Students from all over the world come to Ann Arbor, Michigan to take part in Zingerman’s Bakehouse’s BAKE! classes. The bakery offers in-person and virtual baking classes for breads, pastries, cakes and more spanning a variety of cultural traditions, holidays and special techniques. The classes are designed for home bakers of all levels, but there are specific classes geared towards kids and private lessons and longer Bake-cations for hard core baking enthusiasts.
Each class is limited to a dozen students and has at least two instructors so that students can have plenty of one-on-one time. At the in-person school, Zingerman's measures all of the ingredients and does all of the cleaning so students can concentrate on learning and enjoying the process of baking. At the end of the class, students leave with what they’ve made.
BAKE! classes available during the month of May include:
- Ooh La La Croissants: French Pastry Class - One of Zingerman’s most popular classes features the key techniques for working with a yeasted dough, creating a butter-laminated dough, filling the croissants, proofing them properly to achieve the right texture and baking them to a rich golden brown.
- Zingerman’s Classics - Features lessons on how to make a sampling of Zingerman’s signature products including: Jewish Rye Bread, Black Magic Brownies, Hummingbird Cake, and other old-time favorites.
- Cinn-ful Cinnamon Rolls - Teaches students step-by-step how to make “The Best Cinnamon Roll in Michigan” from mixing, kneading, hand-shaping and proofing yeasted doughs
- Pizza: The Other American Pie - Students can learn the process of homemaking both New York style and Chicago style pizza from scratch. In this class, the Bakehouse will also share their recipe for Pizza Bianca, a flavorful Italian bread, topped with olive oil, salt, and Parmesan cheese.
- Better Bagels - Mix dough, knead it by hand, shape it into rings, then boil and bake your bagels to get just the right texture so that the bagels come out crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The class also covers how to make traditional bialys—crispy, chewy rolls with a center of slow-roasted onions and poppy seeds.
Zingerman’s Bakehouse was founded in 1992 by Frank Carollo and Zingerman’s Delicatessen founders, Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw, with the intention of baking their own bread in house for the deli. Today, the artisanal retail and wholesale bakery and baking school is co-managed by Amy Emberling and Jaison Restrick.
