Five day Bread Making class with Richard Bertinet

Five day bread making course with 
Richard Bertinet

Our 5 day breadmaking course is our flagship or Rolls Royce class.  It is the one that entices you from all corners of the globe and, though we say it ourselves, it really is a fantastic week.  With thanks to chrisdaviesphotography.com (for most of the shots taken while he was with us on the class), here is a look at the full five days and what some of you have had to say about it…..

Day 1 – An Introduction to Breadmaking (the Bertinet way!)

Teaching

Day 1 is a vital part of the course where Richard makes sure that you have got the basic techniques on board.  Whether you are new to bread making, new to his techniques or even if you have been working from the books for some time there is plenty to learn.  Lots of individual attention but all of it good fun!

Working 2           Working hands

By the end of the day you will have created fougasse (and flashed your first fougasse grin!) bread sticks, foccaccia, tin loaves and prepared a flamiche for lunch.

Day 2 – French Breads

Day 2 has a distinctly French feel.  You will learn how to make a classic baguette, epis and pain de campagne.  But more importantly you will start to learn about some of the key themes that run through the week.

BertinetDay2French       

The first is working with ferments as we look at how using a poolish can develop the flavour of your bread.  Then there is dividing and the key skill of moulding which takes practice, practice and more practice and is something Richard regularly reinforces with our own team of bakers.   You will also start to learn how to use a lame correctly and how to bake with steam.

 End of day

Day 3 – Italian Breads

Day 3 develops both the idea of working with a ferment (though as today has an Italian theme, it is a biga, for the ciabatta) and the moulding work.

Prepping ciabatta         Ciabatta

We also cover filled breads and look a little closer at working with inclusions.

                    italian      Italian 2

By the end of the day you will have created piles of beautiful authentic ciabatta, roasted tomato and pesto bread, bread swirls with parma ham and pine nuts, grissini and more.

Day 4 – Starting your sourdough
Dark doughs and Sweet doughs

On day 4 we start the work we will complete on day 5 and take the first steps towards our sourdough.  But we also spend day 4 looking at the differences in working with darker flours and the process of enriching doughs with butter, sugar and milk to create sweet doughs.

Brioche     Working1

You will learn how to handle wholemeal and spelt doughs, how to make brioche, baguette viennoise, fruited tea loaves and even doughnuts.

Baguette viennoise      Doughnuts

Day 5 – Sourdoughs and other slow doughs

Day 5 is all about sourdough.  There is a bit of theory but also a lot of practical work covering white sourdough, rye sourdough and wholemeal sourdough.

Sourdough 2

You will be perfecting moulding techniques, turning out beautiful loaves from your proving baskets and practising loading them into an oven to bake with steam and produce a fantastic crust.

Sourdough1

Bertinet Bread Day 5 Sourdough

The Trimmings

At the end of each day, the class gathers to make lunch.  Something different everyday but always something to complement the bread you have been working on….

Preparing lunch

…flamiche with some left over white doughs, hanger steak to stuff in a freshly baked baguette, pizza of course on the Italian breads day plus some smoked salmon, rocket and roasted cherry tomato pasta, tartiflette or perhaps some soups for dunking.

Preparing lunch 2

It’s time for a well earned glass of wine and a chance to digest what you have learned that day with your fellow bakers.  Richard is on hand to answer any queries you might have and to chat about bread and baking in all its aspects.

Lunch 1

What you think about it…

This is an example of the lovely unsolicited feedback we have for the 5 day bread course…..

“I just wanted to write to you to say how much I enjoyed the bread making course last week. It really was a most relaxing, inspiring and rewarding experience, and it has certainly changed my view of bread. I will never buy or eat sliced bread again, and I very much hope that I will not be tempted to spend money on other people’s speciality bread either! I have made a few baguettes over the last few days, and rather surprised everyone with the results. Everything you said to us last week makes perfect sense – and the results are very rewarding.

I am so glad that I stayed for the whole course. Everything seemed to make much more sense by Friday, as you wisely predicted, and I found the chat at the end of the course really useful….

Finally, I thought that the course was extremely well designed and put together, and it would be difficult for me to suggest any changes or improvements. Breakfast, coffee & prunes, and a delicious lunch were a real treat, and I can only guess how much work you and your team had put in behind the scenes. The logic and content of the programme was perfect in my view.  Jess gave me a piece of your ferment on Friday, and it has already been pressed into service, and refreshed!

