When we had eight lovely food bloggers join us for an Artisan Baking with Seeds & Grains class, I was very intrigued by how the class would unfold with eight DSLRs and eight smart phones hovering around the floury and doughy training room. Make that nine, if you include my SLR and iPhone.
Gathered around the table with our Training Manager Matt
Cameras slung around their necks, these girls were ready to get down to business. Clarissa from Eat My Shots!, Chanel from Cats Love Cooking, Vivian from When The World Stops Spinning, Lau from Corridor Kitchen, Sneh from Cook Republic, Corinne from Gourmantic, Jen from Jenius and Shierly from Gastronomous Anonymous… Phew. What a list.
We get straight into it. Matt tells us we’re going to be baking a Struan Multigrain Loaf first.
The soaker for our Struan Multigrain Loaf
Matt shows us the ingredients of the soaker: three different types of flour (organic unbleached wheat flour and wholemeal stoneground wholemeal flour from Kialla as well as wholemeal flour from Laucke) and a mixture of sunflower seeds and linseed with a boiled grain mixture of organic whole wheat, organic whole barley and organic whole oats.
Yeast, olive oil and agave nectar
Also for the Struan Multigrain Loaf, Matt has prepared little dishes of yeast, olive oil and agave nectar. We mix all the ingredients together with our hands to create a gooey, sticky dough.
Bulk fermentation (and that's me in the reflection!)
The dough is placed underneath these bowls for bulk fermentation before we start shaping it into bakers rounds.
Matt shaping the Struan dough into a bakers round
Shaping dough is no easy feat, as I discovered through baking classes and my short encounter in the production side of the bakery. Moulding the Struan dough into a perfectly smooth and round shape takes some patience. Then it’s time for bulk fermentation.
Struan loaves fresh out of the oven
When the Struan loaves come out of the oven, I have to say I’m pretty impressed. They’re looking good! And they smell divine. Unfortunately, we can’t dig in right away because the bread needs to cool down first.
Clarissa measuring dough for her granary dinner rolls
Then it’s time to make Granary Dinner Rolls. It’s the same dough used for the Granary Loaves, but instead in the shape of dinner rolls.
Baguettes and bloggers!
Next up, we roll out baguettes, one of which will be a Seeded EPI Baguette. And these seeds sure pack a punch!
Rolling the baguette in seeds
This seed mixture is so potent in flavour and adds such an interesting dimension to the traditional baguette. The mixture includes fennel, poppyseeds, sesame seeds and nigella.
Jen cutting her Seeded EPI Baguette
Like a pro Jen cuts the Seeded Baguette into an EPI Baguette (wheat stalk-shaped baguette). You look like you’ve done this before, Jen! 😉
My creations before baking
My breads are looking a bit odd-shaped (especially that baguette at the front), but after they’re baked they look much better! And taste so good, I might add.
The outcome!
Lookin’ good! The outcome is pretty impressive. Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves, we then get to have a bit of a mini-Breaducation™ session. We taste various breads with delicious cheeses, roe paste and Pepe Saya butter (so yum – I can’t get enough of this butter).
Preparing the cheese with thyme, garlic and white wine
Matt even whips up this amazing cheese dish, using Fromager des Clarines spiked with fresh thyme and garlic, then topped with white wine. He puts it in the oven, and it comes out melted to perfection.
Join our Super Seeds & Grains class on Wednesday 26 October, which is part of the Crave Sydney International Food Festival 2011. To make a booking, call us on 1300 966 845 or enquire online.
We hope to see you there!
