Back with J&W Chef Mitch Stamm's Bread Class

[Chris Amirault]

Three years ago, I was able to spend the morning in an introductory bread class with Chef Mitch Stamm (boulak on eG Forums). This past week, I got to do it again.

[Chris Amirault]

[Chris Amirault]

Notes, charts, calculations:

[Chris Amirault]

Yesterday's sourdough loaf awaiting slicing for discussion of the effects of aging:

Edited February 20, 2011 by Chris Amirault
Add pic -- CA (log)

[Chris Amirault]

One of the new 21st century innovations is that the students all have digital cameras, and they document much of the class for their end-of-course notebooks, which are illustrated with the photos. So whenever Mitch called the students to see a demo, out came the cameras:

[Chris Amirault]

Mitch was demo-ing challah, which for some reason looks a bit weird in these photos. As a recipient of a few loaves, I can say with confidence it was delicious. Showing the final braiding:

Note that the braids are a bit loose. During braiding, it's important not to pull the dough but instead to lay it softly into place. Later in the topic, you'll see an example of what happens when you pull too tight, something that many of the students were doing:

First egg wash:

[Chris Amirault]

Here's one student team getting their challah on, along with two instructors visiting from the Azores:

[Chris Amirault]

The students were also working with ciabatta dough, both for rolls and for focaccia. You can see the sheet pan with olive oil on the right:

As I've noted in the previous topic, Mitch is a great teacher, and he knows when to step in to share insights. I was taking this photo --

-- when Mitch noticed. You can see that the dough is falling onto the table in a shapeless mass, which defeats the point of the dough being in the rectangular container. So he did a quick demo, and you can see his dough is nearly square:

Here's another team cutting their dough for rolls:

[Chris Amirault]

The class was also making baguettes. Watching Mitch fold and roll the baguettes:

The seam:

Rolls:

Students preparing the loaves for the oven:

[Chris Amirault]

This is a short video clip, but it illustrates well how an expert like Mitch scores his baguettes. Note the overlapping five cuts (one happened before I started recording), the angle of the blade, and the speed.

[Chris Amirault]

Here's a student doing a nice job on the same task. Mitch steps in to correct her angle:

[Chris Amirault]

Crackers were also on the agenda. Here's the dough in the massive laminating machine:

Poked with holes, squared, and being cut into rectangles:

Out of the oven:

[Chris Amirault]

Into the deck ovens:

[Chris Amirault]

Boules. Baskets:

Shaping:

[Chris Amirault]

One student group was working on their bread centerpiece project:

[xxchef]

Great job, Chris! Thanks for posting this!

[Chris Amirault]

Removing baguettes:

Baguettes:

Rosemary oil atop the foccacia:

Seeded semolina loaves with sesame and sunflower, ciabatta rolls and the foccacia:

Critiquing the baguettes for crumb, crust, color, etc.:

Here's a good example of a challah loaf that was braided too tightly:

[Chris Amirault]

I will be returning for the final class of the course on Thursday and will report back then. You'll want to check in: the class moved to one of the new, state-of-the-art classrooms in the Cuisinart Center for Culinary Excellence, which I toured last week with a battery-dead camera. Not so Thursday.

[boulak]

It's been so long, too long, since I've posted on the site. I can't remember how to address a particular posting.

I would like to say that it is a privilege and certainly a pleasure to have Chris visit the class. His insight to education is laser like. I work with students for nine days assessing their performance along the way. He is able to spend a few minutes with a student and can sum up their strengths and weakness with a few rapid fire comments. His comments help me understand the students and understand my responsibilities. It’s easy to get caught up in the production and forget about the teaching. Chefs teach on the job everyday. As an educator, I feel responsibility greater than simply teaching. We are preparing students for life and for a career. With twenty projects going on, it can easily come down to managing oven traffic, cleaning the room, or the other tasks of the day. I have high expectations of student participation. Students come to Johnson & Wales with dreams and high expectations. Why shouldn’t they and their families have the same expectations of my performance?

One of the captions is that a good instructor knows when to step in. I would say that the opposite is equally true – that a good instructor knows when not to step in. If my approach to baking bread is nurturing stewardship of the dough and minimal (but loving) intervention, why should my teaching be different? I hesitate to make corrections; true learning in baking can come with risking failure in order to achieve success. Many people under bake bread and pastry due to a fear of over baking. Perhaps I over teach due to a fear of under teaching. Within a finite amount of time, I try to share all my knowledge and experience with determined and dedicated students. Students who arrive one hour after class and work on their journals for hours after the class deserve. Where do I draw the line? It’s not possible to transmit everything I have learned and everything I continue to learn. Indeed, every time I bake, I learn something whether I realize it at the time or not. As my understanding evolves, so does the curriculum. In a nine day (advanced) class, do I let them learn a few lessons on their own? Do I hinder learning by intervening? After all, when the students complete the course, it’s not what they know that is the measure of my teaching, it’s what they understand. To that end, do I open the faucet and let it flow and hope that they get every drop. (Sidebar: why do we say “every last drop?” There is only one last drop)

I am fortunate to have Chris visit the class. His suggestions are brilliant and his insight is illuminating. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s visit so I can drink in his wisdom. The students are also looking forward to the visit because of his industry knowledge and connections.

He also took the time to schlep Modernist Cuisine across two parking lots and through the maze of our building. I had to order it. After seeing it, I would not consider myself a chef or an educator if I did not own a copy of this amazing compilation.

Thanks Chris for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with my class. And for opening our eyes to Modernist Cuisine. See you bright and early. -- Mitch

Edited February 23, 2011 by boulak (log)

[xxchef]

It’s easy to get caught up in the production and forget about the teaching. Chefs teach on the job everyday. As an educator, I feel responsibility greater than simply teaching. We are preparing students for life and for a career. With twenty projects going on, it can easily come down to managing oven traffic, cleaning the room, or the other tasks of the day. I have high expectations of student participation. Students come to Johnson & Wales with dreams and high expectations. Why shouldn’t they and their families have the same expectations of my performance?

boulak,

I was very impressed by the photos and descriptions of your class in Chris's original post (and look forward to the rest of the report) but it pales next to being able to read your comments, in particular the commitment to education excellence in your own words. Amazing and inspiring.

As a J&W Culinary alum '78 I can only relate too well to your challenges. The bread classes we had back then were full-out high production (and cleaning) with almost no time for discussion, evaluation, or theory. We got handed a stack of formulas and a list of that day's production needs and went to it. Those of us who had any knowledge of baking at all ended up as "team leaders" showing the other students how to crank out "snowflake rolls" as fast as possible. I am envious of your students today, having a teacher with such a fine classroom ethic (not to mention the CCCE!!)

I now find myself in an educating capacity as part of my current endeavors as the cheese maker at a small goat dairy in AZ, holding 3-day workshops for others interested in starting small farmstead dairies. My situation is SO much easier than yours in that my class size is usually 2 to 4 people and my production requirements are usually exactly what I need them to be for optimum learning.

I just wanted to say "Thanks!", and keep up the great work.