DIYers are fast warming up to baking with beer and bacon and learning the truths of fondant, as shown by the opening of a second teaching kitchen at Zingerman's Bakehouse.
BAKE!, the company's teaching bakery, has added a second culinary classroom at its facility at 3723 Plaza Drive in Ann Arbor.
After four to five years of class offerings, earlier this spring BAKE! rose to meet the demand. "So many classes were selling out, we were getting requests," says Sara Richardson, marketing manager for Zingerman's Bakehouse. "We had lots of regulars who were coming often and bringing their friends and family, and then they were writing to us and filling up our waitlist and asking for more classes."
The new room has a a 12-burner island stove, a convection oven, butcher block tables, and a big overhead mirror for students to watch demos of techniques. Oftentimes, two classes of a dozen students apiece are running simultaneously. Two new staffers, an instructor and an assistant, were added to handle the extra capacity.
And better get your cookies in order. The fall and winter schedule has just been released, Richardson says. "Now we have six classes making holiday cookies in December that are already sold out. People are planning ahead."
Source: Sara Richardson, Zingerman's Bakehouse marketing manager
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
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