The Baker and the Student at Lucy Cooks

Chef Nick Martin shows Sam how it’s done during our class at Lucy Cooks, a school where every day students can learn how to cook, bake and generally find their way around a kitchen. Martin’s cooked with the best, I asked him about some of the famous chefs like Gordon Ramsay. Is he as over the top mean as he appears on TV? “Worse! he said, “he has these blue eyes, and they just penetrate you, and everyone looks away, and he just keeps on staring.”

He gave us some tips, like including the basil stems when you make pesto, since they have the same taste as the leaves and there’s no reason to throw them out. He also said that using fresh yeast, that comes in a package almost like butter, but is much softer, is way better than using the stuff that comes in granules.

Today we made pesto bread, olive bread, beer and cheese bread and foccaccia….and it really isn’t that hard, we found out, but the results are delicious. This is one time where I think I really will apply what we learned…watch out Cindy, my olive bread will take the place of Bakery Normand!

But Martin warned about bread…once you start it, you can’t stop. That makes me think twice before I begin baking for the cafe.