Bristol Hotspots: Little Kitchen Cookery School

Little Kitchen Cookery School, located just outside of Bristol, offers a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. A half hour bus ride from the centre of town and with classes in everything from pastry to Thai Street food; it is a unique learning curve. 

Co-owned by Madeleine and Claire, who also run the sessions, it offers a hands-on learning experience. I took part in their 'Perfect Pastry' course: a 3 and a 1/4 hour session which included choux, shortcrust and puff pastry. Having never made pastry before, and having seen so many failed examples on 'Bake Off', I was pretty sure that I was going to make a total mess of it. 

Photo source: Tripadvisor

Upon arrival I was shown where we would be baking, given an apron and offered a cup of tea: a firm start to any British Saturday morning. We were a relatively small group, six in total, and once we'd been talked through what we were going to be making we got started. 

The Perfect Pastry workshop recipes are for a tomato and feta puff pastry tart, chocolate and ginger shortcrust and cardamon cream profiteroles. All the quantities are weighed out by Madeleine and Claire to save time and placed on the bench in different coloured containers to minimise confusion (salt and baking powder look a little too similar for my liking). 

Madeleine and Claire run through everything step by step - from the front of the room they demonstrate how to combine the ingredients, offering hints and tips along the way, and then we would have to repeat the process ourselves. Luckily for me, they were patient with questions, quick to step in when needed and willing to run through things multiple times when it all proved too much to remember. 

The class was run at a good pace: while one pastry was chilling we would prepare another so that we were never just standing idle. Madeleine and Claire kept an eye on the baking times, made sure all of our doughs were of a good consistency and explained how to recreate the results at home. As someone who had always been intimidated by the thought of making pastry, the course gave me a confidence that a recipe book never could. Not only that but I know that I have gained skills that I will be able to use in my own kitchen so brace yourselves for further posts about ambitious projects to come...

At the end of the session we were given recipe cards and also allowed to take home everything we had made. Mine had to survive a perilous bus journey back across Bristol but my flatmates were certainly appreciative when I got it all home! 

Any pastry recipe recommendations for me to flex my newfound skills? Any other places to pick up new skills in Bristol? Let me know in comments! 

With love, 

Kati