If only we could live on bread alone...

Eric and I would live FOREVER! 

I started my Baking Principles and Vienoiserie (pronounce vee-en-wahz-ree) class 2 weeks ago and have taken home so much bread since starting.  We started with baguettes which were delicious and have worked our way up to ciabatta and challah. 

These are baguettes, a white pan loaf and two white rolls.  I liked making the rolls.  I was planning on going to the grocery store after class to pick up some bread...needless to say, we haven't bought bread since I've started this class.  We made a weeks worth of PB&J sandwiches with our pan loaf. 

These are milk rolls with different seeds on top.  Since we don't use preservatives these went stale before we could eat half of them.

 We have also made pizza dough.  We partnered up for this project.  My partner liked thick crust and tomatoes... :(

 Here is a baguette in an epi shape.  It's supposed to resemble a stalk of wheat.  I think I need to practice.  We also made tortillas.  I also need to practice these. 

 These are pitas!  They were really fun to watch bake in the oven because they puff up like little bread pillows and then deflate when you take them out.  They are also a lot softer than store-bought pitas and the pockets are real pockets. :)

 Ok, I know my pretzels look lame, but trust me, they looked good before I left them in the walk-in refrigerator the night before.  I'm thinking someone had taken my sheet pan and saw it wasn't theirs and then absentmindedly slammed it back on the speed rack and smashed my pretzels.  This was my attempt to make them pretzel-ly again.  These were tasty too, a few students even made cheese sauce to go with them.

 This is focaccia.  I'm wondering if "focaccia" is Italian for "bread deliciously soaked in olive oil"  This has probably been my favorite bread so far. Eric and made some pretty tasty grilled sandwiches with this bread. 

 These are Lavosh crackers. Once I realized I forgot my pastry wheel I kinda lost interest and I got too impatient to make these uniform.  They could've been cuter.  Maybe next time. 

This is whole wheat bread with cracked wheat in two shapes.  The round one is called a boule and the longer one is called a batard.  Batard is French for "bastard'.  This shape is called a batard because it's a cross between the boule and baguette shape.

 More epis, but this was done with a different baguette formula. 

Challah and ciabatta.  Eric made some delicious French toast with the challah.  

Aside from school, work has been good.  I've gotten to spend more time in the kitchen.  Learned how to use a sheeter.  It's a machine that rolls out dough for you!  If I had a sheeter I'd make more pie.

I think that's all I got for now. :)