SERIES OVERVIEW:
Sourdough is simple and budget-friendly once you have the knack, all you need is flour, water and salt. In this three-part series we help you gain this life-changing skill, covering everything you need to know about making sourdough.
Our expert tutor, shows and skills editor Barney Desmazery, will share his years of cooking and baking experience, and answer commonly asked questions in a Q&A session. You'll also learn from Food Director, Cassie Best, who has created hundreds of recipes, including many of our magazine cover stars.
Watch this on demand masterclass series and learn how to:
- Make sourdough starter and rye starter
- Use your sourdough discard to make more things!
- Feed your starter
- Creatively shape and score your loaf
- Make bakery-quality bread in a home oven
- Make sweet sourdough, sourdough cinnamon rolls, knots and babka
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WHAT THE SERIES INCLUDES:
- 3 x 60+ minute masterclasses full of expert advice
- A 30 minute question and answer session in each masterclass
- A link to re-watch the webinar at your leisure
Part One - Introduction to Sourdough
Overview:
You will learn how to make your starter, turn it into a dough, and then how to bake it. We’ll cover all aspects of troubleshooting, how best to use your home oven to make bakery level bread and how to improve on each loaf you bake.
We’ll show you exactly what an active starter should look like, what the texture of your dough will be when you handle it and what you should be experiencing each step of the way.
This is a one hour-long class, with a Q&A session with Barney Desmazery at the end answering the most common queries!
Agenda:
- Ingredients for sourdough loaves
- Make your starter mix while you watch
- Equipment, what you need and what you can improvise
- The best methods for kneading and shaping
- Overnight proving in the fridge for a fresh breakfast loaf
- How to score and make the classic ‘ear’ shape on your loaf
- The casserole baking method for a crisp, stunning looking loaf
- Question & answer troubleshooting
Part Two - Next Steps and Troubleshooting
Overview:
We will move your sourdough techniques to the next level and take this opportunity to troubleshoot common problems in our Q&A.
We will recap making a starter, how to make a rye starter and troubleshooting starter issues, as well as what you can make with the discard produced when you feed your starter, such as pancakes and crackers!
We will deep dive shaping techniques, this is the step that has a great impact on the texture of your finished loaf and is often the light bulb moment for addressing any issues with air bubbles or heaviness.
Lastly, Barney will also show you how to score creatively and talk you through some equipment before recapping and elaborating on how to bake a really good loaf of bread in a home oven.
An hour-long masterclass, plus 30 minute troubleshooting Q&A with Barney Desmazery.
Agenda:
- Starter recap and troubleshooting
- Making a rye starter
- How to use up discarded starter
- Equipment recap and best buys for when you want to upgrade
- Refining your shaping technique
- Creative scoring
- Refining your baking techniques
- Question and answer session
Part Three - Sweet Sourdough
Overview:
In the Sweet Sourdough masterclass, Barney Desmazery will be showing you how to incorporate the flavour of sourdough and slow dough fermentation into sweet baking.
Part three will tell you all you need to know about using a sourdough starter in everything from buns and doughnuts to fluffy pancakes and fudgy brownies.
This session is followed by a 30-minute Q&A session that answers the most common questions.
Agenda:
- How to make a basic sweet dough
- How to make sourdough cinnamon rolls, knots and babka
- Incorporating butter and making laminated doughs
- Using the flavour of sourdough in cakes and cookies
- All you need to know about swapping your starter for yeast
- How to make fluffy sourdough pancakes
- Q&A
