Upon your arrival at the Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport, IATA: ALC, or Alicante Terminal (Alacant Terminal or RENFE train station), you will be greeted by one of our drivers, who will promptly take you to school by private shuttle. After checking in at the hotel, you can enjoy the local amenities until 19:00 h, when we will all meet for a quick 30 minutes orientation session, after which we will share a welcome dinner prepared by our chefs.

On the morning of Introduction day we start by quickly reviewing our course itinerary and daily schedule; we continue with a theory lesson that goes on to explain the principles and methods of bread baking. After a lunch break we continue explaining baker’s math and the methodology to apply it to any bread recipe. We finish by having an initial discussion on sponges and starters. After the lesson ends, we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

Bread production:

On the morning of our second hands-on day, we will start right away by mixing doughs, then have a lesson on direct method breads and in-depth dough mixing. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by having our first lesson focused on ingredients. After we finish the bread production for the day, we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

Bread production:

Day 4 starts with bread production, focusing on accompaniment bread and bread typically used as snacks. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by having a theory lesson on dough manipulation, finishing production for the day by making the dough for the pizza Napoletana and pinsa Romana for next Friday. After we finish the session, we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

Bread production:

On day five, we start the day with bread production, focusing on regional Italian bread. While the dough proofs, we will have a lesson on dough development. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by having the second part of the ingredients theory lesson, after which we will finish production. Once the session is over, we will have a short break, followed by dinner at a local restaurant.

Bread production:

We start day 6 with bread production, making several types of flatbread. We will also have a dough shaping, scoring, and glazing lesson. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by finishing bread production and getting our oven ready for action because tonight we will dine pizza and pinsa.

Bread production:

Days 7 and 8 are free. School serves lunch and dinner as usual. We invite you to explore the town and the many options around. Consult our staff for their recommendations.

On the ninth day, we meet again in our laboratory. We have an exciting bread production ahead, focusing on rustic bread. We are also making some of the most famous French staples. We will also have the third lesson on baking ingredients. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by finishing our bread production. After we finish the session, we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

Bread production:

On day 10, we focus on a variety of bread, some of them traditional, some of them ACS original formulas. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by making the first doughs for tomorrow’s super leavened bread lesson. After ending the session, we will have a short break, followed by dinner at a local restaurant.

Bread production:

Day 11 is by far the most technical day of our course, as we set to produce the most challenging bread in the European collection: enriched super-leavened bread. We dedicate the morning to both Italian and French super-leavened bread. We will pause for lunch, after which we will resume activities by finishing our production by delving deeply into brioche variants. After we conclude the lesson, we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

Bread production:

Day 12 is another technically advanced day, but a sweet one. We produce the most delicate laminated dough and the most delicious sweet bread. We will pause for short lunch, after which we will resume activities by having the fourth and last Ingredients lesson and finishing bread production for the day. After we conclude the session, we will have a short break, followed by dinner prepared by our chefs.

Bread production:

On our last day at the lab, we will finish by going into the production of variety-flours bread. After lunch, we will go through everything related to the bread workshop set-up, a thorough review of all equipment necessary for bread production, and talk about HACCP planning for an artisan-producing facility. We will also explain how planning gets done for a healthy business. We will also have our last Q&A session. At night we all go out to dinner at a local venue where we will celebrate the closure of a fantastic week we’ve spent learning together. Just before dinner, we will honor our students with the ACS course awards, after which we will give out the course certificates.

Bread production:

After having breakfast at the hotel, you can relax and enjoy the local amenities until our driver takes you to the Alicante–Elche Miguel Hernández Airport, IATA: ALC or Alicante Terminal (Alacant Terminal or RENFE train station). For those with late departures we offer a complimentary light lunch.