My husband loves to bake simple things and is ready to learn more–in a friendly, noncompetitive, fun, relaxed environment. I’d like to buy him a class or two to help celebrate a BIG birthday that’s coming up. He’s particularly interested in pies and other fruit-based desserts. I see that Sur La Table has a bunch of offerings, but nothing really for him/us. I wonder if you guys have any thoughts. We can certainly go to the city, too, but the choices there are overwhelming. Thanks for any pointers at all!
Estelle Gourmet is a French-themed café, caterer and bakery on Palmer Ave. in Larchmont near the movie theater. They offer cooking classes. They have a website…
In the city Institute for Culinary Edication has several offerings.
My sister and I took a fantastic croissant baking class at Mille Feuille in Manhattan. I highly recommend it. We got to take home a ton of croissants and some brioche too. They do macaron classes too and perhaps a few others.
Maybe this says more about me than about them, but I find them completely intimidating! Have you ever taken classes there?
Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun! Were the other people in the class experienced? Were you?
Thanks! I will look into it for sure.
As far as I know everyone was a beginner and no one had made croissants before (quite a process with all the steps of making laminated dough). There was even a child (well behaved, motivated, and accompanied by a watchful parent). If they still are doing them the same way they were a couple years ago, the pastry chef taught the class and we got a ton of hands on experience. It was laidback but we were very involved in all steps of the process which isn’t always the case.
I did the professional course. But before that I did. It was great. Not at all intimidating.
Thanks, I really appreciate the feedback.
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Wow, this sounds terrific. Thank you!
Just a friendly reminder, while posting on local boards, please remember to place the location of your inquiry in your title. While you are making the post on a regional board, on the main board the local board designation doesn’t show so nobody knows where are you looking for a baking class. (in this example) I have made the change to your title now, this is how it looked before. As I said just a friendly reminder to help you attract more of the readers that can help your specific question.
Thanks for the reminder. Makes sense!
Yeah, once I clicked your post I didn’t think you wanted to drive to Monmouth County, NJ for your baking class!!
Never heard of this! Thanks, just joined their mailing list.
I took a knife skills class at ICE that was excellent - I really enjoyed it. The students ranged from complete beginners to several who had decent knife skills already, and the instructor did a great job of making it informative for everyone.
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Hi again, I’m sorry to have fallen off the face of the earth, especially after all the help you and others offered.
So I went around and around about this decision. At first it was croissants all the way. And then second thoughts crept in. I ended up picking a pizza-making class at ICE, which I know he will love. If this works as well as I think it will (it happens in a few weeks), the sky’s the limit! He’s decided that his recent Big Birthday is an invitation to learn lots of new things, so there will be plenty of classes in our future.
I will definitely report back after it takes place! 
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Awesome! Can’t wait to hear about it. I hope this is the beginning of a lot of delicious pizza for you both. 
I’m mostly the cook at home but my husband is the pizza maker in the family-- he has a patience with dough that is difficult for me. He has branched out into other breads too. He makes a mean foccacia and stuffed meat Italian loaf too. Now if only I could get him to help me with pie crust, because I’m sure he’d school me in that too!
So our “savory baking” (aka pizza) class was this weekend. What a fun time. It was about 12 people, and we worked in pairs–starting with making the dough (for both pizza and focaccia) from scratch. Ultimately, each pair made a huge focaccia and four pizzas (or calzones). While the dough was rising, the instructor gave us a mini-knife skills lesson and then we prepped all the toppings. When it was all done, they pulled out the wine and beer, and we all got to enjoy the fruits of our labors. The environment was supportive and encouraging, not intimidating at all. We learned a lot and enjoyed every minute–plus we went home with tons of leftovers. My favorites were the potato/rosemary focaccia and the roasted onion/olive/mushroom pizza.
One of the reasons I chose this experience as a gift for my husband is that he likes to bake but was intimidated by yeast. I think this helped him move past that. And it was a really great activity to do together. We look forward to going back.
And thanks again for all the great ideas!
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