Written By Mama

Not sure if you remember me telling you a month or so ago, my mom paid for a cooking class for us to take for my birthday.
We took Bread 101: Artisan Breads at Le Cordon Bleu.

We learned to make 5 different Artisan Breads on Saturday. French Bread, Soft Rolls, Lite Rye Bread, Foccacia and Brioche.

First of all, the instructor (Courtney) was awesome. She really knew what she was talking about and didn’t make me feel stupid when I asked questions. She was really helpful if you didn’t understand and she showed us different ways to “form” the bread. For example the soft rolls could be done in round balls OR in a twist shape. I wasn’t able to master the twist shape…it looked more like a pretzel LOL, but she didn’t make me feel dumb for having a pretzel shaped roll (:

There wasn’t enough time for us to make all 5 breads, wait for them to poof, knead them, poof them again and then cook them. So she made some the night before. The Brioche had to poof over night in the fridge so she did that one ahead of time. This is what it looked like when she took it out. That’s our instructor and some of her students:

That’s a lot of Brioche. There was enough for all 18 students AND some leftover!

I think my favorite so far is the Brioche and the Foccacia. I haven’t tried the French Bread yet. I’m making spaghetti tonight and that’s when I’ll cut my bread. I can’t wait.

This morning I made sandwiches for Cody for work using the Rye. I ate a piece and it was really good. I am going to toast it and put butter on it later. That’s my favorite way to eat Rye (:

The soft rolls were really tasty looking when they came out, but I think they would have been better with a little salt on top and not the sesame seeds or poppy seeds. I did heat one up in the microwave for 10 seconds then put some butter on it. It was okay. Again, I think it could have used salt.

The Foccacia was really fun to make. After playing in the olive oil we got to top it with fresh rosemary and basil and a ton of other spices and herbs. With the salt, the Foccacia tasted really buttery. If you got a bite without salt, it didn’t taste as buttery (that might be a tip for someone that wants to make it lol).

The Brioche was soooooo good. I made French Toast with it yesterday morning. There is a tie between the Foccacia and Brioche being my favorite.

That’s it uncooked. I didn’t get a pic of it cooked and whole, so here it is sliced and then as french toast (:

Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for the recipes! I will have them up today or tomorrow (:

Overall, I had a blast. I wish we had more time [and money] to take more classes! Oh we also got to keep our aprons, recipe cards and we got a nice certificate of completion. I am officially a MasterChef (okay not really).

Le Cordon Bleu classes are available almost every Saturday. Le Cordon Bleu institutes are in many cities. You can find a class near you HERE.

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