Lesson 7: Refined Carbohydrates

About 2 minutes into class yesterday, we made "una corona" of flour (a crown, not the beer), and I thought, "This is going to be trouble."

And I was right. Because although I faithfully plop those seed-laden, whole grain loaves into my reusable bags at Whole Foods...most of the time, all my engrained (hehe) ideas about fiber, stable blood sugar and rock hard abs go out the window, and I just want to slather a hot-from-the-oven baguette in butter and eat it ALL. And so I did.

But first, I succumbed to my inner yuppie and tried to make my carbs complex...

By braiding them...

Snipping them with scissors (to make the leafy things), jabbing holes into them and then spreaaaading them and mounding them into plump peasant loaves.

Ta da!

I also tried to quench my INSANE craving for bagels with this guy...

Which, obviously, was not boiled etc. but still tasted pretty doughily delicious (if you're keeping score at home- that's 1 baguette plus 1 bagel...AHHH!).

Almost as fun as munching on the bread was making the bread. We added yeast and butter in the middle of the corona and salt around the edges. We dumped in a bunch of water and then slowly incorporated it without breaking the corona until we had an elastic dough. Knead, knead, knead! Then we let it rest for 10ish minutes. Then shape and bake!

Panadería class: every Monday from now on. With these thugs. Trouble. But the good kind.