Can I take my galette home?

No. Zoning permits for Berkeley Kitchen do not allow students to take prepared food home; you will eat what you make during the class.

What is the minimum age?

Participants must be 18 or older.

What if I have food allergies?

Indicate allergies on your registration and contact classes@kitchenonfire.com to confirm the ingredient list prior to class.

How long is the class and what will we make?

Classes run about three to three-and-a-half hours and cover a flaky galette dough, seasonal fruit fillings (stonefruit and berries), and finishing techniques.

Yes. Berkeley Kitchen supplies aprons, tools, and equipment; bringing a favorite knife or apron is optional.

Hands-On Summer Fruit Galettes with Chef Michael Kalanty in Berkeley | Cooking Class | Workshop

Q: Can I bring alcohol?

Yes—students 21+ may bring wine or beer for personal consumption, but staff cannot open or serve beverages.

Berkeley Kitchen sits at 1509 Shattuck Ave in downtown Berkeley, California, and this three‑hour hands-on workshop with Chef Michael Kalanty teaches you to make rustic summer fruit galettes using the chef’s famed sourdough starter, Lucky Lady. In a workroom designed for small teams, you’ll learn a foolproof flaky galette dough, rolling and folding techniques that keep butter cold, and how to highlight the season’s best stonefruit and berries. The class begins with a short lecture where Kalanty—an award-winning baker whose book and contest wins are noted worldwide—walks through dough families, timing, and market selection, then breaks participants into stations to shape, fill, and bake.

What makes this session uniquely Berkeley is the intersection of chef-led craft and the city’s market-driven produce culture: Kalanty scouts the day’s harvest and adapts the menu—so each galette reflects what’s ripe. You’ll work directly with the Lucky Lady starter, see fermentation practices at a home-bakery scale, and practice techniques that translate to sourdough loaves, flatbreads, and pastries. The class serves a snack early and culminates in shared tasting of the galettes you bake; due to zoning rules you cannot take food home, so plan to enjoy it there.

Practical details matter: classes run about three to three-and-a-half hours, are for ages 18 and up, and require close-toed shoes and tied-back hair. Bring an apron or a preferred knife if you like; the kitchen supplies tools. Adults may bring wine or beer for personal consumption, but staff cannot open or serve alcohol. If you have allergies indicate them at registration and contact [email protected] to confirm ingredients.

This is a good fit for aspiring bakers who want hands-on guidance from a master teacher—Kalanty’s clear, methodical instruction has won praise for demystifying complex techniques. The pace is practical: you’ll learn dough handling, fruit prep, blind baking cues, and how to finish a galette so the crust crackles and the filling sings.

Berkeley Kitchen is more than a demo: it’s a classroom that translates market freshness into a reliable, repeatable recipe you’ll actually make at home. For visitors planning a Bay Area food weekend, this class doubles as a primer on sourdough technique and a direct line to seasonal fruit flavors—ideal for cooks who prefer learning by doing.

Michael Kalanty brings nearly three decades of baking experience to each session; his book How To Bake Bread: The Five Families of Bread won a Gourmand International Award, and wins at the Tiptree World Bread Competition include Best Flatbread and Best Ciabatta. That pedigree matters because techniques shown are battle-tested in artisan and production settings, so students leave with timing and troubleshooting strategies. If you love hands-on learning, this class compresses a season’s worth of bakery practice into a morning session.

About Kitchen on Fire

Kitchen on Fire is a hands-on cooking school and event producer that offers a broad calendar of culinary workshops, multi-week series, camps, and virtual classes. The school presents technique-driven, chef-led experiences ranging from single-session workshops to 12-week fundamentals courses. Classes focus on regional cuisines, baking, pastry, vegetarian and seasonal cooking — examples include Italian pasta and breads, Indian and Burmese dishes, Middle Eastern street food, Mexican and Latin specialties, and classic bistro techniques.

Chef-led offerings feature named instructors and visiting chefs, with programs such as multi-week Basics of Cooking series, themed nights like A Night in Florence and A Night in Rome, specialized workshops including ricotta and doughnuts, and seasonal pie and baking classes. Kitchen on Fire also runs teen camps, school-break day camps, and virtual workshops to reach learners at different levels and schedules.

Instruction emphasizes hands-on practice, practical skills like knife work and recipe fundamentals, and communal dining of the dishes created during class. Many classes run three hours or longer; multi-week series provide progressive skill development. In addition to in-person workshops, the organization publishes virtual classes and instructional series led by its roster of chefs.

Kitchen on Fire’s program diversity — from single-session craft workshops to immersive multi-week courses and teen camps — reflects a commitment to accessible, skill-focused culinary education. The school’s transparent class descriptions, named instructors, and recurring series offer prospective students clear expectations and opportunities to build lasting cooking skills. Class sizes vary to prioritize engagement, hands-on practice, and personalized instructor feedback for students.