Paul is the ultimate professional. We had loads of hands-on practise and also got the opportunity to explore the beautiful local area with fantastic scenery. Wilson and Anna our hosts, could not have been more welcoming, and we enjoyed touring their wine making facility at Domaine l’Ancienne Ecole, bringing home several bottles of wine, as well as some of the loaves we baked on the course to share with family and friends. If you are interested in bread making and want to combine it with a “holiday”, then this course is for you.
I enjoyed this last weekend’s course hugely and I learned such a lot. It was a real pleasure and privilege to be tutored by you.
I’ve been making sure I remember all the tips and techniques that you worked through with me and that none slips through the cracks in my memory. I thought I was a moderately experienced domestic baker but spending the time with you has given me a complete step change in my approach.
You are a great teacher. You bring the theoretical and the practical together beautifully and make what is actually quite hard learning so enjoyable that the time passes in a flash.
Looking back over the two days, I am amazed at how much you managed to pack in to so short a time. Certainly, I felt a happy exhaustion at the end of each of the two days!
I just wanted to say a very, very big thank you for the course this past weekend. I learnt a huge amount, picked up so many tips and just ways of making little improvements in so many aspects of breadmaking. Tomorrow I will start my sourdough ready for a Friday bake, and I’m very much looking forward to putting new techniques (autolyse) into practice. Over the thirty or so years I’ve been making bread I have always loved trying something a bit differently, and the autolyse approach is completely new to me; I really want to work with this.
Thank you for your inspiration, common sense, and excellent teaching – and I do wish you every success in France! (Thank you too for including David and James in Saturday’s drinks at the end of the day!)
What an interesting day, Paul is a great at teaching not only the art and craft of baking but the science that’s hidden inside the dough. We thoroughly enjoyed our one day British course even if we did veer off into France making great looking (yet to try) baguettes and batons! Many thanks Paul!
I just wanted to thank you for a very enjoyable and extremely informative day on Saturday. I learnt a lot and really appreciated your pragmatic approach to introducing a group of novices to the art of making sourdough. I have managed to take home what I learnt and bake bread with reasonable success. Many thanks again Paul for an excellent day.