Scouting: Artisanal Bread Class @ ICC

Focaccia with Rosemary | Image: Laura Messersmith

If you had told me a few weeks ago that I could shape a pain aux chocolate, bake brioche, or braid challah I wouldn’t have believed you. I used to actively avoid recipes that called for yeast - proofing, folding, shaping - these were all totally foreign to me and really intimidating. Sadness, right? Because bread is sooo good -#ilovecarbs - and even better when you can choose your own adventure with the ingredients.

So, I signed up for the Artisanal Bread class at the International Culinary Center (formerly the French Culinary Institute) in Soho and spent 5 days in the bread kitchen with the talented and encouraging Chef Johnson Yu learning the ins and outs of flour, water, yeast, and salt and how variations in ratios, fermentation time, shaping, and additional ingredients like eggs, olive oil, and whole grains can result in an amazing variety of delicious bread.

 Muesli Brötchen dough | Image: Laura Messersmith

In addition to using giant mixers and scaling - baker speak for measuring by weight - massive quantities of ingredients we also practiced the traditional shapes for bread: batard-shaped multi-grain loaves of pain aux cereal; thumb folded and lengthened baguettes; rolled round, hand-sized muesli brötchen, which loosely translates to “buns with fruit and nuts in them.” We braided that challah I mentioned, twisted soft pretzels, and rolled loops of dough into bagels.

Croissant in Progress | Image: Laura Messersmith

Croissants | Image: Laura Messersmith

I got used to working with a kitchen towel at my waist; a thin dusting of flour on my hands (my notebook from class still has a light coating between the pages.) I learned that there’s something really satisfying about working with bread – the rhythm of timing, the focused mindlessness of portioning and shaping – and something even better about eating a slice that bears your invisible fingerprints. Or visible fingerprints, as in the case of the dimpled focaccia with rosemary.

Walnut Raisin Bread | Image: Laura Messersmith

We now have a plastic bin functioning as make-shift bread freezer on our fire escape thanks to the frigid temperatures in New York, and it’s full to the brim with tightly plastic-wrapped and carefully labeled loaves. One of each kind we made, evidence of the week’s efforts, ready to be defrosted and served – inspiration for future baking endeavors.

International Culinary Center | 462 Broadway; New York, New York 10013 | 888.324.2433

Scouting: Food52 Holiday Market

Erin McDowell's Dessert Creations | Image: Laura Messersmith

When I’m looking for guidance on a recipe or cooking technique (and Ina isn’t available to help with her words of wisdom) I check out Food52 to see what their experts have to say. So I was excited when I found out that the site was organizing a holiday pop-up shop downtown complete with demos and classes to help home cooks step up their game for holiday entertaining.

As soon as I saw the list of offerings I knew immediately that I wanted to sign up for a session called “Make Your Desserts Beautiful” with Erin McDowell a food stylist and test kitchen manager for Food52.

Erin in Action | Image: Laura Messersmith

Check out this description – doesn’t it sound amazing?

"Fancy cakes and pies aren't just for bakeries. Erin McDowell will teach you foolproof ways to make intricate pie crusts and decorative cakes. She'll demo tips for braided pie edges, the perfect crimped crust, the classic swirled cake icing, and more."

Classic Crimped Edge Pie Crust | Image: Laura Messersmith

Classic Lattice Pie Crust | Image: Laura Messersmith

I went full-on honor society, showing up early, sitting right in front, asking 1,000 questions, and Erin could not have been lovelier or more approachable. She showed us her tricks of the trade for frosting and decorating cakes beautifully, proper technique for rolling out pie dough, and how to do fancy things like cut out top crust. She also introduced us to a brilliant creation of her own devising called the “fattis” aka a fat lattice crust (photo evidence below.)

The Fattis (aka Fat Lattice) Pie Crust | Image: Laura Messersmith

I probably should have taken better notes, but thankfully Erin has several pie specific how-to articles on Food52 in case I need to jog my memory. I left feeling so jazzed about making pie and finally conquering a food group that’s always intimidated me. I’d sign up for this class again in a heartbeat, so while I wait for Erin to open up her own pastry school it’s going to be pie central around these parts while I practice these new skills. Step 1: try the All Buttah Pie Dough. Consider yourself warned.