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Variety of culinary classes planned at SCC

Sonoma Community Center is kicking off a new season of culinary arts education classes Saturday, April 7. Ranging from classic cooking to specialty bread-baking, all classes will be held weekends in the center’s Rotary Community

Kitchen.

  SCC’s cooking classes will feature local and award-winning chefs.

  Personal chef Garrett Hamilton will start the series off on April 7, with a workshop dedicated to making a rack-of-lamb. Students will learn basic knife skills as well as how to sauté, oven roast and select ingredients. They will assist in the preparation of a complete meal, at the end of which they’ll enjoy the fruits of their labor.

  On Saturday, June 2, Hamilton will offer a cooking basics class titled “Chicken Three Ways” with essential techniques for sautéing and barbequing chicken. Students will master chicken picatta, chicken broccoli Alfredo and barbequed chicken.

  On Sunday, May 20, Angelo Sacerdote and Lina Hoshino of Petaluma Pie Company will teach “Easy as Pot Pie,” a one-day workshop devoted to savory pot pies, where the duo will reveal their secrets for making a perfect pie crust during this hands-on class. 

  Baking classes will be offered by Mike Zakowski, a member of the Bread Bakers Guild Team USA that recently took second place at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie (the World Cup of Baking). “Introduction to Bread Making” takes place on Saturday, June 9. He will demonstrate bread-baking techniques so students can bake his rustic, whole grain ciabatta style bread at home.

  On Saturday, June 23, Zakowski will teach “Baking with a Dutch Oven.” Participants will leave with their own loaf of bread and the savvy to create wheat and sourdough breads at home. On Saturday, July 28, Zakowski teaches “Focaccia, Flatbreads and Pizza.” Finally, on Saturday, Aug. 25, he will offer a special lesson on his one-of-a-kind pretzels, finished in his traveling oven. 

  Sonoma Community Center’s Center for Sustainable Living Program is dedicated to promoting conservation education, organic farming and farm-to-table cooking. This program is made possible by an Ellman Grant from the Sonoma Valley Fund.

   To register or request more information about SCC’s culinary classes, call 938-4626, ext. 1. Class schedules and class prices can be found online at sonomacommunitycenter.org.

  The Sonoma Community Center is located at 276 E. Napa St.