Get your bake on at Le Pain Quotidien
Ever watched The Great British Bake Off with envy, wishing you could create some of the delights you see made on your screen but don’t know how to move beyond a trusty-old cupcake? Yes, us too. We may be healthy by name, but we also know that it’s totally fine to let ourselves have a treat once (or twice) in a while. Combine this with our love of watching Mary Berry and co.’s delicacies on TV and we were more than thrilled at the chance to learn to bake with a professional pastry chef at French patisserie Le Pain Quotidien’s London Borough Market branch. Even better news? Their classes are held twice a month, so you can learn, too.
So what was on the menu when we donned our aprons? Every class involves making two items, a sweet and a savoury bake each, and in our case it was two spelt scones and two apricot spelt tarts. YUM. Classes are small; when we went there was a group of just nine, plus our friendly pasty chef tutor who was very keen to help us out, make sure we were happy and confident in what we were doing and answer any questions we had as we were going along.
All ingredients were handily pre-prepared and laid out in individual bowls for each of us (if only we had someone to do this for us at home), so it was a case of simply doing the more fun stuff – mixing, getting our hands messy and enjoying the amazing smells coming from the kitchen once we’d sent them off to be baked. The scones were fairly straightforward, though it was useful to go through the process of making them with a professional, especially as we were using spelt flour rather than the more common everyday type, so have a slightly different consistency. The tarts however, proved more of a fun challenge: firstly, we were shown how to push the dough into the tart tins correctly so that they baked without puffing up on the base. Then we had to make the almond filling, which was completely new territory to us but much less complex than we’d originally imagined it to be. After finishing off with a topping of apricot slices, they were ready to go in the oven along with the scones.
While you excitedly await for your treats to bake, you aren’t just left hanging about – little sandwiches and canapés are served to all the bakers, and everyone receives two drinks, either soft or alcoholic, during the evening. When our creations were finally ready, our scones were served up along with a huge variety of jams we all tried (and very much enjoyed) and clotted cream. This may have been an evening class, but there’s never a bad time for an impromptu cream tea, is there?
Everything tasted delicious. I had several friends fighting over the apricot tarts; the pastry case was baked perfectly and the filling was soft and sweet while retaining its nutty almond taste. Meanwhile, the raisin scones were very well received in the office the following day – the texture moist and the raisins adding a touch of added flavour. Even better, we were provided with a print out of the recipes so we could make them again at home, plus, upon leaving, everyone is invited to take home a jar of Le Pain Quotidien jam and a chocolate spread of their choice. A two-hour private cooking lesson, delicious baked treats, canapés, drinks and spreads to takeaway all for £45 per person? We will definitely be back to try our hand at making something else.
Want to have a go? For more information upcoming on Le Pain Quotidien classes and to book your place, visit lepainquotidien.co.uk/classes.
