Who bakes wins... how SAF training made me a ninja with focaccia
It’s 15 years since the School of Artisan Food opened in the heart of Sherwood Forest near Worksop. Since then it has become a world-class learning centre for 30,000 students, not just from the UK but all over the globe. LYNETTE PINCHESS went along to find out what makes it so special
FOR some it has been life-changing, while for others a trip to the School of Artisan Food – known as SAF for short – is simply great fun. Whether you’re an enthusiastic amateur or a professional, everyone who enters the doors has a shared passion for good food.
The location couldn’t be better – the school is set within 15,000 acres of parkland at the Welbeck Estate, where the abbey was the country seat of a succession of Dukes of Portland. Nowadays the former fire stables, within a cobbled courtyard, are where hands-on classes in the traditional art of bread making, charcuterie, cheesemaking and patisserie take place.
There’s a wide range of courses for all levels. From half a day, from £95, to an intensive four-week summer school, costing £3,995. A six-month advanced diploma in artisan baking and a new BSC in artisan food production, in conjunction with Nottingham Trent University, are other options.
I’ve been invited with a dozen or so food writers from across the country for a snapshot of what the school has to offer. First we’re bolstered by coffee and croissants from the estate’s bakehouse. You may have bought some of these fine specimens, perfectly laminated to create layer upon layer of golden crisp pastry, in top Nottingham’s cafes and delis, such as Delilah Fine Foods.
As we enter the first kitchen, wearing our supplied SAF apron, I have a sense of excitement and butterflies, as if I’m a contestant on the Great British Bake Off, minus the TV cameras and the steely blue eyes of judge Paul Hollywood.
Martha Brown, a SAF alumnus who set up her own bakehouse in Sheffield before going full circle and returning to teach, instructs us how to make amaretti. Fear of the unknown is the greatest barrier but when I see how simple it is to make these mini Italian biscuits my nerves dissipate. Thankfully there’s no blind technical challenge – I’m not that confident a baker.
Ground hazelnuts, caster sugar, cocoa powder and salt are mixed with egg whites and cream of tartar, then shaped into balls, dipped in icing sugar and baked for 20 minutes. It is so easy and when I come to sample the fruits of my labour, I’m proud to say, they were delicious.
Friends, be warned, you will be getting festive-flavoured ones for Christmas this year.
Next we make honeycomb. I’ve attempted it before but failed miserably. It helps when you have a thermometer to check the temperature and tips from expert Martha, who says: “It’s patience, not panic.”
When I’ve tried to make caramel it’s gone hard. The trick is, when you see crystals forming, use a pastry brunch to brush down the sides of the pan with water. That will be stored in my memory bank for next time.
A demonstration in puff pastry follows. I’ve never made it – the thought of it scares me. It’s timeconsuming and there’s plenty of rolling involved but it’s not as hard as you’d imagine. And the effort is clearly worth it, as proved by the light and crispy cheese straws we later eat for lunch.
The day’s second session moves into the courtyard, where a number of different-style barbecues are fired up. A wild venison haunch, from Welbeck Estate’s own deer park, is cooking over a firepit. Butchered by tutor Sally-ann Hunt, the meat has been marinated for 18 hours.
Sally, a bank worker for 20 years, became involved in the world of food in 2011 while living and volunteering on a working estate, and it soon became an obsession, leading to her joining SAF seven years later.
She says: “What I do with all my courses, it’s very important that I know the provenance of all the meat and I forage for all my vegetables, herbs and spices mushrooms, so the food miles of this is about 200 metres.”
Soon afterwards the venison appears at the lunch buffet, served with chimichurri, made with foraged wild garlic, and parsley and fennel grown at Rhubarb Farm, a community enterprise, four miles away in Langwith. Pigs are also raised at the farm and fed with leftover bread baked at SAF.
Inside a kettle-style barbecue is an enticing leg of glazed gammon, while a cauliflower is being barbecued, dangling within a metal contraption over the heat of the firepit. Duck breasts, flavoured with ginger and soy, are in a hot smoker, while cheese and garlic are in a cold smoker.
I don’t like the kind of smoked cheese you buy from a supermarket. But forget the commercially-produced cheese, this tastes stunning.
It’s an eye-opener learning about the different types of barbecues, charcoal, wood, and cooking techniques. Guess who will be pushing my husband to one side this summer to take charge of the tongs?
We break for lunch with is a treat in itself with a delicious spread of quiches, salads, cheese, bread, potatoes, pickles and the barbecued meats. It’s a chance to chat further with the other participants.
