The apprentice baker

There was a loud thump when our chef slammed 15 pounds of dough onto the table. I could tell just by watching the chef kneading the dough over and over, you need strong hands to be a bread maker. As I stood there watching my teacher's demo, I could already tell, this is what I want to do with the rest of my life.

In case you haven't kept tabs on me and what I've been doing, I'll give you a little background before I go on. I am a student (again) at Greenville Tech getting my Baking and Pastry Certificate.

It feels like its been almost a decade since I graduated from PC, but I've been really busy since then. When I got my diploma in May 2010, I flew overseas to teach English in Prague, Czech Republic (central Europe). This was a way for me to "find myself". Well, after eight weeks of traveling around Europe, I started thinking about all the things I was seeing. The thing I thought most about was the amazing bakeries I was finding everywhere. I couldn't get over it, it was especially difficult to bear in France. You wouldn't believe the amazing pastries these little shops could crank out, and there were bakeries on every corner! I mulled over this idea for a few months while in Prague. I knew almost immediately I hated teaching, well, teaching English as a foreign language. I finally made up my mind that November that I would stick with teaching until the following April, then go home to pursue baking.

Living in Europe was a great part of my life, but when I realized that baking was the path for me, I knew that I couldn't wait another minute. I believe, once you figure out what you want to be doing with your life, you can't do anything else! I got home in April 2011 and moved out to Greenville, SC to find a job and look into Greenville Tech's culinary program. I chose this school because it was cheaper than an arts institute, it had an amazing facility and great staff, and offered the main classes I wanted in a shorter degree which is a "Baking and Pastry Certificate". Since I started classes in August 2011, I will finish in Christmas 2012.

Last semester I had to get my pre-requisites out of the way. So now, this January, I am taking real baking courses! The class I was speaking about earlier is Artisan Breads. I'm also taking Bakeshop Production (like baking 101) and a management class. The first two classes are intensive hands-on labs that I will be in Monday-Thursday from morning to late afternoon. Today was my first day in Breads.

One thing I learned right off the bat from my teacher, Chef Patrick, was that the word "artisan" actually means taking the best part of a product's history and making it into your own craft. So breads, for example, I am learning the techniques passed down throughout history and making it into something I consider to be my creation; its like leaving my personal mark on breads. Isn't that fascinating? I don't know about yall reading, but that is new to me.

Today in class, we helped our chef roll out the hard and soft bread rolls, balling up the rustic breads, and shaping the ciabatta bread, and then we had to prepare our own dough that we will bake for tomorrow's class (baguettes, ciabatta, and rustic bread). This class is actually for more advanced students, and I was supposed to take the Bakeshop Production first, however, due to my work schedule, I had to cram this all in. Some of the students think I'm crazy for taking this class first, but, I feel if Julia Child can walk into an advanced french cooking course and be fearless, so can I. Besides, later on today when I was rolling dough, the Chef mentioned to one of my classmates that I was confident enough and will do just fine in the class. That's just the little encouragement I need to bake wonders!

I know this is a very long post, but I hope yall found it interesting and I plan on writing more about my classes this semester, as well as post pictures of things I bake, so please stay tuned!