COURSES

ONE DAY COURSES

 

One Day Sourdough Course

Our standard one day course gives you a good grounding in the basics of making sourdough bread, and the confidence to "hit the grounf running" when you get home!

You will create your own new culture, refresh our culture, make a sourdough starter, mix new dough and perform the "autolyse" on it, followed by stretching and folding, preshaping and final shaping. Finally, you will practice scoring loaves and baking them in a Le Creuset dutch oven and a Rofco bread oven

All this will be done in tandem with your instructor, with plenty of practice involved! At the end of the course you can take away your bread and enough culture and flour to maintain your own "mother" for a week or so

Pricing:

Cost per person is 95 euros, which includes refresments and lunch. There is a 25% discount for group bookings with a maximum class size of 4

Accomodation:

Bed and breakfast is available for 50 euros with a 25% group booking discount

Bespoke Courses

These can be for one or more days, with or without accommodtion

For advanced sourdough bakers, or students interested in particular baked products, we can provide a bespoke course. Examples can include:

  • Sourdough Pizza and Baguettes
  • Sourdough Focaccia and Fougasse
  • Sourdough Bagels and Pretzels
  • Working with "heirloom" wheat varieties, rye etc
  • Laminating Pastry (see below)

We can also structure a one day course for coaching students starting their own micro-bakery, including all the hygeine, premises and food standards requirements generally required before starting a licenced business, and practical advice on how to plan and grow the business

Intermediate or advanced bakers can also learn how to work with very high hydration doughs and incorporate other natural ingredients like seeds into the bread

 

 

THREE DAY COURSE

The three day course gives you a good grounding in key aspects of artisan baking. The two essential elements of the course are:

  • Sourdough breads
  • Laminated pastry for viennoiseries

Three days gives you the ability to practice making sourdough bread "from cradle to grave" i.e. it covers a time span of more than the minimum 24 hours, including the retarded fermentation which is a bedrock of artisan baking. This is obviously not feasible on a one day course

The three day residential course has the further benefit that you can bake as much as you want on the morning of departure. This means you are extending your tuition time for free and can take home as many goodies as you can bake as fresh as possible

Sourdough

The 3 day course has the same content as the 1 day, plus the following:

  • Much more practice, and at a pace that you choose
  • Starting with medium hydration dough, you can progress to the very high hydration doughs preferred by most sourdough fans
  • The course will also feature pizza dough, and any one of baguettes, focaccia or light rye
  • Other advanced techniques such as xxxxxx

Laminated Pastry

Laminating dough (interleaving layers of dough and butter) is an advanced technique which forms the basis for many types of delicious pastries and baked products. Examples are croissants, danish pastries, vol au vents, some pies and wellingtons, it's a long list!

We guide you through the two day process of laminating, with retarded fermentation. Most commercial croissants lack flavour because they a fast-fermented. Our slow-fermented croissants, pans au chocolat and pains au raisins are delicious miracles of flaky pastry. They are a stiff challenge, requiring a lot of technical skill, but one that you will master with our guidance

Residential

The three day course is offered only as a residential course only. Why? Because the processes of slow fermentation (five or six stretches and folds for the breads, and a three-day fermentation for the croissants) means it is important to be present at odd times in order to be involved and to monitor the changes. Staying overnight might seem to tie you down, but in reality you will find lots of spare time, especially during the afternoons, to relax, go for a stroll through the village or the orange groves, or simply chill on the terrace with wonderful views

Also, many people on the three day course like to bake their produce on the day of departure in order for the bread to be optimally fresh once they leave. This can effectivly give you another half-day's tuition and practice!

 

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