“We are bakers of bread. We are fresh from the oven. We are a symbol of warmth and welcome. We are a simple pleasure, honest and genuine. We are a life story told over dinner. We are a long lunch with an old friend. We are your weekday morning ritual. We are the kindest gesture of neighbors. We are home. We are family. We are friends.”
Taken right from their website. I had the privilege of attending a baking demonstration and tasting today with the head baker at Panera Bread, Tom Gumpel. Tom is a former assistant dean at the Culinary Institute of America, among other notable entrees on his vast resume.
We had an intimate hands-on baking workshop. We watched as Tom made a bread pudding from scratch. Luckily one was ready after the demonstration (we had the other one when that finished cooking) for us to taste, we were a group of starving bloggers!
Then Tom made a chocolate babka. That is a bread from my ancestry and the ancestry of other Russian and Polish folk. He started with the chocolate ganache filling which we got to taste with spoons. OK, I had more than 1 spoonful. I did get a little tipsy from all that chocolate. Yum.
I have to say I was impressed enough by our baker to suggest to him that he have a show on the Food Network. For a baker to stand in front of 20 women bloggers and me and keep us entertained while we were starving, he pulled it off quite well. Everyone should write in and suggest it as well, the amount of information this man had about bread was astounding, and as I tell my 7 year old son, baking is science, and you have to be quite smart to be able to do it properly and well.
Tom’s passion regarding bread was very impressive so I am going to share some of his thoughts here as I got quite a kick out of these:
“Certain types of bread work particularly well with various meats, spreads or cheeses,” notes Gumpel. “A high-quality bread can catapult any meal, from hors d’oeuvre to entrées, into an extraordinary one.”
“Most Panera Bread® bakery-cafes typically offer 10-11 types of bagels and seven flavors of cream cheese. Mathematically, that’s at least 70 possible combinations, which can make settling on just one a bit difficult. To make it easier, there are some delicious match-ups you may not have thought of from head baker Tom Gumpel.”
This list is available from me upon request.
Never refrigerate bread. “That ruins the starch, and it’ll get that day-old feel faster,”
says Gumpel. If it came in a paper sack, repackage the loaf in a plastic bag. This will help the bread retain its moisture. I must have looked quite guilty, I have put bread in the fridge thinking I could extend the expiration date. Never again!
says Gumpel. If it came in a paper sack, repackage the loaf in a plastic bag. This will help the bread retain its moisture. I must have looked quite guilty, I have put bread in the fridge thinking I could extend the expiration date. Never again!
I must have eaten a loaf of bread before we left this event, and I was quite starched up!
I did know about Panera before today even though there are none in Manhattan. While visiting family a few years back, my brother and sister-in-law were driving us around Rockland County, where we all hail from, and we stopped at this amazing new place that opened up in Nanuet, NY. The 2 of them were raving about the breads at this place. As jaded New Yorkers , my spouse and I stayed quite aloof, but we did manage to stuff ourselves!
It was a Panera Bread Cafe!
The in-laws have also discovered Panera as well. My mother-in-law goes on and on about the Panera Bread Cafe that opened in their part of Staten Island. The bread, the soups, the sandwiches, etc, etc. And this is coming from the best Italian cook I have ever known. That is where you get your best review!
So if you haven’t tried Panera Bread, go out and fill up! It is delicious, mostly because they keep tight control of the whole baking process, from the opening of bags of flour, to letting the dough rise, to final baking in the Cafes. If you have already been to Panera, then I am sure you have become a regular. We are just hoping they are able to open one in Manhattan in the next year or two!
And of course I have to end with a paparazzi shot! The new iron Chefs! Tom Gumpel and I!
Disclosure: I did receive a Panera gift card for attending this event, and they also fed me quite well!
Haha, love that pose!!!
Mmmmm, I could just smell that wonderful aroma of fresh bread and taste it as I read this post. Sounds like a fun event. I’m a huge fan of Panera Bread – they’re tomato basil soup is delish!
Great shot and fun seeing you again, so when is the next event? LOL 😉
I love that you got your picture taken with Tom! That’s great!