3 Questions To Ask Before You Take A Gluten Free Cooking Class

Registration is open for a few more days for my latest class: Gluten Free Mess to Masterpiece. I’m really excited that we’re going to be doing a deep dive in to gluten free flours, converting recipes, the special techniques that prevent GF baking disasters, and in-depth look at gluten free bread recipes, and how you can spot a bad one before baking it. This is the first time this class has been offered, and that means you can get a huge discount by participating in the “first class”. Click here for the dates and more details.

When I was a little girl my absolute favorite thing was to spend the night with my grandmother. I have many sweet memories of those nights – dressing up in her fancy clothes and dancing to Lawrence Welk, learning the catechism at bedtime, and lots of chocolate milkshakes with graham crackers. But the memories that I think of first when I think of my grandmother are memories of being with her in the kitchen.  I can still clearly see the mounds of sausage and cheese that I squeezed together as she sifted flour over my hands while we made sausage balls; feel the spray of corn as we cut kernels from the cob every summer, and her hands over mine as she helped me learn to make the special “pocketbook” yeast rolls that we only had for Sunday lunch.

That is the ideal way to learn to cook -  to stand in a kitchen with someone, many times, doing the work together. The learner soaks up knowledge like a sponge. As they mix the dough a question occurs to them and they can ask and receive an answer when it has the most meaning to them.  Unexperienced hands struggle to shape a dough and the watchful eyes of the experienced baker see that and she comes over to show you an easier way.

Our Great Grandmothers Would Have Rocked Gluten Free

Over the past 50 years this way of learning to cook has become more and more rare. When you add to that the fact that gluten free cooking and baking has only been around for a few decades, you find that we have a very real problem. Multiple generations have never cooked from scratch, yet we are in the midst of an epidemic of autoimmune diseases, some of which can only be treated through diet.

My culinary mission in life is to teach people to master gluten free (and multiple allergy) cooking and baking so that we can restart the tradition of passing cooking knowledge down from generation to generation. This must happen if we are to continue enjoying our food while we figure out what will allow our bodies to heal.

The problem is that there are relatively few people who have a depth of knowledge of gluten free baking that is required if we want to bake as well as our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. And honestly, we’re going to have to know more than they did, because multiple-allergy baking is much more complicated. The first step is to find a way for the knowledge of those few to be disseminated as widely and effectively as possible, so that the knowledge of cooking and baking can once again be passed down within families. The solution to this will be gluten free cooking classes.

Three Questions You Should Ask About Any Gluten Free Cooking Course:

For the remainder of this post I’m going to focus on learning to bake gluten free. Learning to cook gluten free foods is much easier than learning to bake gluten free  because there are so many things that you can make that don’t use flour. With baking it’s a bit hard to escape the need for flour of some sort, and it is additionally complicated by the fact that most baking recipes also include ingredients to which many gluten free people are also sensitive.

What our are options for learning to bake gluten free? And how should we evaluate those options?

Let’s deal with the latter question first. As I’ve mentioned, learning to bake from an experienced family member would be the absolutely best situation. The reasons for that give us the three questions that we should ask about any gluten free cooking class we take.

  1. Do I get to experience the process? Great classes require you to get your hand dirty. You do the work so that you learn how the dough or batter should look, feel, smell and taste. I was listening to an podcast last week about Homer and discovered that the ancient Greeks thought of knowledge very differently than we moderns do. Among other things they believed that knowledge came through participation, whereas we tend to think that knowledge comes through thinking. Obviously thinking is required for any learning, but the acquisition of knowledge needs to start with participation and observation. A cooking lesson that allows the learner to do the work is the sort of lesson that it going to facilitate quick and effective learning.
  2. How long does the class last? Baking is an art best learned over time; there is just too much to take in all at once.  (This is true even for the experienced what baker that is learning gluten free baking.) Lessons that extend over time (and I mean weeks or months, not hours) are the best. This is what happens naturally in the home.  You will see and question things the fifth time that you bake a recipe that you didn’t notice the first time you baked it. Eventually you will make mistakes and those mistakes  will generate new questions.  Any course that does not give you an extended time period for learning is going to fall short in some way.
  3. How much do I get to interact with the teacher? Learning can happen from listening and watching a teacher, but it most naturally happens when we experience something and then ask a question.  Being able to ask questions and have the teacher respond in a meaningful way customizes a class so that it more effective. Any sort of cooking lesson needs to have the ability for the student to ask questions at a minimum. The more conversation that can happen, the better.

The Pros And Cons of Different Kinds of GF Cooking Classes

 

The In-Person Group Class

This is the kind of class that most people think of when you mention a cooking class. You go to a location with a kitchen, at a set date and time, and the instructor prepares several recipes. Some of these classes are observation only; in others you get to participate in making the recipes, though it may just be a part of the recipe.

