Syllabus for the Bread course:
Course Title:
Jewish Style Breads, Rolls, and Bagels
When: Winter session 2026, Tuesdays, 1:00 to 3:00 PM
Coordinator:
Robert Sandy
Phone: (317) 332-0772
E-mail: rsandy@me.com
Course Description:
My goal for the course is that everyone in the class will be able to make at home all of breads, rolls, and bagels listed in the syllabus. Each participant will be making the products listed in the syllabus during the class. Wearing an apron will be helpful, as will wearing old clothes. Expect to get messy.
What is genuinely “Jewish” can be a contentious historical question, even in reference to bread and rolls (hereafter “products”). For this course, Jewish products will be the breads and rolls Jews typically eat. Often, back in the “old country” the same products were commonly consumed by nearby non-Jews. I am not claiming that Jews invented any of these products. My father owned a Jewish bakery in Detroit. In the 1960s when I was in high school and college, I worked in his bakery and in others to learn the business. Our products were mostly shaped by hand. Based on my experience, this course will stick to traditional ingredients and hand-made products. My father didn’t use preservatives and dough conditioners. I don’t use them now because they affect the taste and texture. Also, machine-made products often require softer doughs that yield a less chewy product. The list of products runs from the oldest to the most recent: pita bread, sourdough bread, “French” bread, kaiser and other rolls with egg doughs, challah, rye bread, pumpernickel bread, and bagels.
Course Format:
The sequence of products runs from the most ancient (pita and sourdough breads) to the most recent and most complicated (pumpernickel and bagels). To have a large enough space and the necessary equipment, the class will be held at my house. I live at 265 Laurel Avenue in Providence, a short distance from Temple Beth-El. During the first hour of each session, I will demonstrate a new product, showing how to mix, proof, shape, and bake. Class members will either bake products in class if they can be baked quickly (the pita, French baguettes, kaiser rolls) or take home ready-to-bake loaves at the end of each class.
The second hour will have three presentations by class members about the previous week’s product. The presentations will be about ten to fifteen minutes. The presenters will make their products from scratch at home. Each presenter will bring samples to taste and describe any problems, suggest any improvements, and/or describe how they usually make the same product differently. It is important to keep in mind that there are dozens of reasons for a product to fail. Failures are part of the learning process. Understanding why a bread failed and how to avoid it is the crucial lesson.
Expenses:
We will use some specialized ingredients that are not sold in grocery stores or local bakery supply stores including four kinds of specialty flours: medium rye, first clear, high gluten, and dark rye, plus toppings for sesame and everything bagels, yeast, malted barley syrup, and food grade lye. Even for ingredients that are available locally, bulk buying will be way cheaper. Each class member will have five pounds of each type of flour in Ziplock bags. The cost of the ingredients that will be distributed during the first class session will be $30 per class member. On the financial plus side, there is no expense for renting classroom space.
Syllabus by week:
1. January 13
a) types of flours, other ingredients, and equipment presentation by me
b) pita bread making, sours, and pre-ferments presentation by me
c) dividing the bulk ingredients to take home
2. January 20
a) sourdough bread presentation by me
b) pita bread results presentations by three class members
3. January 27
a) French bread presentation by me
b) sourdough bread results presentations by three class members
4. February 3
a) kaiser and other rolls with egg-based doughs presentation by me
b) French bread results presentations by three class members
5. February 10
a) challah presentation by me
b) egg-dough rolls results presentations by three class members
6. February 17
a) rye bread presentation by me
b) challah bread results presentations by three class members
7. February 24
a) pumpernickel bread presentation by me
b) rye bread results presentations by three class members
8. March 3
a) bagels presentation by me
b) pumpernickel bread results presentations by three class members
9. March 10
a) bagel results presentation by three class members
b) class party
About the instructor:
Robert Sandy has been an LLC coordinator the Battery Electric Vehicles and the Concerts and Conversations about classical music courses. He is a two-time winner of the Temple Beth-El World Series of Jewish Cooking contest for his pumpernickel bread and his Dobos Torte.
Syllabus for the Austro-Hungarian Strudels, Pastries and Tortes Course:
When: Fall session 2026, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM
Coordinator: Robert Sandy
Phone: (317) 332-0772
E-mail: rsandy@me.com
Course Description:
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 women 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). 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. To cover these expensive ingredients, the per-person cost will be $50. The class will meet in my home on the Eastside. Participants will be asked, but not required, to do one presentation about baking a previous week’s product.
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.
Course Format:
The sequence of products runs from the no-leavening products (Apple and Golden Raisin Strudel and Linzer Torte) to products leavened with yeast (Poppy Seed Rolls, Raspberry Danish, Chocolate Babka), to products leavened with beaten egg whites (Sacher Torte, Chestnut Torte, Dobos Torte). The products will run from the easier to the most complicated. However, even the first product is far from easy. The products that were generally home baked in Austro-Hungarian empire were made by skilled bakers. The most complicated products toward the end of the course were made in professional bakeries by highly skilled pastry chefs. My goal is that everyone taking the course will be able to make all eight of the products. To do that I will show every step of the process. To have a large enough space and the necessary equipment, the class will be held at my house. I live at 265 Laurel Avenue in Providence, a short distance from Temple Beth-El, the former location of LLC courses. During the first hour of each session, I will demonstrate a new product, showing how to mix, proof if it is yeast leavened product, shape, and bake. Class members will either bake products in class if they can be baked quickly (the Apple and Golden Raisins Strudel, Linzer Torte, Poppy Seed Rolls, Raspberry Danish) or take home ready-to-bake products at the end of each class (Chocolate Babka, Sacher torte, Chestnut Torte, and the crowing achievement, Dobos Torte.
The second hour will have three presentations by class members about the previous week’s product. The presentations will be about ten to fifteen minutes. The presenters will make their demo products from scratch at home. Each presenter will bring samples to taste and describe any problems, suggest any improvements, and/or describe how they usually make the same product differently. It is important to keep in mind that there are dozens of reasons for a product to fail. Failures are part of the learning process. Understanding why a product failed and how to avoid it is the crucial lesson.
Syllabus by week:
1. September 15
a) Demo on making Apple and Golden Raisin Strudel
b) Tasting warm out-of-the-oven strudel
2. September 22
a) Demo on Linzer Torte
b) three class-member presentations of strudels
3. September 29
a) Demo on Poppy Seed Rolls
b) three class-member presentations of Linzer Tortes
4. October 6
a) Demo on Chocolate Babka
b) three class-member presentations of Poppy Seed Rolls
5. October 13
a) Demo on Sacher Torte
b) three class-member presentations of Chocolate Babka
6. October 20
a) Demo on Chestnut Torte
b) three class-member presentations of Sacher Torte
7. October 27
a) Demo of Dobos Torte
b) three class-member presentations of Sacher torte
8. November 3
a) three class-member presentations of Dobos Torte
b) class party
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