Bakers, chef sharing their knowledge

Mary Wagner is standing in the packed dining room at Panera Bread instructing the audience how to make bruschetta with goat cheese, garlic and tomatoes during the restaurant's Holiday Baking Series.

Wagner, the general manager of the Sebring store, is not a Rachel Ray or Paula Deen wanna-be.

"I was surprised at how gracious people are with it and how accepting they are because I'm not a pro at this by any stretch of the imagination," she said after Monday night's session. "It is just standing up there and sharing knowledge."

Carol Dingman said she has enjoyed listening to Wagner.

"She was very clear in her instructions," said Dingman, who is a winter resident from Michigan.

"I do like to bake, and I'm always looking for recipes," she added.

Laura Smutnick has attended the last two classes with Dingman. Smutnick, who heard about the series from one of her students at South Florida Community College, attended the first class by herself (her husband was playing poker).

"It sounded like a fun thing," Smutnick said. "I like to bake bread and pies."

Smutnick said several residents of Orangewood Acres in Avon Park are carpooling to Panera for the classes.

"It's a really nice social thing," she said.

The classes, which begin at 5 p.m., started Nov. 16. They will continue through Dec. 14.

Wagner said Panera stores in St. Louis have held baking classes, but she is doing them a little differently.

"We have taken it and went a little further with it," Wagner said. "They would do just one real quick simple recipe. I had kind of a feeling knowing Sebring that this would be something that people would enjoy. And we love to cook; all of our group loves to cook.

So we took it as an opportunity instead of having one recipe we'd do two and now we have branched to three," Wagner added. "We've actually gone out of our way to find recipes so we could use our bread and showcase our bread."

Wagner goes through the recipe, which is printed out for attendees. She answers questions and then asks some trivia questions. There of course is also sampling the food.

Approximately 50 people attended last Monday. Seventy-five showed up on Nov. 23. Wagner has been elated with the turnout and surprised that several men have attended.

She said a man brought her a pie. Wagner said he wanted her to try his recipe, noting "it's a great place for people to exchange ideas."

"I was here last week; it was wonderful," said Teresa Burley of Sebring. "I won a coffee cake and will be back next week."

Burley said she loves to cook and bake. She noted that she recently baked a birthday cake for someone in her office.

Wagner would like to hold more classes in the spring and summer.

"I think it is a good way to get Panera to know the community and the community to know them." Dingman said.