A Famous Danish Baker Welcomes Students into His Kitchen
Covered in flour head to toe. A powdery-white phantom with just eyes popping out and a hint of apron underneath the finely ground wheat. That’s what Tine Svensson suggests you’d look like if you were present when the bakers crank up the massive industrial- size mill at Claus Meyers Bageri Commissary in Long Island City, where the snow-like substance covers every surface.
Svensson was a physical therapist in Denmark before moving to New York with her husband, a Meyers Bageri employee, but she now organizes and assists baking classes at the commissary. At a recent whole-grain wheat bread-baking class, Svensson welcomed baking students into the warehouse, offered them coffee and tea with a broad smile, explained how ridiculous they’d look if they were to operate that massive mill. This is the mill that keeps the Williamsburg bakery and newly opened food hall inside Grand Central Terminal stocked with those famous Claus Meyer loaves, scones, tarts and rolls.
The Danish company started teaching baking classes in the space in November, instructing home bakers, dabblers and aspiring careerists on their signature Øland wheat breads, rye breads, kanelsnurrer (cinnamon swirls) and more. The Meyers Bageri staff has partnered with the International Culinary Center, but they really enjoy teaching from their Long Island City workspace, as it’s a little more behind the scenes—a more rustic, less pre-packaged experience.
Head Baker Thomas Steinmann led the first session of classes at the commissary, but will head back to Denmark soon to continue writing new Claus Meyers cookbooks and sundry expansion and teaching projects. “We need to teach Americans how to do it too,” he said. After Svensson’s message about how messy baking can get, Steinmann assured his chilly students, “You’ll be sweating in 30 minutes.”
And sure enough, once his 12 students put on aprons and rolled up their sleeves to measure, pour and operate a league of ultra-quiet mixers (they’ll put your KitchenAid to shame, and can’t be purchased in the United States yet), not one remained bundled up in their outerwear. Steinmann animatedly walked his students through the process of measuring and grinding their whole-grain flour in an approachable table grinder. He spoke of the importance of using organic flour, handed out recipes and let the bakers get right to work creating dough for their heirloom rolls.
He taught patience during the long mixing process (takes roughly 15 minutes, until the dough makes a thwack, thwack, thwack against the sides of the bowl), and left everyone giggling when he held up a wad of dough and stretched it out in front of his face, saying, “You make a window with it. See? You can almost read a newspaper,” demonstrating how the dough should be soft and transparent when such a “gluten test” is performed, the last step before baking.
He preached precision when the dough balls were overturned onto a floury workspace and folded over to be cut (at a 45° angle) roll-size. Stomachs grumbled as Thomas transferred everyone’s rolls into the giant oven, and they were promptly satiated when Svensson revealed a spread of charcuterie, smoked cheese, jams and homemade butter to slather on freshly baked heirloom rolls—the reward for a full day of baking and toil.
When springtime rolls around, a different head baker will stride into the commissary for another session of baking classes and assure his or her students they’ll warm up quickly. That baker will teach the same recipes used in the famous bakery’s stores, and continue the traditions Claus Meyer began 25 years ago—before the Michelin stars and cooking shows; before his company taught 300–400 classes a year in Denmark. And like the students at the whole-grain wheat bread class, the new dabblers and home bakers will go home with a brown bag full of treats and the skills to make bread just as fresh as the Meyers Bageri team’s.
“We end up teaching our competitors,” Steinmann said. “But they keep coming back. I think we’re doing the right thing.”
Claus Meyers Bageri Commissary
Meyers Bageri | @meyersbagerinyc
Claus Meyer | @clausmeyerdk
International Culinary Center | @iccedu
Thomas Steinmann | @thomassteinmann
