Class: In this class we will discuss and demonstrate how you can add bagel making to your baking repertoire in a way that works best for your lifestyle and baking experience. Bagels are a very idiosyncratic food and everyone wants the bagels they grew up eating. We'll be exploring the different styles of bagel production so students can feel more confident adding their own touch to this iconic baked good. The class will consist of a lecture, discussion, demonstration and hands-on elements.

When/where: Saturday, April 22nd // 2:30PM - 4:00 pm // KBR Warehouse, 14 O’Henry Ave, Suite 110, Asheville, NC 28801

Instructor: Biking across the United States, Xander had trouble finding decent baked goods to fuel up on. Whenever he had access to an oven, he would buy a bag of flour, sugar, a dozen eggs, and scrounge up the rest of the kitchen staples he needed to embark on an all-night bake-a-thon. The next morning he’d leave with his bicycle piled high with goodies. By the time he got to Montana, Xander was getting nostalgic for a New Jersey childhood classic, the bagel, and began his journey into bagel making. 

Upon returning home, Xander established Home Free Bagels, a wholesale and retail pop-up bagel company that focused on employing unhoused individuals and getting them into more stable housing. While Home Free Bagels is no longer, Xander has kept himself busy by working in chocolate factories, farm stands, bread and pastry production kitchens, and cultivating and neglecting sourdough starters. 

Currently, Xander serves as a member of the baker's hotline for King Arthur Baking Company and operates his micro-bakery, Hawthorne House Bakery, out of his home for farmers' markets. When not baking or biking, Xander enjoys contra dancing, playing chess, and spending time with his son (and baker-in-training).