My friend Cammy and I share many similarities. One of our shared loves is food. We both have a passion for healthy, unprocessed foods and enjoy being in the kitchen. Last fall we took a cheesemaking class. Yesterday, we took a bread making class. We took Bread 101 from King Arthur Flour’s Baking Education Center in Norwich, Vermont.

I love bread (I’ve got the hips to prove it). Somewhere there is a picture of me in a walker (it was the late 60’s don’t judge), standing beside the bread drawer at my Aunt’s house. I’ve pulled out the bag and am a happily noshing on a slice of Wonder Bread. I’m can say that, my taste for bread has improved greatly over the years.

This class was amazing and so much more than I expected. We left the class with 3 loaves of fresh made bread and 8 scones (well, I left with 7 because, I ate one fresh from the oven :)). We made a basic white bread that we shaped into a loaf for a pan as well as a braided loaf. We also made pane scalita, a traditional italian bread that is made with a mix of all purpose flour and semolina, then shaped and topped with toasted sesame seeds. The class was tightly choreographed yet it didn’t feel rushed. While the white bread was resting, there was a demo for the pane scaliata and while the other breads were cooking, we made a quick batch of buttermilk scones. Scones will never intimidate me again.

I have a bread machine, but after taking this class, I’m not sure I’ll be using it a lot. Melt-in-your mouth bread is the most amazing experience and it really isn’t that hard to make. The act of kneading the dough is also very calming. Irene was our lead instructor and Karen was her support. They were both wonderful. They were full of tips and tricks, encouragement, gentle correction and lots of complements.

The fragrance as the bread began to bake was almost soothing. We all oohed and aaahhed as the breads came out of the oven. Then they cut up the demonstration loaf of white bread. There was a collective sigh of contentment as we enjoyed the fruits of our labor. After the class, Cammy and I headed across the street to the King Arthur Flour Baking Store and put our 10% coupon to good use.

The King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center is about 1.5 hours from Concord (just down the road from the Montshire Museum and a stone’s throw from Hanover, New Hampshire. Follow the directions on the web site (or enter the exact coordinates in your GPS, ahem). The campus is located right of exit 13 of I-91 in Vermont.

I was not compensated in anyway for these words.  These are  purely my opinions.