For this trip I decided to do something a bit different and signed up for a cooking class. I know a few people that have done this on their vacation and highly recommended it. What I really wanted was to sign up for an intermediate or advanced pastry class but I couldn’t find one that worked with my schedule. I considered taking a macaron class but I’m pretty proficient in making them already so I passed. Instead I decided to sign up for a baking class at Cook’n with Class in the 18th arrondissement.
The class size was small with just 4 students and was taught in English. Our instructor Briony was Australian and very lovely. She was super patient and very good about explaining and demonstrating the various steps involved. We ended up making croissants, pain au chocolat, two types of brioche and foccaccia over the course of 3 hours.
Given the nature of what we were producing the structure of the class didn’t allow us to make a lot of items from start to finish. Croissant dough for example has to be made in stages and requires a minimum of 16 hour rest time. Instead we were taught the various steps using pre-made batches of dough. The class was also a bit less hand-on than I had anticipated. I’m used to my George Brown classes where we’re given stations with our own sets of ingredients. For this class the students took turns helping out during different steps. Luckily our class size was small so it worked out.
I learned a lot in this class and it was pretty cool to demystify the croissant-making process. It really isn’t hard to do but it requires a lot of butter (we used about a pound in 12 croissants) and patience to roll the butter and dough together. In the class I was introduced to two “new-to-me” ingredients, candied kumquats and tonka beans. We used the candied kumquats in our brioche and they gave off a lovely citrus flavour. The tonka beans are what really won my heart. Tonka is a spice from Africa that is like a combination of nutmeg, vanilla, almonds and other goodness. You could use it in place of the aforementioned flavours and I could see this being great in French toast, crème brulee or in oatmeal. You grate it just as you would nutmeg. Love it.
Out of everything that I learned in class I could see myself making the brioche over and over again. I’ll likely give croissants another go because I do have that masochist gene in me. I’m also now in love with the idea of taking cooking classes when I travel. It’s such a great idea for doing something a bit different while travelling.
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I’m always looking for different cooking classes to do in Paris, good to know about this one! Although like you – I really like them to be very hands on!
Croissants are on my list of things to make. Laminated dough scares me…I think it’s the number of steps and amount of time it takes to make it.
All your creations are beautiful! I’ve never done a cooking class but it’s something I would absolutely love to give a go one day. Never heard of tonka beans either, interesting!
Looks like fun! I need to check out Cookin with Class this summer too! LOVE the look of the brioches!
[...] the end of the event we were gifted with A LOT of butter. Fresh off my my French baking class, I decided that I just HAD to use the European-style butter to make a batch of [...]
If you like a hand’s on baking course, I highly recommend King Arthur Flour’s “Artisan Baking At Home”, in Norwich, Vermont, USA. It cover’s Baguette, Fougasse, Croissants, Foccacia, Pizza, Sourdough and much more. If you are a “breadie” like me, it’s awesome!