Many thanks to both you and your team for a really delightful and enjoyable five days in Bath. I know that there are other bread making courses around, but for me there can only be one – as I will happily tell my friends.”

and the nitty gritty…

Our 5 day bread course runs 5 or 6 times a year.  The price includes lunch with wine every day, all materials and ingredients, a recipe pack and folder, a signed copy of Richard Bertinet’s CRUST, a dough scraper, and a lame and blades.

Team shot

15 replies
  1. Jo Bertinet
    Jo Bertinet says:

    Hello – 2019 dates as far as planned are available to view on the website. We look forward to welcoming you to the kitchen in 2019.

    Reply
    • Carrie Bell
      Carrie Bell says:

      Hello Anita
      Our 5 Day Bread Making course commencing on 7th January 2019 starts at 10am and will finish around 3.30 – 4pm each day. Please do let us know if you have any further question about our courses.
      We hope to be able to welcome you to the Kitchen early in 2019.
      With kind regards
      Carrie

      Reply
  2. Anke Strube
    Anke Strube says:

    Hi. I am so excited to join the bread making course at the 9th march. I hope my English is good enough to understand all the instructions. I am on a vegan diet since 5 years now but like to learn how to make all kind of breads you offer during the week. But I also hope that it will be no problem if I avoid animal products during lunch. I don’t need extra food. I really hope it will not bother you.
    Best wishes, Anke from Germany

    Reply
    • Carrie Bell
      Carrie Bell says:

      Hello Anke
      Many thanks for getting in touch with us and letting us know that you are on a vegan diet. That is no problem for lunch we will have alternative options for you. On the course, on day 4 you learn all about sweet doughs which does involve eggs and butter, are you happy to work with these ingredients?
      We very much look forward to welcoming you to the Kitchen.
      With kind regards
      Carrie

      Reply
  3. Anke
    Anke says:

    Hi Carrie. I am completely fine with that. I will not eat it but it is okay to work with these ingredients. I’ll be there with a friend of mine and I think we’ll have fun. No worries.

    Reply
    • Carrie Bell
      Carrie Bell says:

      Perfect, thank you for confirming this. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions.
      With kind regards
      Carrie

      Reply
  4. Albania Caamano
    Albania Caamano says:

    Hi!
    Im interested in the October course, since I will be visiting from San Francisco CA I will need alternative places to stay. Any reccomendations?

    Reply
  5. Alejandra
    Alejandra says:

    I hope I can join a 5-day course soon!! I live in Patagonia and enrolling in one of your courses would be a dream came truth. Please let me know about the next one once you schedule them so that I can start planning my trip in advance!!

    Reply
    • Carrie Bell
      Carrie Bell says:

      Hello Alejandra
      Many thanks for your message and interest in our classes. We have scheduled Richard Bertinet’s 5 Day Bread Making course into the first part of 2022. The courses with places still free on them commence on:
      Monday 11th October 2021
      Monday 22nd November 2021
      Monday 10th January 2022
      Monday 7th March 2022
      These can all be booked directly online through our website (https://www.thebertinetkitchen.com/product-category/classes/), or you are wlecome to call us in the office and we can take the booking for you.
      If you are looking for a date after this, do let us know as we will be planning further dates soon.
      With kind regards

      Carrie Bell

      The Bertinet Kitchen
      12 St. Andrew’s Terrace, Bath, BA1 2QR
      Telephone: 01225 445531 – Fax: 01225 337533
      http://www.bertinet.com
      [email protected]

      Richard Bertinet – BBC Food Champion of the Year

      Reply
  6. Castle Pang
    Castle Pang says:

    Hi there, Im interested in it, and planning the trip to UK for it in May, can you share any details to me? Im from HK and do not have not much bread baking experiences. thanks

    Reply
  7. Anju Sharma
    Anju Sharma says:

    A have great interest in baking and searching a good course for me, please send me the details if you have any for international students. Iam from India and a home chef with almost 30 years of cooking with love experience, also working with a small catering business. Thanks

    Reply
    • Carrie Bell
      Carrie Bell says:

      Hello Anju
      Many thanks for getting in touch with us.
      Details of all out classes can be found directly on our website thebertinetkitchen.com
      Hopefully you will find a course to suit you there.
      Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
      With kind regards
      The Bertinet Team

      Reply

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