The Art of Sourdough Baking

First Zoom class will be Sunday June 16

I will show you how to navigate the course and answer any questions you may have.

Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)

Sundays 2-4pm

June 16, 23, 30 and July 7 

Live classes are for learning a new skill perhaps and for your questions, if you have any.This is also when I can assist you in troubleshooting your bakes. If possible, eep at least one decent slice for show and tell and bring it to our sessions. Or send in photos and I can respond to those.

It means just that. If I stop teaching you will be able to download everything. 
I have not intention of stopping, so it should be a good long time. 

This is not difficult to do.

You can think of your starter as a friend in the kitchen.

A sourdough starter is somewhat like a pet, though its needs are few, it does require some ongoing attention, If you wish to bake regularly.

I will also teach you how to look after it, when you are an intermittent or now and then baker.

Starter is a robust resilient organism, killing it is possible but not that easy, when you follow the guidelines.

Many people have had a go at capturing a sourdough starter or using one to make bread.

Common reports say the results were, wet, heavy, dense and not at all what was wanted.

To ensure best results there are some vital details to know and understand. These are highlighted and repeated often in this course. My knowhow and your observations, then following the steps given, looking for the telltale signs described, will ensure your success.

Skills develop with practise, therefore the more you bake the faster you learn.

There is no prescribed time set, work at a pace to suit your life.

During the four weeks of live content, I recommend that as soon as you can, you commit to reading the workbook and downloads in full and that you maintain or create a rye sourdough starter.

Once your starter is fully active, you might then bake the recipe for two loaves, once a week.

If you can attend the live forums with a loaf in hand or in process, you will be able to show me your results and get real time feedback. However, this is in no way a requirement.

You direct your learning. The entire contents of the course are available to you, as soon as you log in and the replays of all Zoom classes will be available, a few hours after each session.

The content is yours to use when it suits you.

Access is yours for life.

All Zoom class content is recorded during each session so that, if you are unable to make it in real time, you can watch the replay.

You can send in questions ahead of a Zoom class, so that these are included in the coaching.

You are also able to access all of the lives from the past two rounds of the course.

You can bake anywhere from daily to yearly!

The knowhow for creating, maintaining and taking a break from starter care will provide, all you need to know, however often or infrequently you may wish to make bread.

This course is about making gluten grains and their flours the most digestible and nutritious possible.

Sadly these ingredients cannot be made suitable for anyone suffering coeliac disease.

For those with a sensitivity to gluten the news is good. If you use the types of grain flours suggested and ferment them slowly, for an extended period, the sourdough culture can condition them, so that they may be tolerated by even those generally sensitive to gluten.

This is of course on a case by case basis but I have had many students tell me they tolerate these breads well, as long as they don't eat a whole loaf at once!

What I have found, is that in the 37 years plus that I have been baking, other bakers have given me finer distinctions that have dramatically improved my results.

I am a firm believer in the idea that " You Never Learn Less".

I can't say exactly what I might teach you differently but I know observing and listening to other bakers, is only ever beneficial.

If you bake already but have particular issues, our interactive Zoom classes will be a great place to explore these and together, we can troubleshoot and look to improve your results. Sometimes a small change can make a mighty difference.

If this is you or someone you feed, you will be able to source the best options for making 100% unbleached white flour loaves.

The beauty of a sourdough is that it will render all flour, more nutritious and digestible.

An all white loaf does of course, lack some of the nutrition, character and flavour you can get from using wholegrain flours but it will always be a better option than a refined white flour, yeasted loaf.

If you are the baker I will show you how to introduce nutritious elements into the dough whilst keeping it mostly 'white'.

As long as you have an oven that can hold 220˚C and above, you really don't need anything fancy to produce great loaves.

If it's sandwich loaves your in desire of, you will need a couple of 1kg baking tins.

If you get hooked and be warned, you well may! You might want to add a few specific bakers tools to your kit but I will show you how to get by without these.

You will get a full list of items it's good to have and a list of things you might choose to get later.

Any oven that stays closed and can hold a temperature of 220˚C and above will do.

I recommend baking some loaves in a closed pot, to simulate a wood oven, this ensures that a dodgy oven won't spoil your results.

I have several pots I use for this purpose, these could be terracotta, cast iron or enamelled. Some I have bought in thrift stores and others at garage sales, for next to nothing!

If your question has not been answered here, do please get in touch. You can email me at [email protected] 

I will answer these for you, as soon as possible.

During the course, I will be answering your questions 5 days a week.

When you have questions during the course, you will be able to make a comment in the section you are concerned with or ask me via the community forum or before and during a Zoom class. 

The course can be done whenever it suits you.

Every live Zoom will be recorded and posted in our community for you to watch whenever it suits you, as often as you wish, forever. You need not miss a thing!

There are no deadlines.

If you have a question put it in the community and I will answer it in the next live Zoom Class

If you are far from Australia, you can make a starter from scratch or

Ask a sourdough baker for a little of theirs, (they are usually more than happy to share or 

Buy online in your region or 

or

Wait for mine to arrive by international post.

If you can receive emails, open a browser and watch a video online, you have everything you need and are savvy enough.