This afternoon I joined 7 girlfriends at the Great Harvest Bread Company in Tempe for a bread baking class. I wasn’t sure what to expect; I love to bake and finally mastered a great loaf of bread with the ever-so-popular No Knead recipe. Then again, I’m rarely one to turn down an opportunity to learn, eat or bake. For $25 we got to do all three, plus spend several hours gabbing and having a great time.
Carolyn, the former owner, is transitioning out of the business and training the new owner Leslie. The two make a great pair; they were polite and friendly and you can feel their love for baking. It is always nice to be around people who are passionate about their work. They described Great Harvest’s business model, commitment to making healthy food (the company was founded by Montana hippies who ground their own wheat and sold bread by the roadside. How wonderful is that?), and community involvement. They have a really successful business and I got chatting to Carolyn about industrial equipment. She mentioned that she wanted to buy a large mixer for the bakery so I told her to try Arrow Mixing or another similar company. I’m not surprised that she needs a bigger mixer – we made so much bread! We placed our lunch order, threw on aprons and hats and headed back into the bakery to learn how to knead.
Their baker measured out two one-pound loaves of bread. We each kneaded, decorated and dabbed a honey mixture on top of these before they went into their ferris wheel oven to be baked. We had no issues with the bread not rising but I had done plenty of research before our visit on websites like The Saffron Bistro so I knew what to do if this happened! The bread was amazing! After a tour of the bakery, we sat down to eat. I’m not easily impressed with sandwiches. I love lots of sliced meat, generous veggies, no mayo or cheese and a great bread. They knocked it out of the park. My black forest turkey sandwich was so, so good. I had it on their nine grain and it was truly the best sandwich bread I’ve ever had. I was happy without eating another bite, but then of course came two large plates of sweets. Soon enough, the eight of us magically made brownies, cookies, muffins, scones and several types of specialty bread disappear. My favorite was the flax seed, carrot bran muffin. Sounds gross, but it was just the right balance of sweet, dense and healthy-ish. Yum.
Phoenicians, if you are looking for a fun way to get a group of friends together, this class is a wonderful way to escape the normal mall/shopping/lunch/movie/happy hour routine. Plus, you get to come home with a belly full of healthy, yummy food and two loaves of bread. For $25, it’s a steal. Plus, it’s a great chance to look at your girlfriends and say, “Nice buns!”
~K