What’s in your bread box? Maybe you’ve got a package of store-bought white bread and some bagels. Whatever is in there probably doesn’t fill the house with the heavenly scent of freshly baked bread! When bread machines first hit the market, everyone was clamoring to buy one. Finally, an easy way to make homemade bread! It’s true -- you can certainly toss the ingredients into the mixer and voila! “homemade” bread. But wouldn’t you like to be able to get your hands dirty and really make your own bread?

Don’t be afraid of bread baking. Depending on your current age, you may remember your grandmother pounding out the dough, waiting for it to rise, etc. Maybe your own mother or father was into bread baking! For some reason, there’s a huge mystique around bread baking. It’s easy if you know the tricks involved, and the place to learn the tricks is through a continuing education or part-time study course. Imagine being able to serve up a plate of freshly sliced gourmet bread slices to your guests. What a treat to serve hot bread right out of the oven!

The French Culinary Institute (FCI) is a New York cooking school that graduates students who are ready to storm the world of cutting edge cuisine. Of course, you don’t have to be a graduate of a highly recognized school like FCI to learn how to become a chef and launch a career as a food critic, but it helps. Why? For one thing, after completing a nine-month full-time or six-month part-time program, these students have had plenty of opportunity to hobnob with the best of the best. They know the ropes of the culinary business and, as a result of their industry connections, have easier access to legitimate food writing gigs. The key word here is “legitimate.” Any writer will tell you it’s hard breaking into the business and it’s easy to be duped by writing scams.