As a child of Jewish DPs (Displaced Persons) I learned that pastry making was a competitive sport. Inviting another DP over for “coffee” implied serving a homemade pastry. A store-bought dessert would have permanently shamed the hostess. At my Bar Mitzvah party, held in our house, a dozen DP women contributed their specialties. Their competition could turn into a blood sport if a woman brought another’s celebrated pastry. This course is mostly about making famous pastries from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, either with no leavening (apple strudel and Linzertorte), yeast leavening (poppy seed rolls, Danish, and babka), or beaten egg whites leavening (chestnut, Dobos, Sacher tortes).

Format: Each week the coordinator will demonstrate how to prepare and bake a product. Then, class members will prepare that product so it will be ready to bake at home. Participants will be asked, but not required, to do one presentation about baking a previous week’s product.

Resources/Expenses: The ingredients for this course are expensive, e.g. vanilla beans, high-quality chocolates, and even a Sacher torte ordered from the Sacher Hotel in Vienna and airfreighted to Providence. It will be fun to compare the original Sacher torte to what we make in class. The cost of the ingredients is $50.00 per class member. Please plan to pay the coordinator at the first class.

Coordinator: Robert Sandy has offered the Jewish Style Breads, Rolls, and Bagels course three times. This new course is at the request of participants of his Breads course. The former course relied on Bob’s father’s baking experience. This one relies on his mother’s experience, plus that of many of her friends/rivals.