta Rolls

Rosetta Rolls

I can't deny being a little obsessive about "getting it right," at least with baking.  Take my pursuit of a perfect...

read more