Jenny B.
Yelp
I'm going to copy the rubric of a reviewer below since it will help organize this review.
CLASS: Viennoiserie at home (2 day class)
CLASS MATERIALS/ ENVIRONMENT: Each student is provided with a folder of all formulas, recipes, and other information. Each table holds four students. Bring a pen to take notes and a permanent marker to label your dough. These materials are not provided.
Another note about the environment/kitchen, I don't know if this is standard but the floor was especially slick. A lot of people in the class commented that they were all trying not to fall. I had to be very intentional about walking extremely carefully.
CLASS FORMAT: There were about 15 students in the class. Everyone was a home baker or hobbyist. I was surprised how many students came from far away. One student traveled all the way from Phoenix! The first day started with a lecture in a small classroom. After that, we went to the kitchen and watched the instructor demonstrate how to make the pastry and then we would go back to our own stations to recreate it. After about two hours, we would get a bio break. The next break would be lunch and then we'd power through the rest of the afternoon. The instructor was thorough in explaining everything so it was easy to follow. Plus if you needed any additional help or clarification, there were also two assistants walking around. The instructor was great at keeping us on track. On the first day, we made croissants using the dough that the instructor had made the night before. Then we made our own dough so that we could use it for the second day of class. While this class was specifically focused on baking at home, they also showed us how to use some of the commercial equipment like the sheeter or industrial mixer.
Everyone worked individually on their own pastries for the most part. The only time we worked in pairs or as a table was when we made the brioche since it was easier to make one large batch of brioche dough instead of small batches.
MISCELLANEOUS: A simple breakfast and lunch were served each day. Breakfast would consist of two different pastries or fruit and a coffee bar. For lunch we had rice, a protein, a salad and in house baked goodies.
OUTCOMES: At the end of the first day we took home one dozen croissants. On the second day, we took home about three dozen baked goods (chocolate croissants, regular, mini brioches, danish pastries). Pastries were super tasty so these recipes were definitely high caliber. I knew nothing about croissants before so I learned a lot more about the process and have a better understanding of ingredients and techniques.
SUGGESTIONS: I removed one star because of some logistical mishaps on SFBI's part. When registering for the class, the website stated that it would be a full day on the first day and a partial day on the second day. It ended up being two full days both days and we only found out accidentally because a student had asked about it during class. Since there were a lot of people who traveled from out of town, I think one student had to scramble to quickly reschedule their flight. There were reminder emails sent out leading up to the class but they only referenced the start time. Listing the end time could have helped people plan accordingly.
While we were given reference materials, I noticed we frequently had to make annotations or adjustments in the notes. For example, the instructor had us make adjustments to the temperature, pastry size, proofing time, etc written in the reference materials. Given the cost of these classes, I thought it wouldn't have been unreasonable to expect that the recipes have been scaled to how we're learning it in class to make for a cleaner experience.
This last one is minor but everyone in the class got a cute name tag except for me :( Suggestion would be to double check name tags against enrollment list.
