Brasserie Bread artisan baking workshop

October may mean (multiple) Sugar Hits for me but, more importantly, it is a month-long celebration of food and all things gustatory across Sydney and parts of regional New South Wales.

Brasserie Bread is holding several events as part of Crave Sydney International Food Festival but if you are unable to make it to any of these, never fear – Brasserie Bread offer a range of baking classes normally themselves. And having attended their Artisan Pastry class several months back, I knew I would be in for a night of fun when I received an invitation to attend an Unearthing Artisan Baking class which drew elements from various baking classes offered at Brasserie Bread.

The class is once again led by training manager Matthew Brock who starts the lesson by providing a bit of background to artisan baking. We are treated to a traditional ciabatta which we hear is going to be supplied to Jamie Oliver’s new Sydney restaurant!

The evening sees us making Brasserie Bread’s famous caramelised garlic loaf but in cute miniature form. If you are a garlic-lover and have never tried this bread, then you are seriously missing out! The bread is sticky in parts from caramelised garlicky juices and is studded with hidden pockets of whole garlic cloves which have been slowly cooked down with balsamic vinegar and sugar to an earthy sweetness.

We learn that salt kills yeast, so it’s best to add the two to opposing sides of the mixing bowl and that, as Ms Sourdough has informed me from experience, sticky dough makes for good bread! A tour of Brasserie Bread’s factory introduces us to the cool room where vats of starter live and are fed twice daily. Some of the starter is migrating to Melbourne and will be calling the exciting, new Brasserie Bread offshoot its new home.

Venturing through the different factory areas exposes us to giant machinery as well as the delightful aromas of cakes, pastries and, most of all, the bread. Unsold bread from the retail area is offered to staff at the end of the day or collected by charity organisations or, I learnt, used as pig fodder which apparently makes for rather tasty suckling piggies!

So it is quite by coincidence that my coulibiac, made with kindly pre-prepared brioche dough by Brasserie Bread staff, emerges from the oven somewhat resembling a roasted suckling pig rather than the hamster/gerbil/guinea pig which I had intended. The brioche dough is wonderfully silky and soft to the touch and truly a sensual experience to work with.

And if getting your hands dirty and playing with your food is not your, erm, slice of bread then make sure you drop into Brasserie Bread’s café to feed your sweet or savoury desires instead. They are well into preparations with their fruit mince tarts for Christmas, which really will be here sooner than you think, so start organising!

Mademoiselle Délicieuse this one-off baking class as a guest of Brasserie Bread.

Brasserie Bread

1737 Botany Rd, Banksmeadow NSW

Tel: 1300 966 845

Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-3pm

             Sat & Sun 8am-2pm

happy eating!