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Baking with escargo

David S. Cargo's Baking and Oven-Building Classes

Latest news

Baking classes for 2014 now listed in the schedule.

Links:

Location: / / Descriptions Language: en
 

Descriptions

Each class includes a handout that covers that subject of the class. It’s the equivalent of a chapter out of a cookbook devoted to the specific subject of the class. (People have told me that my writing is clear and understandable.)

I plan to include pictures of some of the items created for these classes so that you can get a better idea of what some of these classes make.

Current Class Descriptions

Advice for the Loaf-Lorn

Has your relationship with homemade bread been unsatisfying? Bring stories or examples of your failed attempts at homemade bread to share with supportive class members and an experienced home and cafe bread baker and start on the road toward a more successful relationship with homemade bread.

More detail here.

Best Supporting Roll

Sometimes the best bread to serve with a meal is a roll. Rolls don’t have to be bland and forgettable; rolls can fill your mouth with flavor. Learn how to make a variety of shapes and flavors to complement your meals.

More detail here.

Biscotti Bounty

Don’t settle for biscotti without your favorite flavors! Learn to make your own biscotti. Make biscotti for a fraction of the cost of coffee shop biscotti. Enjoy your own creations or give them away as gifts sure to be welcomed.

Bread in a Bag

You can make bread at home with minimal equipment, plus just six ingredients. You can have a loaf of bread out of the oven in as little as 90 minutes. Learn how, while making your own loaf to bake at home after class.

More detail here.

Facebook album

Bread without Fear

Learn to bake bread from scratch with confidence. Learn the three essential skills for successful bread baking and how to avoid bread baking failures. Learn how to choose recipes, shape loaves, and enjoy fresh baked bread out of your own oven.

Build and Bake in a Portable Brick Oven

Join David S. Cargo to learn how to build a portable stacked-brick oven. After the oven is built, it will be fired up while students learn how to make dough for flatbreads, pizza, and bread. Bake all these in the brick oven and then eat them. (A more complete description is here.)

Feast of Flatbreads

Think outside the pizza box. Flatbreads have the longest history of any breads. They range from cracker breads to the modern pizza. Through thick and thin, flatbreads are used as appetizers, sides, or main courses. Learn about their range, some specific examples, and taste the results.

A Game of Scones

Win the battle to produce tasty and tender scones and biscuits. Scones and biscuits can be sweet or savory, incorporating fruit, nuts, or other tasty additions. Some kinds are yeasted, while others a leavened with baking powder and baking soda. In many repects, scones and biscuits are very similar in method and formulae. With practice, your scones will reign supreme.

Learn to Bake in a Wood-fired Oven

Join David S. Cargo to learn how to bake in a wood-fired oven. Students will learn how to make dough for flatbreads (including naan and pita) and pizza, and how to fire-roast vegetables. All of these foods will be baked on site in the Mary & Peter Gove wood-fired oven. Students will leave with knowledge of wood-fired ovens, the nature of baking at different temperature ranges, several recipes for a wood-fired oven, and practice baking in one of these ovens. (This class is currently exclusively held at the White Bear Center for Arts, but could be held as a private class at a location that already has a wood-fired oven.)

Muffins in Minutes

Don’t spend your hard-earned dollars for store-bought muffins when you can make your own quickly, more cheaply, and more healthy. A few simple techniques and a couple of simple tools will put a myriad of different muffin recipes at your fingertips and in your oven in short order.

Multigrain Breads

Learn to bake multigrain breads with interesting flavors and shapes. Learn three different methods for combining different grains into the same loaf. Learn about enhancing the flavor of breads with starters and added ingredients.

Facebook album

No-Knead Breads

Learn three different methods of creating no-knead breads and their different advantages and disadvantages. These methods are simple, but have equipment needs and limitations to take into consideration.

Facebook album

Nuts for Granola

Learn to make your own granola so that you know what is in it and so you can save money. Make granola with your own favorite ingredients for a fraction of the cost of gourmet granola. Use your own granola as an ingredient in other recipes as well.

Sweet Dough Creations

Learn about different enriched breads and the many shapes that sweet dough coffee cakes can form: Swedish tea rings, butterflies, hearts, coffee cake twists. Learn how to make over-night cinnamon rolls that will have your friends asking for more.

Facebook album

Facebook album for Swedish Tea Ring

Facebook album for Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Too Much Bread

Learn to make economical and convenient main dishes, side dishes, and desserts with your leftover bread. Join the exploration of international cuisines for solutions to your problem of surplus bread. A world of sweet and savory tastes awaits you.

Quick Cakes and Bars

Make delicious chocolate cakes, delightful oatmeal raisin bar cookies, and tasty pumpkin bars without the fuss of using a heavy-duty mixer. Learn how to make these with just a sauce-pan and a spoon or a mixing bowl and hand mixer. Simple recipes with easy techniques will “wow” your family and friends.

Yeast Gone Wild

Sourdough breads are the truly traditional breads, going back thousands of years. Sourdough takes patience, but it can be rewarding. Learn how to make your own starters and about their care and feeding. Get samples of starters to take home.

Requested Classes

These are classes that have been suggested, but not yet developed. If any of these interest you, contact me and we can see about firming up the description and actual content of the class.

Gluten-free Baking

Baking gluten-free is something I don’t have much experience with, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t learn enough to be useful. Some people think that gluten-free is a fad that has already peaked. For others, having to eat gluten-free is just a fact of life.

Crackers and Cracker Breads

Some people want to be able to make their own crackers. (I know I do, but I don’t know if that would make for a good class.) I would probably cover graham crackers, saltines, and cracker breads.

Pretzels

Pretzels have their own unique twist on bread-baking. Is this too specialized? Time will tell.