How to Go to Baking School Without Leaving Home

Bread, bagels, baguettes, cream puffs, eclairs, Danish, pretzels, cupcakes, croissants and pizza. You name a type of baking, and chances are Brooklynite Ira Polly, 60, has taken a class in it. "My wife and I are empty nesters, and I want a hobby that I can turn to in the future when I retire from my job as a technologist," he explains. (He writes computer code for a major national bank.)

Baking is a good fit: "I like figuring out the chemistry of baking and watching the dough rise, and it gives me something to do with my hands."

Ironically, he doesn't care to eat most of his creations, but rather prefers to give them away to others. "I bake for the satisfaction and enjoyment of making something that I hope will look like it's from a store," he says.

During the pandemic, it seemed like everyone took up baking sourdough bread (next on Polly's list of classes to take) as a way to pass the time. For many, the desire to bake continued even after they had returned to their regular lives and jobs.

Enter online baking classes: Whether you are looking for live classes that are streamed into your home or on-demand classes that are pre-recorded so you can watch them at your convenience, it's now easy to find a virtual course that fits your interests and allows you to create fantastic confections without leaving your home kitchen.

King Arthur Baking Company. The largest and most prominent online baking instruction site, the King Arthur Baking Company attracts about 6,000 virtual students a year — including Polly. Their in-person classes are also hugely popular, with 15,000 students attending annually at their Vermont and Washington State campuses.

"We have had an online baking program since 2020," says Amber Eisler, director of the Baking School. "We've found that going online makes our classes much more accessible because people can bake from their home kitchens but have the same level of access to our instructors." A wide array of baking topics is covered, from sweet treats, pies and breads, to savory chicken pot pies, ramen noodles and falafel.

You'll receive a list of suggested equipment, supplies and ingredients when you sign up for a class, but don't worry if you don't have everything. "Our instructors can work with you if you don't have a particular piece of equipment, you realize your pan size isn't quite right or you've run out of an ingredient," says Eisler.

The format for classes is a "bake-along" on Zoom with two teachers and two cameras — one focused on the instructors and the other on the baking surface, she explains. The instructors lead a group of up to 24 students through a recipe. Just as if you were there in person, you can ask questions of the instructors and share visual images of your progress and results. On-demand classes are also available, and there are lots of free recipes and baking advice posted on the King Arthur website.

Masterclass. Starting at just $10 a month, you can take as many on-demand baking courses on Masterclass as you like, led by master bakers, pastry chefs and chocolatiers. You can also view about 200 courses on a variety of other topics. Skillshare ($13.99/month plus) and Udemy ($20/month) are similar course aggregator websites that offer access to on-demand baking classes.

Christina Tosi Baking Class, Studio.com: Taking this immersive on-demand class ($249) from the award-winning pastry chef behind New York City's Milk Bar Bakery will help you become a more confident and creative baker over the course of a month. Plus, you'll gain access to three of Milk Bar's recipes.

Molly J. Wilk's Online Pastry School. For $28/month or $280/year, you can tap into a growing video library of French pastry recipes. Membership includes one new pastry recipe a month and one live Q&A with American ex-pat Molly J. Wilk, who attended Le Cordon Bleu and now teaches virtually from her home in Versailles, France.

Zingerman's Bakehouse. This Michigan-based company offers live pastry, bread and cake classes online, along with baking kits that provide everything you need to make their recipes.

To get great results, take note of these tips:

Buy essential baking equipment. A rolling pin, baking pans and parchment paper are de rigueur. You can use regular measuring cups for baking if you like, although for more professional and precise results you may want to consider purchasing a digital scale to weigh your ingredients. You may also want to purchase a thermometer to place in your oven, and a stand mixer. You don't need a bread-maker, says Eisler, although you may want one.

For people with arthritis in the hands, a French rolling pin that is thicker in the middle and tapers to the ends on either side may be a better choice than a traditional handled rolling pin because you don't have to grip the handles. French-style rolling pins also allow you put more weight in the center of the pin rather than on the outer handles, which is really where you want to be applying pressure to your dough.

If you can't find the ingredients or equipment you need locally, King Arthur has an online baking store that can help you get ready for class. They also sell gluten-free and keto-friendly product lines.

Get to know your oven. Baking times can differ between gas and electric ovens, and opening and closing the doors can change the temperature.

Keep a diary of what you make and how you make it. You'll likely bake something more than once. "The instructors will tell you how to do something, but you have to experiment with your own oven and equipment," says Polly.

Call the King Arthur Baker's Hotline if you need help. The company runs a baking hotline at (855) 371-2253 staffed by real-life bakers for emergency and non-emergency baking calls. You can ask them anything from "Why won't my dough rise?" to "I've run out of certain ingredient — what can I substitute in?" and "what do I need to do if I'm baking at high altitude?"