About three years ago, a friend asked if I would teach her how to make bread.  We invited two other friends to join us, and Bread Camp was born.  Since then, I’ve done Bread Camp two more times with other groups of friends.  Each time, it becomes a little more professional: I print out notes pages, I am better at anticipating questions and I know how much time to allot for each task.  I’ve also learned how to teach motions and techniques that I’ve been doing for so long that I do without thinking.

Bread Camp notes keep expanding

You can read about the Bread Camp I hosted last year here.

Last night we had six people attending Bread Camp.  I expanded it to two and a half hours, although people hung around for three hours.  Since it took place from 5-7:30pm, we made it a potluck which was fun too and gave us something to do while we waited for the bread to bake.

at one point I had to draw a picture of a wheat kernel

Everyone was so encouraging, and asked great questions.  When they all left I was tired but still walking on cloud nine.

since about half the class didn’t own a dutch oven, I taught them how to use a heavy baking sheet and a pyrex dish to achieve the same effect of trapping steam.

Then I woke up the next morning to pictures of everyone baking their creations and I was back on cloud nine.

Link to friend’s instagram with video of her loaf “singing” as it came out of the oven!

I love this- my sister brushed hers with egg white and then sprinkled thyme on top! I bet it was delicious.

Something else we did as we ate and chatted was talk about how to possibly expand Bread Camp, and open it to friends of friends.  I don’t think I want to make it public just yet, but I’m running out of interested friends that live in the area, and each time I teach it I’m reminded of how much I enjoy teaching it.  Another option we discussed was doing a couples class, which might be fun around Valentine’s day.  I’ve also heard some interest in having a more advanced class, such as for enriched breads, whole grain breads, or working with sourdough starter, or pizza dough.

So I have a lot to think about going forward, which is never a bad place to be!

gurgling yeast as a metaphor for my brain