The Sourdough Day
Overview
Over a packed, hands-on day our expert chef and baker Andy Tyrell will teach you how to make a range of breads covering everything from holey delicious country loaves, seedy ryes, pizza dough and a fancy fougasse.
Sourdough is the most traditional way to make bread, harnessing the power of wild yeasts to raise our loaves. Nowadays we understand so much more about how these bacteria and yeasts work in harmony to make sourdough so much more delicious, flavoursome and digestible.
We make sourdough every week at River Cottage and we have a love for the wonders of sourdough culture. We’ll guide you through the journey of making sourdough. Starting from the choice of flour, creating and maintaining your starter in a simple way, how to use bakers percentages to calculate your doughs ingredients, kneading methods, high hydration doughs, perfect shaping, judging when your loaf is ready for the oven and finally baking. It’s a long journey and will be packed with all the information to successfully start baking or improve your homemade sourdough.
“The sourdough course is amazing. I have struggled for years when my attempts at breadmaking have been frustratingly poor and I now know why – the course gave me both a framework and a series of tips and techniques which have transformed by loaves! it was also great fun …”
Ruth – Attended 8 November 2021
Your day
10:00 - 17:00
Make yourself at home
You will meet your host and start the day with tea, coffee and a treat fresh from the kitchen.
Flour
To kick things off you'll learn the difference between flours, why we use organic and how they can affect the flavour, structure and volume of your sourdough.
Starter
We’ll show how to start your own journey and make your own sourdough culture and look at simple methods to help keep your starter happy and active for many years to come.
Percentages & Calculations
Crucial in a bakery and very helpful at home, we’ll show you how to use these calculations to adapt recipes at home.
Mixing, Kneading, Shaping
We’ll get our hands dirty and look at modern folding techniques and more traditional kneading that’ll help develop your dough in the right way. During the day you'll get the chance to make a variety of loaves including a River Cottage country loaf, hybrid baguettes, seedy rye, woodfired pizza and a fougasse. You’ll have plenty of practice getting our shaping just right with the help from our tutors.
Lunch
Take a break in the middle of the day and tuck in to a delicious, woodfired sourdough pizza topped with local, seasonal ingredients.
Fermentation
We’ll look at the amazing science behind sourdough and why this bread is so unique.
Proving & Baking
It can be hard knowing when to get your loaf into the oven, we’ll show how to judge it perfectly. We’ll also look at different methods of baking in domestic ovens to get a top class result.
Waste
We’ll look at how to easily use up ‘excess’ starter in different delicious recipes.
Departure
There will be time to chat to your fellow cookery course scholars and the River Cottage team, before heading back up the hill at 5pm, loaves and starter in hand.
Further Information
Directions
This course is run from River Cottage HQ on the Dorset/Devon borders. Full address details of HQ will be provided once you have booked.
Licensed Venue
We are a licensed venue. We have a wide selection of the finest organic wines available to purchase.
Suitability
We would advise that this course is only really suitable for 12 years of age and upwards. Under 16s must be accompanied by a paying adult. We put these guidelines in place for the safety, comfort and enjoyment of all our guests.
Allergy Advice
Sorry, we’re afraid this course is not suitable for those with allergies or specific dietary requirements. However we do run courses that are gluten free, vegetarian and vegan friendly. Please get in touch if you have any questions or need further details.
