A group of “bakers in the making” gathered at Bell House on Saturday 26th May to learn to art of sourdough bread making from local baker Christopher Garner. We were a mixed bunch: ranging from experts who wanted to learn more, down to complete novices.
With only three ingredients, flour, water and salt, sourdough should be easy to make. Christopher explained the science behind sourdough: it is a method that uses wild yeast and lactobacilli that are naturally present in the flour grain. The acidity of the loaf is created by the lactic acid produced by the bacteria and the holes are from carbon dioxide made by the yeast.
We started by making our own sourdough starter: organic dark rye flour and water. This was set aside ready to take home and nurture lovingly like another child… we were even encouraged to give it a name! Mine is called Bubbles.
As ours wouldn’t be ready for at least a week, Christopher introduced us to his three and a half year old sourdough starter, Dominic. He had made a “Barm” which is a mixture of starter, flour and water the night before. The Barm was combined with white flour and water to make a soft dough. Salt was added last as it mustn’t come into direct contact with the yeast. We kneaded vigorously, although not for too long, learnt about the windowpane method, where a small amount of dough is stretched thinly, to check if the dough is ready, folded the dough and left it to prove.
About four hours later our beautiful loaves came out of the oven.
Kneading away!
Fresh loaves
The sunny garden was perfect for a delicious lunch of homemade soup, bread and cheese before we headed back into the kitchen to make a cottage loaf using a conventional yeast dough. We went home with bags full of fresh bread which tasted all the better for having mixed our laughter and labour into them.
“We really enjoyed the workshop on Saturday. Thank you very much. Everything was spot on.”
“I hope your starter is alive and kicking?! My ´Tomba’ is doing well and is very bubbly!!”
“Looking forward to the next workshop with Christopher on brioche or croissants!”