I’ve taken several intensive baking courses at King Arthur’s west coast baking school, including beginning and advanced sourdough, beginning and advanced artisan bread, and (just recently) pies and tarts. These were all multi-day courses for home bakers.
The bread baking courses at KAF bordered on technical. I think this was due in part to the curriculum, in part to KAF’s legacy, and in a very large part due to the instructor I had. She was amazing, and really wanted you to understand the science behind what you were doing.
I’m not sure I’ve had that same experience with other, non-bread classes at KAF. I’ve dabbled there in cinnamon rolls, and more recently pies and tarts, and these classes seem to be more general, and more focused on exposing the student to a variety of techniques without addressing the technical side as much.
Given I have the advantage of proximity, I’ll continue to participate in classes at KAF – I find it a wonderful resource for the home baker, and in any case, a fun activity.
I also once took a one-day pie workshop from Kate McDermott (author of Art of the Pie). It was wonderful, welcoming, and – at the time - my first introduction to baking pie.