They include Karen Wright, a gregarious Yorkshire woman who appeared on the Great British Bake Off in 2018 and last year published a book called Meals On The Move: A Campsite Cooking Journey. Another attendee is Chris Blackburn, a world champion Yorkshire pudding maker, and creative force behind the Yorkshire Pudd blog. No matter what your age or background, food is the common denominator so you will have plenty to talk about.
The third and final class of the day is bread-making. With just two hours, it’s a whistle-stop lesson in how to how to make focaccia.
Now I love eating this thick, fluffy Italian bread but I didn’t have a clue how to go about baking it. Following the instructions of tutor and head of baking Kevan Roberts, it’s not as daunting as I imagined. Stretching the dough and slamming it down on the worktop is very satisfying, not to mention a little messy, as the lady next to me splatters her glasses. The reason for this is to develop the gluten. Olive oil in the bowl gives it a lovely sheen.
Folding, proving, more folding and proving follows before we can decorate with olives, tomatoes, rosemary and sea salt and bake. In the meantime we make grissini – Italian breadsticks that date back to the 17th century.
We use poolish – something I know very little about, but this bubbly mixture of water, fresh yeast and strong white flour is a pre-ferment. It’s perfect for making pizza dough as well since it creates the flavour, says Kev, who has worked in product development for supermarkets, run his own bakery in Belgravia and is currently working on his second book about bread. He’s also been a technical adviser on Alan Sugar’s The Apprentice.
The chatty and entertaining baker likes to talk about bread as much as he enjoys baking it. He says he never
tells anyone to hurry up as they are there to learn. Once the grissini dough has been mixed, with added chilli flakes and rosemary for flavouring, it’s time to knead and then roll it out with our hands ready for baking.
Bread-making is as good as any workout in the gym! I should imagine the bakers on the six-month advanced diploma course leave with finely toned muscles as well as a qualification.
Students have arrived at the school from Nepal, India, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Korea as well as closer to home. For Ian Waterland it changed his life.
He worked in mental health across Nottinghamshire for nearly 30 years until he reached a point in his late 40s where he didn’t want to continue the “exhausting” lifestyle anymore. He’d bought his wife a oneday patisserie course at SAF – and that led to him signing up for a diploma in artisan baking.
He says: “It was the hardest year but the best year I have ever had. I didn’t actually know what I was going to do at the end of it. I just grabbed the opportunity to come and loved it. It was the bread that grabbed me so I got really into it. I did a business plan and within two months of finishing the course, I opened a bakery in the village I lived in.”
His microbakery sold sourdough, ciabatta, focaccia and baguettes and Ian built up a real following. After eight years, he closed the bakery and diversified into teaching baking to adults with learning difficulties, homeless teenagers and young carers. He then returned to SAF to teach students how to set up their own business.
Today the 58-year-old couldn’t be happier with the path he chose. He’s
SAF’S managing director and a tutor. “It completely changed my life in every way. If you make something, the process is productive and satisfying and you get to see the end result,” he said.
SAF’S founder, Alison Swan Parente, said the school has many strings to its bow. There are short courses for “enthusiast amateurs” and more intense sessions for professionals to further their skills.
“We have people coming on the diploma and changing their working lives. We have various levels of bursary so we always have a refugee student and that really does change their lives. Baneta is running a bakery in Manchester and Afshin is running a bakery with other refugees in Edinburgh.”
The school also plays an active role in the community, working closely with disadvantaged locals by running classes for homeless people through the YMCA and adults with special needs.
Its Best Food Forward project has a two-pronged approach, with cookery lessons around health and sustainability for local secondary school pupils, and secondly, educating GPS and healthcare professionals on the food pressures patients face. They’re tasked with cooking their own lunch from the kind of food available from a food bank. Some see the word artisan and they automatically think “expensive” when really it stands for craftsmanship and passion.
I left the school laden with everything I’d made – much to the joy of my family. My favourite? The focaccia was a triumph – and I can’t wait to make it again. I arrived at SAF a rough diamond in the kitchen and walked out feeling like a star baker. The three tutors will be running the summer school from July 29 to August 23. Participants will be able to learn traditional skills including baking bread, patisserie and viennoiserie, pizza making, outdoor cooking and ice cream making. The fourweek course costs £3,995. In addition there are 60 short courses running over the summer including an introduction to sourdough baking, smoking and curing, fermenting and pickling, woodfire pizza and patisserie, with prices starting at £95 for a half-day course.
For more information about the School of Artisan Food and what it has to offer visit schoolofartisanfood.org/
Bread-making is as good as any workout in the gym! Lynette Pinchess