Wan – indidiual training for 2 months

Hello readers, I’m Wan.

I come from Taiwan, an island thousands of miles away from the Netherlands. I have passion for baking, making things by hands. During my travel, baking leads me to explore more different ideas and life-styles, just like what I found in this school.

Spending 70 days here, including the crazy Christmas season, I learned so much new things from the team. Not only the typical Dutch culture, but the organic way of baking. Every morning, we bake the doughs which have been slowly rising for more than 20 hours, and then make new doughs for the next 20 hours fermentation. From the grain to the flour, from the sourdough to the bread, I touch them, smell them, shape them. Try to feel them, as much as I can.

That’s how Gerard and the team teach me: the materials always lead us, so we must listen to their needs. We don’t use any chemical stuff or trick to speed up the process. Just all the organic ingredients and our patience. Wait for them, then time is going to repay us, by making the flavor so rich, also the bread easier to be digested.

Maybe we have to pay a bit more visible money for it, but less invisible cost on the health of the environment, of the planet, or of you. And that’s what really matters.

I also learned how to make bread with the wheat flour from my homeland. Gerard encouraged me to do so, just like he did for the people from other countries. Now I know that we can make good bread with all kinds of materials, if we expand our definition of “bread”. The flours are just different, so we choose different methods to make them good. There’s no limit on the baking way. But only with the local organic ingredients, we can create the system which is good for the planet and ourselves.

When a team is doing organic baking out of altruism, surely it will also be a pleasure to work with them. I was like falling from sky to them, but soon I was accepted as a member of the crew, even of the family. I really appreciate those kind and caring people. What I learned from them is going to be with me for the next decades.

Many thanks to Dutch Organic Baking School, for such an inspiring journey!

Evangelia Nevrokopli – invidiual traning for 2 weeks

My training in the bakery of Gerard & Sous lasted two weeks with a week of break in between. The context was that of COVID-19. It took me a few days to relax from the restrictions and the atmosphere they established.

My training took place in the time and space of the bakery. I often saw my self as a part of the multiple machines that were in work in the bakery. To make questions or take notes did not take all my attention. I mostly tried to let my thinking and my senses be as coordinated as possible with these of Gerard’, Alesia’ and Whisley’. I may have felt then as not being able to understand everything but I was a bit wrong. This experience is not knowledge alone but mostly is a relation with the ingredients, the materials, the processes and their logic, your co-bakers etc.This is exactly the training’s valuable meaning.

I could suggest the idea to have Gerard giving his lessons outside the ‘job’ of the bakery. Although it might be worthy to try it, it would lack all richness of the relations you find only in the environment of a bakery. But of course a baking school always seeks innovative ways to communicate this passion and all that is around it, to people who at least feel they want to share the same.

I would like here to thank Gerard, Alesia and Wesley for their kindness to answer all my questions, to be willing to teach me, to be patient with my mistakes. They, including Corianne and Sous are all great people who share in common something that their bakery shelters…it’s on observers’ side to discover this😉 for me it is a life paradigm taken from the pure model of sourdough bread! Lots of congratulations to all people of the group!

Shiori – invidiual traning for 3 weeks

Highly recommend baking school!!

I am glad that I could get opportunity to learn from such a passionate teacher!

I have learnt how difficult but interesting organic baking is!! He has plenty of knowledge to bake delicious and healthy bread so you can learn everything what you want!

Everyone in the school/shop are so nice and helpful too!