Sunday, August 22, 2010

German Baking with Volker Bauman: BBGA Workshop. Calgary, Alberta



Class Picture August 2010 SAIT Calgary Alberta Canada

Here is a synopsis of out German Baking Workshop and some pictures:








Bread Bakers’ Guild of America; World’s Fair of Bread
German Baking in the Rockies. August 16th, 17th 2010
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT Polytechnic), Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Instructor: Volker Bauman
Assisted by: Leopold Newismal
About an hour east of the Rockies, on the banks of the Bow River, 15 baking aficionados, drawn together by the mystique of fermented grain and the chance to study with the Master Baker Volker Bauman and his assistant Leopold, in the well appointed kitchens of SAIT in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
The recipes that we were exposed to were:
· Braided Challah, (Including 5 and 6 strands)
· Pretzels (25% rye and/or Pastry flour)
· Fancy Rolls, (Including Crescent Rolls)
· Sunflower Walnut Rye Bread (60% Rye-stage sourdough starter long cool ripening time)
· Kasseler Rye Bread (40% Rye 1-stage sourdough starter long cool ripening time)
· Alsation Rye Bread (50% Rye-1 stage sourdough starter, short warm ripening time)
· Frankonia Rye Bread (80% Rye-Detmolder 3 Stage sourdough starter long cool to start ripening with 3rd stage slightly warmer)
· Vollkorn Brot (100% Rye, meal fine and coarse long room temp 1 stage with soaker)
· Bee Sting Cake (Beinenstitch) Pastry Cream filling with semi candied almond/butter/honey topping)

Volker explained that there were over 200 styles of German bread so we were just exposed to a sampling of their traditions. It was interesting to re-examine this type of baking as the ‘Artisan’ movement has emphasize the super-hydrated long fermentation products in recent years.
Some of the points that stood out were:
· Unnecessary to keep a Rye starter more than a few days, making it fresh as needed
· Explanation of ‘Starch Attack’ and the magic of controlling this with acidified starters
· Use of fresh yeast even in sour-dough constructed breads
· Short bench and secondary fermentation times
· Roasting and grinding of spices to subtly improve the flavor of the Frankonia Rye
· Short soaking time for grains to avoid excessive enzyme activity
· Development of Lactic and Acetic acids by controlling temperatures and hydration of starters
· Baking at high temperatures

The participants were engaged and interested, there was lots of ‘hands-on’ activity. Volker and Leopold were inundated with many interesting questions and often passionate discussion ensued. The products were wonderful, and it would be easy to have baked with Volker for many more days! The workshop was an unequivocal success! Looking forward to more events happening ‘North of the Border’.











Pretzel Dipping (MB)







Volker slashing breads before baking





Rolling out dough for crescent buns






Sunflower Walnut Rye



Leopold Newismal



Fancy Rolls





Almond Miture spread on Beehive cakes (Beinenstich)





Alsation (Berliner) Rye





Rolling and garnishing the Vollkorn Bread






Comparing Flour Samples (The Pekar test)




Bountiful Challah!






Mountaino' Pretzels!





Class Products

Monday, July 26, 2010

Baking With Jack Lang in Cambridge UK









Nothing wrong with a 'busman's holiday!' Below are some pictures of a wonderful day baking with Jack Lang. We hand mixed in the garden and baked in the wood fired oven.



Task-master at the ready










Stretching and folding and stretching and folding and ......





Jack making sure that I do it right.





Magic pure magic!


and final test!
Sunflower Flax and Mustard Seed...a variation on Tracy M's recipe.
The Bounty! Sour Dough Rye
Jack's trial of Emmer wheat (maybe it was Einkorn). The garden and orchard were amazing.
Thanks, Jack for having me!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Villa Reale and Ponti De Diablo



Random Selection Of Pictures from the Villa Reale and one of the Devil's Bridge

We were the only visitors on a sultry afternoon. Magic


The Pool In the Lemon Garden



As above



100 year old lemon trees in terra cotta



One of the random fountains





Waterfall pond in front of main villa

Ancient Grape Vines




Main Villa



Another pond



Front Lawn...stretches about an acre



Pan's Grotto



Kitchen.....needs a bit of work!




Private privet garden




Devils Bridge












Pics of Buti, Firenza and Vicopisano Italy


The Kiss in mosaic Firenza


Petit Four Seca, Firenza

Panforte Firenza


Mailbox for a postcard? Buti





Castela Tonini, Buti





Doorway, Buti





Doorway Vicopisano. See the face above the lintel.







Olives and Grapes early morning Casa Bici Buti







Why this blog.....

My photo
January to March 2009. I was on Professional Development leave from my teaching Job at the Culinary Institute of Vancouver Island Universtity. I chose to take a 3 month leave to visit bakeries and teachng institutions in Australia. Thank you to VIU and my union (BCGEU) for supporting this venture. The aim of this blog was to keep an ongoing diary of my experiences and share them with my students and colleagues. This sure beats coming up with a report and slide show months later. I mean "FRESH" is what baking is all about! Learned to bake back in 1978....making granola...but that is another story. .