It’s been a couple of weeks since I spend a day on the Wild Yeast bread making course at The School of Artisan Food. I wrote a blog post that evening, but then thought I’d wait and see just how my own bread turned out having been on the course.
I’ve now made half a dozen loaves with the sourdough starters I brought home from the course and each one of them is as good as anything I’ve ever made (in 20+ years of baking). Moist, tasty crumb; brown, chewy crust; well-risen, evenly uneven texture – really I couldn’t be more pleased with them. And each time I’ve fed, mixed and used the starter it’s behaved itself perfectly.
More importantly, I’ve stopped worrying about the process and I’m baking alongside other cooking or gardening or other stuff (fresh bread as part of three courses for 12 – you’ve got to be relaxed).
Emmanuel Hadjiandreou is an excellent teacher. He teaches a simple, but profound process, that has similarities to some of those in the massive pile of baking books sat my bedside, but it differs in important details. We went through the process, the ingredients, the tools, the oven. And yes, although we used the big deck oven for some of the bread, we also put stuff into the domestic ovens and they came out just as good with Emmanuel’s method. And he answered all the stupid, semi-mystical questions and fears we had all built up about sourdough, with patience and good humour. No-one felt stupid. Everyone made great bread. And everyone had fun.
I could give you the recipes I brought home, but that would be missing the point. What I came away with was a much better understanding of the whole process of growing a starter, making sourdough, moulding and baking. I feel more relaxed and comfortable with it and it really shows in the bread.
If you really love bread and if you’d like to have it in your power to put great, real bread on your table everyday without stress, I couldn’t recommend the Wild Yeast baking course more highly.
I am worried, though, that I may not have made enough marmalade to last the year now that we have great bread for toasting everyday…