It was my birthday at the end of October, and I think I make it quite hard for people to buy for me, as I don’t like to give a list of ‘wants’ and tend to think I have pretty much everything I could ever want or need.
So last year, my wonderful family clubbed together and packed me off to River Cottage for a Bread Making Day.
And this year, they did the same, but instead of heading back to River Cottage, I was packed off to Bath, and the Bertinet Kitchen Cookery School,
for a day of Croissants and Veinosserie 🙂
(I think we were all a little vague about what Viennoisierie actually was, but I soon found out…)
We were taught by Master Baker Extroadinaire, Mr Richard Bertinet himself,
Richard Bertinet
who was full of Gallic hospitality and charm, and proved to be a superb teacher. His passion for baking, and his joy at being able to pass that on was evident right from the start, and through to the very well deserved glass of wine at the end!
I won’t give away all the recipes, suffice it to say, there was a LOT of butter, and a reasonable amount of creme patissiere, and there may even have been some deep fat frying-it was not a day for anyone watching their waistline…
Just to make your mouths water, here are some of the goodies we made:
Pain au Raisin
Croissants, mountains of croissants!
Mmmmmmm, donuts 🙂
We were busy!
Before you ask, yes we did get to bring some home. I have spent the day mostly scoffing Viennoisserie (now that I know what it is…).
And there was so much, that I even got to bag up some croissants to take with me and pass on a man living rough on the streets of Bath, and spread a little love.
What a fabulous day-thankyou awesome family 🙂 🙂 🙂
My Make Do and Mend Year 
I love that you gave a homeless man some of your lovely makes!
I felt very guilty starting at the huge amount of food having passed several homeless people on the way to the course. I hope he enjoyed them!