Sunday, March 16, 2014

Intro to Yeast Baking - Notes/Syllabus for an online class

In a couple of weeks, I'll be teaching Intro to Yeast Baking at Etsy School. This is everything you need to know to take my one session class.

Materials:
all purpose flour
yeast
salt
milk (or powdered milk is my preferred method)
butter
sugar
1 egg
brown sugar
cinnamon
powdered sugar
(see Class Session section for vegan substitutes)

dutch oven or baking pan or baking sheet (no-knead bread)
9X13 baking pan or two cake rounds or pie plates (cinnamon rolls)

pro-tip - plain (not mint!) dental floss is great for cutting the cinnamon rolls. A serrated knife will work too.

Homework:
The day before, stir up a batch of Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread. You're just going to the end of step 1 "Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees."

About 2 hours before class, go through step 3 of the directions. Don't stress if you only have 30 minutes or whatever, it's pretty forgiving. And I just use a lidded giant salad bowl instead of this cotton towel nonsense.

About 20-30 minutes before class, preheat your oven, with your baking container inside, to 450 degrees.

This is optional - but please let me know ahead of time if you're going to do it, and if you want to see how mine comes out even if you don't.

Class session:
We'll start class by throwing the no-knead bread in the oven. While it bakes, we'll make and assemble cinnamon rolls!

(Vegan version:
replace the butter with Earth Balance or your favorite other margarine
water instead of milk
1/3 c applesauce instead of egg)

If you don't have a rolling pin, a wine or beer bottle or drink glass or similar will get the job done.

You can either make the cinnamon rolls right away (after your oven has cooled down a bit!) or freeze the assembled pans to make later. If you freeze them, take them out the night before to let them rise and then bake them for breakfast.

I suggest a super simple icing - 1 c powdered sugar, add enough water/milk/apple cider/egg nog to make it sort of a liquid.