Artisan Bread Making at Cook Culture (Victoria, BC) )

So, today is my second bread making class at Cook Culture with B-Red Bakery owner and operator, Brad Williams. As I cruised the Cook Culture web site for more info on the class I came across a friggin horrendous photo of myself (See above), which I feel obligated to post for some reason (I think by admitting it's terrible it is somehow less humiliating...riiiight?). Anyway, last week we learned the basic and traditional flour, water, salt, yeast formula, which in and of its self is a science and an acquired technique. Brad is a fantastic baker and an enigmatic host who also whipped up a great mayo/Caesar salad dressing to go with the demo bread that baked as the class went on. We all had a chance to make our doughs in-house (Cook Culture has a fully-functional, dream kitchen in it's downtown store) to take home and bake - Easier said than done: while my classmates talked about their homemade, outdoor stone-wood burning bread ovens, stainless steel - french door convection ovens and Agga ovens (my dad 'n mum's) I stressed out over that fact that my generic electric-digitally controlled Playskool piece of shit oven may not reach a temperature of the necessary 500 degrees necessary to bake this ancient artisan bread. Nor did I have the beautiful French-made ceramic Dutch Ovens that were featured in the class (NOT the bedroom fart trap, dummies) I am apparently fairly ill-equipped to undertake this type of baking but for those who know me this is the type of challenge I readily take on.
With my dough safely proofing in my cupboard and the assurance that my oven in fact will provide the necessary heat, I headed out the next day to find a baking tile or a used dutch oven for my bread.
I rummaged through Value Village looking for something, ANYTHING, to get this bread made, to no avail (I am on a non-existent budget for these types of luxuries). However, I did find a baking tile at Capitol Iron for under $15 (came with a pizza cutter, too!) and had some unbleached linen cut from the fabric department for 2$ to proof my dough in. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. I stopped by Cook Culture to see if what I had found would suffice (or was it to gloat over the fact that I didn't have to spend $200 on equipment?...) and they graciously lent me a beautiful Emile Henry dutch oven for the week!!! I ended up experimenting with both and they worked equally well, as it turns out.
My first loaf came out great! I got WAAAAAAAAAY ahead of myself with the second loaf by using whole grain flour and adding cheese and marinated olives (soak em first, I was told later)
. ..my tendency ignore expert advice usually results in tire fires and larsony...it did not end well.
By Thursday, after a few more misguided and sloppy attempts I ended up with a pretty decent organic, whole grain loaf. It was dense but killer with some cheese and meat slapped on it. After all was done I came out unscathed and having acquired a healthy respect for the basics: flour, water, salt, yeast and patience.

...well, that last one is a stretch.

My adventures in bread making continue tonight...