Join Pastry Chef Leslie on Sunday, April 2nd at 2:00 pm for a baking class!
If you’ve had anything bread-based from Camilla Kitchen, you know the magic that is Pastry Chef Leslie’s baking. Now she wants to share that with all of you! This will be an intimate class held in the Gallery (4th floor) of M. Judson for ten people, where you’ll prepare your bread from start to almost finish. While you’ll bake your cake at home (and get all those good smells), you’ll still get to end the baking class with a tasting. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday!
Your ticket covers the cost of ingredients and instruction, with the option to add on the featured cookbook.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Finalist for the IACP Cookbook Award in Baking and the James Beard Foundation Book Award in Baking and Desserts
Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by Bon Appétit, NPR, Washington Post, Epicurious, WBUR Here & Now, and Five Books
Named a Best Cookbook of the Spring by Eater, Epicurious, and Robb Report
The key to better, healthier baked goods is in the grain. Barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat will unlock flavors and textures as vast as the historic lineages of these ancient crops.
As the head baker and owner of a beloved Los Angeles bakery, Roxana Jullapat knows the difference local, sustainable flour can make: brown rice flour lightens up a cake, rustic rye adds unexpected chewiness to a bagel, and ground toasted oats enrich doughnuts. Her bakery, Friends & Family, works with dedicated farmers and millers around the country to source and incorporate the eight mother grains in every sweet, bread, or salad on the menu. In her debut cookbook, Roxana shares her greatest hits, over 90 recipes for reinventing your favorite cakes, cookies, pies, breads, and more.
Her chocolate chip cookie recipe can be made with any of the eight mother grains, each flour yielding a distinct snap, crunch, or chew. Her mouthwatering buckwheat pancake can reinvent itself with grainier cornmeal. One-bowl recipes such as Barley Pumpkin Bread and Spelt Blueberry Muffins will yield fast rewards, while her Cardamom Buns and Halvah Croissants are expertly laid out to grow a home baker’s skills. Recipes are organized by grain to ensure you get the most out of every purchase.
Roxana even includes savory recipes for whole grain salads made with sorghum, Kamut or freekeh, or easy warm dishes such as Farro alla Pilota, Toasted Barley Soup, or Gallo Pinto which pays homage to her Costa Rican upbringing. Sunny step-by-step photos, a sourcing guide, storage tips, and notes on each grain’s history round out this comprehensive cookbook.
Perfect for beginner bakers and pastry pros alike, Mother Grains proves that whole grains are the secret to making any recipe so much more than the sum of its parts.
ABOUT THE BREAD
Whole-grain rye flour adds a nice rusticity to this focaccia bread, which is light, fluffy, and chewy. To truly appreciate its flavor, I garnish simply with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. If I happen to have a special ingredient on hand, like marash pepper or fresh summer savory, I may sprinkle some on top. But for the most part, it’s all about the dough.
Like most bread recipes in this book, focaccia is prepared over 2 days. Most of the work is done on day one, leaving just the baking step for day two. The dough is made with poolish, a loose pre-fermented dough that adds complexity of flavor and improved texture. Whole grains absorb more water than refined flour, so resist adding extra flour even if the hydration seems high and your dough feels sticky. This focaccia is all about the grains, but there’s a good amount of sifted bread flour to break up the whole grains’ density and ensure the airy crumb focaccia is known for.
While many of the breads in this book keep for up to a week, this rye focaccia must be enjoyed the day that it’s baked. Leftovers can be turned into croutons or bread crumbs.
The focaccia should rest in the refrigerator overnight. This cold period slows down the fermentation while deepening the flavor. Follow the Prep and Baking Schedule to make the recipe just in time to have fresh focaccia for a weekend luncheon.