"I may not be able to knit or make plum jam but I can bake a bloody Victoria sponge..." -- Calendar Girls (2003)
What a fun time we had making pies with Sarah Dodge! My friends and I love to spend time together baking whatever, really, and they had some experience working with Sarah on other things - biscuits, breads, etc. So when we found out she had moved to this, we signed up immediately!
Signing up had a couple of issues, but luckily Lyn as very responsive via email and we got everything straightened out - kudos to her.
The space is set up well, but could use a few things - especially for pie making. A larger fridge, primarily. The little wine-sized fridge just could not keep our pie doughs cold enough for the heat of summer and manage the number of times it was opened and closed as we put things in it. Also, the number of stainless steel tables could not manage the 13 people (it was supposed to be 12) - 8 to 10 really needed to be the max. We were elbow to elbow trying to roll out dough and sharing rolling pins, pastry cutters, etc. Not ideal.
Sarah rolled with the punches (pun intended) and we somehow managed to get the pies and galettes knocked out. Baking became the real challenge as the oven space and sizes of pies varied a bit - so luckily we were in the middle of the Curb market, so I shopped for my dinner. Bring your own containers for taking things home - they don't really have anything for you to take stuff out in. By the time my stuff was done, there was not a single bag, sleeve, or anything left for me to put my hot pie into. I'll remember this for next time and bring my own boxes, bags, or whatever based on what I sign up for.
Sarah was amazing - she managed the class with ease and explained every step of each process - the whys as well as the whats. I felt as if I understood why my doughs have never worked out and what couple of things I could change in the future to make this process easier.
Thanks Sarah for the help in making my pies a future success. read more