Knead to Know, Part I

Friday night: 6:00-10:00

I didn't quite know what to expect when I walked into the Natural Gourmet Institute. I'd been there once before for one of their Friday night meals cooked by their culinary students, but never for a class. In fact, I'd never been to any cooking class. When I entered the upstairs kitchen, I was greeted by two long stainless steel work stations with flour and other ingredients neatly organized on them. Beyond that was counter top with a workspace surrounded by burners. Over head was a flat screen facing the 'class' which showed the counter and burners close up so that everyone could see what the chef was doing with his hands.


Shortly after I arrived, other eager students began filing in. At first I thought I was going to be the only male, then a few guys straggled through the door, the end ratio coming in at 11:4 female:male. It was the first time I thought about the question, "who wants to learn how to make bread?" What was I doing here? For me, it was more than just a matter of being given the opportunity to sit in on the class. Had I ever dreamed of making my own pita, my own focaccia? Not really. But as I delve further and further into my own relationship with food and cooking, it seemed like a pretty wonderful skill to have. And I must say, just being in a school devoted to the culinary arts was thrilling.

A few minutes after 6:00, Peter (I'll have to devote a different post to the chef) took the floor and explained the game plan. In the first session, we would be doing a lot of prep work and a little baking. That meant mixing, shaping dough and also letting it rest. Because, as I soon learned, bread-making is about careful preparation and patience. Most dough needs time to rise after you kneed it, then it needs to be deflated, then needs time to rest. Yeast is a living organism and needs to be treated with care and cultivation. And as corny as it sounds, it's this care that makes the bread taste so damn good.


What was particularly fun about the evening was just getting in and getting messy. The process of mixing and kneading dough is hard work. It's like working with clay, really feeling the flour and water and yeast transform into a dough fit for the oven. It was most fulfilling.

The one bread we did get to make from start to finish that night was a whole-wheat pita. While you might think pita is difficult to make, it's not. The picture up top is Peter rolling out the whole wheat dough. Then we cut it into little balls. After letting them rest, these were rolled flat and but in the oven. The coolest thing is that they puff up and create their own pockets! It just happens. We enjoyed our fresh pita with humus and some wine and left the dough to rise til morning.