Baking School Who'd a Thunk it?

It is true, I applied for a program at the Nova Scotia Community College before retirement, on a whim. The Boulanger and Baking Art program. It is a one year college course focusing on bread making and other baked goods.
Last November (2017) my friends were going to the schools bake sale and I went along. The students stood behind their tables full of beautiful baked products with their clean crisp chef outfits on and  huge smiles on their faces. Before long I had researched the program and applied. I was accepted and decided I would retire and go back to school at age 60.
Now it is February and we are almost finished the third rotation with one more rotation to go and a work term for 5 weeks. Afterwards I will graduate with the class, the most senior student in the class.
One of the first breads we learned to make was Brioche. A rich bread with egg and butter added after the gluten has time to form. Here is a photo of the finished product going to the school cafe for sale.

This bread turned out lovely. Sometimes it doesn't always. If you forget to add yeast for example your dough with turn out like a rock, will not rise and in the garbage it goes. Our instructor is pretty cool about it and just says, "That is why we are here in school, you won't want to make mistakes out in the working world". When I was nursing I would never want to make a mistake. There is little room for error in health care. One day I forgot baking powder in a huge batch of muffins and they also were very solid, did not rise in the oven and the whole batch was a waste. It felt awful. 

There are many times I find myself comparing the two careers. I used to wear white tops and black scrub pants as an RN at the hospital. In nursing school we wore a white cap but that was phased out about 30 years ago. The bakers hat is still worn in school and certain establishments where food is served. I worked in Obstetrics and there were more than a few times amniotic fluid or blood ended up on my shoes. The other day I gave the shoes a cleaning as they had a good dusting of flour on them. As I wiped them off, it triggered the memory of cleaning other things from my footwear. When we baked certain types of bread like bagels and LaMouna we have to poke an opening with our fingers.

I asked my instructor how many centimeters will that hole in the center be? All the while I was thinking of the times I checked cervix's for dilation. I know you want to know, a bagel is 3 cm and the LaMouna was about 5cm. When the product proofs the dilation goes backwards as the bread rises.

The lower photo is LaMouna, It is a beautiful tender brioche style bread made with orange blossom water, Grand Marnier soaked candied citrus. Topped with pearl sugar. It was a hit at our house.

Here is a photo of our class. It was taken at the IWK Health Center. We went there to make little ginger bread houses with anyone that may have been at Ronald MacDonald House. This photo was originally posted on the hospital web site. This was my former employer. It was fun to go back in this capacity. Ronald MacDonald House is a spot for families to have a home away from home while their child is in hospital and they live a distance away. 

Next week we are preparing for another bake sale. I hope to have more photos to share and maybe a recipe or two. 

It is fun to be learning again. There are a lot baking methods, mathematical applications and theory behind the are of baking. Likewise in nursing there are methods to follow for certain procedures, mathematical applications for medications and loads of theory behind all that you do. 

Dog Wisdom from Theo the Dog I follow you around the house because I love you and want to spend time with you. We don't always have to play or eat or do something, just be together. Humans could be like this too. There is something comforting about just being present with someone you love to be with.