Coverage of Topic: Light; these classes usually cover 3 – 5 recipes, so the instruction is focused on how to prepare a recipe. At the end of the course, you will have seen the recipe prepared (and perhaps prepared it yourself) and picked up some tidbits of information from the instructor along the way.

Length of Class: 2 – 5 hours

Cost: $85 – $250 for one session

Pros:

  • The teacher is right in the room with you and you can ask questions in the moment.
  • It’s an event, so there’s a definite time and place. You can’t procrastinate!
  • You can take the class with friends as a fun outing.

Cons:

  • You may not get to participate in every aspect of the recipe.
  • Limited locations and availability. I only know of a few teachers around the country that I would feel totally comfortable recommending to you. In addition these classes are limited in size, so you may have to wait to get a seat.
  • It’s a one-time thing; you don’t get to ask questions when you make this recipe a week later in your own kitchen.

The Online, Self-Paced Class

There are a few different kinds of online classes, and this is the sort that you’d sign up for on Craftsy or Udemy. You register and pay for the class, but there are no beginning and end dates, and there are generally not any assignments (or if there are, there is not accountability for assignments). You just work on it as you want, and when you’re done, you’re done.

Coverage of Topic: Again, these courses tend to try to cover a lot of recipes in one class, so they necessarily to not dig deeply into any one topic.

Length of Class:  1 – 2 hours of video content, broken into short segments.

Cost: $25 – $50 for one class

 

Pros:

  • You can work on this class anywhere, any time and at any pace.
  • Most people would consider this to be extremely affordable.

Cons:

  • The quality of these classes is variable. I’ve previewed several lately and the content ranged from appallingly incorrect to quite good, depending on the extent to which the teacher has mastered gluten free baking. The reputation of the company hosting the class does not seem to equate to good content, unfortunately.
  • There is generally not any interaction between the student and teacher or between students, though some classes allow you to submit questions.
  • Zero accountability. Statistics show that most online classes like this are purchased but never completed.

The Online Course with Group Coaching

At first glance, this kind of cooking course seems very similar to the one described above. The major differences are that a course extends over longer period time and includes 4x – 12x the content. This classes tend to have a start and end date, which allows the teacher to provide a lot more coaching since the commitment is not open-ended. Each segment of the class will often have assignments for the student to complete, which facilitates and back and forth interaction between the student and the teacher.

This sort of class also may include a group-coaching component which creates community and allows the students to develop a relationship with the teacher *and* with the other students. And as it happens, the students end up learning a lot from each other. These classes may also incorporate live coaching sessions where students can work with the teacher “live” by video feed.

Coverage of Topic: Because these classes extend over a longer period of time, there is definitely the potential for going in-depth,but this will vary from course to course.

Length of Class: 2 – 12 modules spread over weeks or months; each module usually contains an hour or so of video content with another hour or so of student work.

Cost: $197 – $997 – it really depends on how long the course it and how much coaching/customization is provided

Pros:

  • This type of class is about as close as you can get to working with a teacher over time in the same kitchen.
  • The group-coaching and live-coaching allow for relationship and a more effective learning environment
  • Since the course is delivered digitally, you generally have perpetual access to the materials even after the course is over.
  • Students can ask questions as they work through the material and the teacher’s will sometimes respond by creating new content for the whole class.

Cons:

  • There will be some people who need and want this type of class, but aren’t easily able to afford it.
  • Since these classes have a definite start and end dates and move at a set pace, some people become discourage if the “fall behind”.
  • These classes may be limited in size and are offered at set times, so you may have to wait to get a seat.

Which Kind of Class is the Best?

Ultimately, the class that you should take depends on your goals. Some classes are great at teaching you how to make a certain kind of recipe. If that’s what you need, choose a class that has that kind of focus and one that provides as much interaction with the teacher, and actual hands-own instruction as possible.

If you’re dealing with multiple-allergies, than a recipe-focused class (and by that I mean one that teaches you how to make a set of recipes, typically chosen by the teacher) is generally not going to be very helpful. Often the recipes chosen will include other common allergens. And even if they don’t, the shallow focus of the class does not give you the kind of information that you need in order to make substitutions on your own or to create your own customized recipes.

Other people want to feel confident in the kitchen again. Regardless of whether they have multiple allergies to deal with, they want to know that they can bake what they want and it will turn out well and taste as good or better as the recipe they used to make with wheat flour. They definitely want to be able to play with their recipes, convert recipes, and generally tweak to their heart’s content. Again, a deeper course that specifically focuses on the how and whys of gluten free baking is probably going to be the best choice -even if that means that you have to save up for the class. After all, you’re likely going to be baking gluten free for the rest of your life, and have children and grandchildren that need to be gluten free as well. It’s worth the investment to be able to satisfy that innate desire to feed your family excellent food and to be able to pass the knowledge of gluten free baking on to them yourself.

And don’t forget – once you’ve found a class that promises the kind of results that you want, you still need to ask:

  1. Do I get to experience the process?
  2. How long does the class last?
  3. How much do I get to interact with the teacher?

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