Spring is here, new energy prevails. 5 minutes a day, and fresh bread is yours to bake. With Zoe Francois, you will change your life, and the quality of breads you place at your table, and into your mouth. Bake with Zoe @ The Battenkill Kitchen

For 50 cents or less a day, you can make and bake your own bread. You have total control over ingredients, and who can resist fresh bread? Had too many pumpkins in the garden? The above pumpkin brioche is yours to make and share. Easy, made in minutes (well 5 minutes a day to be exact) and delicious too.

This is the Zoe Francois I know, I admire, I respect and most of all, I love to be around. There is something very special about Zoe. Is it her bread making prowess? Her astonishingly wonderful dessert making skills? Her charming husband? Her two beautiful and lively sons? Whatever it is that makes Zoe so special, I know it has much to do with how she lives, how she cooks and bakes, and how she parents her kids, and how she spoils her spouse. When there is honesty around food, and when you pay attention to what you eat and put onto your table, it also bespeaks a certain brilliance and honesty around everything else you do in your life. Zoe is enriched with that gift. A gift that comes from making no poor choices, no bad compromises, and taking no short-cuts, at the expense of her own smile, the health of her family, and the respect of others. And later this month, Zoe is in Hebron, at our farm, and teaching two classes at the Battenkill Kitchen. Take the class and become the talk of the town. Your baking skills will graduate with honors, and take you to preparing creations you never imagined you could.

 

This Chocolate-Raisin Babka is yours to make at home. Learn how to make this, and you will also understand why people in Beijing also follow what Zoe and her co-writer Jeff have cleverly discovered and shared in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

A plain chocolate glazed bread. What can seem sinful and sexier than this? Not much. But like everything Zoe brings into lives of her readers and followers, it is easy to make.

Canned some lemon curd and want to use it with homemade brioche bread? Well, Brioche is as good as it gets, and Zoe teaches you how to make it without any fuss. What can I learn from you about Brioche, Zoe? Well, here is her answer..."The very first recipe I developed for the book was brioche. A bread that people find much too fussy and laborious to bake at home in the traditional way. When I discovered that it could be made in our simple method it was something of a revelation. I use the brioche dough as a sandwich loaf, to make sticky buns and even as the base of my favorite pear tart." Have a slice of your own brioche, with your own homemade lemon curd, and you will float into heavenly moods within seconds.

Like sticky buns, special breakfast pastries? Think again, you will be taken to new heights, right in your own kitchen, as you make this delicious and beautiful lemon-blueberry ring.

As much as you will learn how to become a talented baker, and be confident to create your own baked goods, what you will also perhaps take back home, after your class with Zoe, is the ability to be a spouse, mother, a working professional, a dear friend and a wonderful neighbor. Never short of time, to create wonderful treats for all special occasions. And to do so, with little effort and time, and with very little expense. Zoe wears many hats, and so do you. Armed with recipes that work, work fast and are fool proof, you will never look back to grocery store breads and baked goods. You will be able to track where at least the breads you eat come from. A very powerful ability, and something you will be very proud of. It is also an art you can work on as a family. Kids will be thrilled to help, if you can show them what to do, and know how to be able to use their help.

Below is the information on the two classes Zoe Francois will be teaching at the Battenkill Kitchen. They are limited to a very small group, to ensure you all get personal time with Zoe. This is a treat for our community, and a gift Zoe is giving us to cherish for a lifetime, and in reality, with generations to follow. Any child that can enjoy eating better breads, homemade breads, will hopefully do the same with their kids, and in doing so, continue the tradition of artisan bread baking and mindful living and eating. How can this be bad for you?

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
A Hands-on Class with Zoe Francois

April 23rd, 6:30 PM

Class participants will work with recipes and techniques from Zoe's first book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Participants will come out of this class, having learned how to make bread, make them easily, and change the way they think and eat breads. There will be some of Zoes favorite accompaniments to breads also prepared at the class.
Participation is limited.

Class registration fee of $110 includes a copy of Zoe's cookbook, “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” (discounts may apply to Battenkill Kitchen members).



Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day
A Hands-on Class with Zoe Francois

April 24th, 12:00 PM

Class participants will work with recipes and techniques from Zoe's second book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.
This book and class will bring healthy and easy breads to your world, and change your life and diet to what it should be in this world of mindful eating and living.
Zoe changed the world of bread with her first book, and with this second book, she has brought bread back to the table without the cook or diner feeling any guilt.

Participation is limited.

Class registration fee of $110 includes a copy of Zoe's cookbook, “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day” (discounts may apply to Battenkill Kitchen members).

For more information about Zoë François visit www.zoebakes.com and www.artisanbreadinfive.com.

To register for the classes or for further information, call 518.854.3032 or e-mail manager@battenkillkitchen.or

PS: Credit for photographs goes to Zoe Francois. Visit www.zoebakes.com and you can see more of her recipes, photographs and creations.

Comments

[Meagan Parrado]

My mouth is literally watering after reading this post. Zoe, your breads look delightful! What a shame I am not in the area or I would love to participate in a class!

Warm regards,

Meagan

[Sally]

Zoe's methods sound too good to be true - I can't wait to see them in action. With the price of a loaf of artisan bread approaching five dollars and more, one can even say we all NEED to know what Zoe can teach us. Great bread with no chemical additives done inexpensively? That's a winning recipe!

[Jennifer]

I'm so excited- I live in Hebron and I will be taking the Saturday baking class with Zoe. Thanks for this write up, she sounds like a wonderful woman.

[Suvir Saran]

Hi Jennifer!
How nice of you to come take the class.
Zoe is amazing in many ways, and bread baking is only one of her many skills.
The house is feeling blessed because of her presence here.
See you Saturday.
Of course the Friday class will be fun too.
Do you have her books? I know you get the HBn5 with your Saturday class.
Get ABn5 and play with it too.
You will LOVE how quickly you become a bread lover, and better still, that you are able to make gorgeous breads at home.

[Jennifer]

Hi Suvir,

I had a great time at the class today. So nice to meet you, Charlie and Zoe. And thank you for all the lovely food and recipes. I only had one small nibble of the hummus but it was so good that I think I'm going to have to try making it myself.

I do have ABn5 and I agree it has made me a better baker. It's good to know that bread is nothing to be scared of...and with the new book it can be healthy too!