Jane Mason started Virtuous Bread last year to get everyone to start baking and eating good bread and in the process, also bring about social change. As I understand it, there’s the commercial side with bread baking classes and her Bread Angels, people she teaches to start their own bread businesses, and there’s the charitable side where she gets involved with prisons, schools and shelters with baking classes. She’s got a blog, a newsletter and recipes on her site too; it all makes for an interesting read and one can believe that bread can bring people together. I had received an invitation to attend a class from Emmeline Westin who is currently helping with PR for Virtuous Bread and I chose to attend one last Saturday to learn about baking Celebration Breads – in particular, brioche and hot cross buns.
Jane has a fantastic flat in Hammersmith and an absolutely magnificent kitchen from which to teach. The small size of the class (only four students that day), the fact that Jane teaches from her own home, and Jane’s own warmth and friendliness gave a cozy feeling to the lesson and made for a wonderful day. Jane started by plying us all with coffee and then explaining the idea of celebration breads (breads made with richer ingredients) and how making them differed from baking regular white or brown breads.
It wasn’t all talking and listening to the class (though Jane is a fount of knowledge when it comes to baking and I learned so much that day) – it was hands on too. We first learned to shape brioche using a batch of dough that Jane had prepared earlier as this dough needs to rise for quite a while. You can see a traditional loaf shaped as an S shape and one made of small rolls that would bake into a pull-apart loaf.
We did learn how to make brioche dough but got to take that with us raw to bake in our own homes; the brioche dough has to rise for much longer than the bun dough and there wasn’t enough time during the class. As there were four of us in the class, we were split into two groups, one to make brioche and the other to make hot cross buns; I was assigned the brioche. Both doughs started with pre-doughs to activate the yeast before all the rich ingredients are added. (Totally unrelated but those stainless steel bowls are fantastic. And so light too!)
When the yeast had activated, which you could tell by the mixture bubbling ever so slightly, we added the butter, eggs, and more flour (and spice in the case of the hot cross buns), mixed it all together, and then started kneading.
That’s me (well, my hand) below… kneading! It was surprising how wet the dough is even with all the butter and egg and working it was certainly challenging; amazingly, it did all come together to a smooth dough. Jane was on hand to give us all a hand if we tired – about 15 minutes of hand kneading were required for the celebration doughs.
While all this was happening, the brioche loaves were rising and then were ready for baking. After about 30 minutes in a hot oven, they came out looking and smelling absolutely fantastic, all buttery and sweet.
We were sent to the dining room where, surprise!, we found a table set for lunch. Jane had prepared a beautiful and delicious quiche with leek, endive and ground elder and served it with a couple of salads. And, of course, we had the freshly baked brioche to go with it; it was indeed buttery and fantastic but could have been a bit lighter had it had a bit longer to rise during its second rising.
The bun dough was ready by the time we had finished lunch and so soaked raisins were added and it was on to learning to shape buns. Jane showed us how to roll the dough portions lightly against the table to shape each bun.
Hot cross buns aren’t hot cross buns without their crosses! We all had a go at piping them on. The poor piping bag broke halfway through and so some got thin crosses while others got fat ones.
After another rising, the buns were popped into the oven. About 25 minutes later, hot cross buns! They were light and fantastic and I surprised myself my liking the flavour of cloves in them. We had them unglazed, being easier for transport, but were given instruction on how to glaze them at home.
And that was the end of the class – we took away the recipes, the leftover baked brioche, our portions of brioche dough for baking at home, and quite a few hot cross buns, and, of course, our newfound knowledge of baking rich breads. As I mentioned previously, Jane is very warm and friendly and a great teacher and the timings of the class were excellent with lunch in between the baking activities to give us a rest and the bread a rise.
It’s a little late now for hot cross buns but details of Jane’s other classes (including one on basic bread baking and another on sourdoughs) can be found on her Virtuous Bread website. If they’re anything like this class, they’ll definitely be fun.
Thank you very much again, Emmeline, for the invitation and to Jane too for having me along!
All my photos from the class can be found in this Flickr photoset.
Mon, 25 Apr, 2011 at 01:02
looks like a great class!
Mon, 25 Apr, 2011 at 09:35
Look fabulous… I’ve still not found a brioche recipe that gives me the texture I want… with long soft fibres of sweetness.
Mon, 25 Apr, 2011 at 12:19
Oh no! Hot cross buns… Lol.
I’m a baker by trade. We spent last week making over 100 bags of hot cross buns compared to the usual 15 per week. A bag refers one bag of flour weighing 16kg….
Still it was a good review.
Mon, 25 Apr, 2011 at 14:10
Sounds/looks to be a wonderful class but I’m seriously worried that someone might teach me to make sourdough bread. It’s my current favourite and I’m trying to lose some weight over the Summer. The thought of being able to make my own sourdough might just put paid to that aspiration lol!
Thanks for a great review!
Mon, 25 Apr, 2011 at 16:21
Oooh can you take me with you next time! I’ve never been to a bread making class, it sounds therapeutic and looks rewarding.
Might have to do one soon.
Mon, 25 Apr, 2011 at 21:57
I love making bread, but have become lazy and haven’t made any for ages now. Must change.
Tue, 26 Apr, 2011 at 16:29
Great write up, this looks like a superb course
Tue, 26 Apr, 2011 at 17:29
Never too late for hot cross buns; Tesco have been selling them since Christmas … (some of them with a use-by date in the middle of February!)
But … bread! I love it, especially when abroad. Take a look at http://www.flickr.com/photos/31258795@N00/5585261620/in/photostream
Wed, 27 Apr, 2011 at 22:40
I just did the basic bread baking class today with Jane. She is a really good teacher and her vision for social change is very inspiring. I highly recommend this class.
I was really thrilled to learn that it took less than 5 minutes to make soda bread and really easy to make other loaves. No more shop bought for me.
Thu, 28 Apr, 2011 at 01:12
The class looks great – how much was it?
Thu, 28 Apr, 2011 at 02:26
I love hot cross buns and brioche. The class looks really great, i wished i seen this earlier!
Thu, 28 Apr, 2011 at 21:34
i would love to be able to do such a course. Maybe some time when i am in London for a bit longer.
Fri, 29 Apr, 2011 at 13:23
i would love to attend this class- so lucky you are. x shayma
Tue, 3 May, 2011 at 16:04
kat: It was such fun!
Kavey: I need to sample more brioches from patisseries, I reckon, to see what they manage to achieve.
Robert: Gulp…. that’s a lot of hot cross buns…
Martin: I too am trying to shift a few pounds…. not a great time to be perusing more baking recipes.
Milli: Oh yes, there’s lots of kneading in this class – lots to relieve your stress on!
Mzungu: I too have become lazy with these things. Must also rectify here.
gastrogeek: It was fantastic.
travelrat: I’ll try to bake my own at home the next time the craving hits. I love your bread delivery photo!
May: Glad to hear the basic bread class is also very good!
Gourmet Chick: The regular price for the Celebration Breads class was £50. I believe they are a little higher when they’re for the whole day.
Alison: My fault too for only being able to attend one of the later classes!
ilse: Definitely! Some of her classes last a whole day and others for half a day.
shayma: How are the cooking classes offered in Toronto?
Tue, 10 May, 2011 at 14:59
Gosh, it looks like so much fun! I am booked for June for Sourdough Bread Class, roll on June!
Luiz @ The London Foodie