Five day Bread Making class with Richard Bertinet

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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 just some of the lovely 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.”

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

Contact Details

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Adverse weather policy

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As stated in our Terms and Conditions, we are not able to offer refunds or late notice amendments to classes where customers are unable to reach us due to adverse weather conditions.   However, where we take the decision to cancel a class then we will move customers to a new date of their choice.

Where classes are running, you should take your own decisions as to whether it is safe to travel to us in Bath.  We do not encourage anyone to take any risks.  If you are unable to attend a class please let us know as soon as you can.  In the event that you are unable to reach us you may send someone else in your place but again please let us know.

We understand that, where adverse weather conditions are concerned, it is not your fault that you are not able to reach us.  Please understand that it is also not our fault.  We have to go ahead and run our classes where the chef is able to make it in and where it is likely that at least some of the customers booked on the class are able to make it to the kitchen.

As a goodwill gesture we will circulate (by email) a list of places available at short notice to those who have not been able to attend a class.  Emails will be sent out roughly fortnightly. It is unlikely that we will be able to offer the same class on the same day of the week but we hope that customers will be able to find a class and date that suits them.  The classes offered in this way will be available on a first come first served basis to all those in the same position.   Customers will be able to choose a replacement class of the same or a lesser value than their original class.  No refund or credit will be offered where the replacement class is of a lower value than the original class.  Customers wishing to book onto a more expensive class will be asked to top up the difference.

Corporate Bespoke Events

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Thinking of running a summer workshop, a team building event or just treating your staff to something fun and enjoyable?  The Bertinet Kitchen can provide you with a bespoke cookery workshop to suit your needs. The event can be tailored to suit your requirements and can be as challenging as you like. You can even sit down for a rewarding lunch with wine when you’re done and sample everything you have made.

Contact us on 01225 445531 to have a chat about all the exiciting options available.