In mid-February, the Memory Bound staff took a field trip to Sweet Binney's Bakery to take a pastry class! Sweet Binney's is a wonderful bakery owned and operated by Ryan Binney. In addition to baking fabulous creations, Ryan offers monthly pastry classes. Our class topic was making croissants. YUM!
After arriving at the bakery, we were all issued real aprons. For some of us (not naming any names, of course!), wearing an apron is something we don't do very often...so that in itself was kind of a big deal! :)
This is Chef Ryan, who patiently answered all of our questions and let us photo-document every aspect of the evening! I'm sure he won't soon forget us! :)
Before Chef Ryan could get started, we of course had to pause for several group photos!
Chef Ryan really got our attention when he brought out this huge block of butter. To our amazement, he worked ALL OF IT into the croissant dough by rolling it out flat within the layers. Yep, this is one of the reasons croissants are so good!
Croissants get their flakiness because the dough is rolled out, folded, and chilled several times before baking. Chef Ryan demonstrated all of the steps while we watched carefully and took notes. And a few more pictures. :)
In addition to being a great baker, Chef Ryan is a great teacher, too. He showed us how to make plain croissants, croissants filled with chocolate and almond paste, and bear claws -- all using the same dough. You simply can't go wrong with all that butter, chocolate, and almond paste!
Before we started working with our own dough, we each assembled a big box so that we could take home all of the croissants we baked. Husbands waiting at home seemed to be particularly excited about this!
And here's a picture of some of our finished creations. Trust me, they were every bit as yummy as they look!
Click on the collages below to see the Memory Bound staff in action. Notice Maggie feeding Pat some of her class project! And check out the lovely scallops drawn on the parchment. We're a crafty group, you know!
As you can see by the photos, we all had a great time! It was so much fun to try something completely new.
Thanks to Dawn, Kellie, and Chef Ryan for a wonderful evening!
Janet
