Bread Heads - A Real Bread Get Together

After coming across this event back in early December, I'd booked myself a place straightaway. Given the fact there hadn't been once since 2009, it seemed like another one of many coincidences that have led me on the path that I now find myself.

And so it was I booked the day off work and headed up on the train from London to Retford. The fields outside were blanketed in snow, forming a beautiful backdrop for the journey. On arrival at the station I met two other attendees, including a fellow Bread Angel - Adri of @BreadandRoll. During the taxi ride we each shared our stories of how and why we were coming along to the event. I was reassured to see that other people were in the same 'starting out' position as me.


Then we pulled into the road that led us to the School of Artisan Food. Now here's where we really did start to get excited. Along a tree-lined driveway, a beautiful walled garden appeared, followed by one stunning building after another. What a setting. And to make it all the more picturesque, everything had a snowy topping. As we finally turned into the School courtyard, I couldn't wait to get out and explore.

As we got out of the taxi we learned that on the way back we'd be sharing a taxi with Andrew - could this possibly be THE Andrew Whitley. Only time would tell.

We stepped into the entrance where we were made to feel right at home and were instructed to sign in and make our badges.

Name
Company (if applicable)
And a colour dot to denote what level / stage of baker you were
- From hobby baker to full-blown professional baker

Then it was time to head upstairs where a hubbub of noise was emanating from a room at the end of the hall. It was filled with everyone chatting away, drinking warming cups of tea and coffee, and tucking into bread and cheese from the bakehouse next door.

I got talking to Vicky of 100% Bread. She'd just launched her Baking School a couple of weeks before, in Canterbury, and was both very excited and terrified at the same time. This turned into a common theme with each and every person I spoke to. But rather than put me off, it just made me want to get going even more.

Then at the strike of 1.30pm we were led into the small lecture theatre where we all took a seat and waited for the true masters to take to the stage. Chris Young, Campaign Manager of the Real Bread Campaign, led the proceedings.

First up, Tom Herbert of Hobbs House Bakery, and one half of The Fabulous Baker Brothers. He wanted to talk about the importance of baking at home and how this forms a crucial part of the rise of Real Bread.

"Hands are made to make things" he started out. "Everything you make at home is a prototype - you then eat it and work out what you can improve next time."



He talked about the creative process of bread making. I liked the idea of the 'limitless variables', making it a journey that everyone can take on their own to find out what's right for them.

He went on to discuss the importance of baking with children. Most of us have stories from our childhood of learning to bake with our mums, dads, grandparents, etc. These memories hold a dear place in our hearts. By baking with children you are "baking the stories of tomorrow". Which I thought was a lovely sentiment.

He made the point that even though some may not understand why you would want to teach and encourage your customers to make their own bread at home, it's important that they appreciate the art for themselves, and understand what goes into each and every loaf. This way you can be assured they will never turn back from real bread.

It's also, as I think we all know, a great thing to share. And as Tom put it "it's a great gift, as the recipient feels no guilt of having to keep it."

When I went to stay with my friend in Cardiff a couple of weeks ago I took a freshly baked loaf of Pane di Genzano, a batch of ginger biscuits and some homemade chutney. It was wonderful to share my love of food with a friend, and made a much more personal gift, than grabbing the nearest bottle of wine and box of chocolates from the supermarket shelf.

Finally, he ended with the plain truth (at least from what we're told by the estate agents) that making bread at home makes financial sense. Apparently, if you bake bread in the morning before your potential buyers arrive to take a look around your home, you can add up to £2K onto the financial value of your house.

Next up, Tom Baker of Loaf Social Enterprise.

Turns out Tom comes from a heritage of bakers. A former nutritionist for the NHS, Tom had his moment of enlightenment at a Bread conference back in 2009.






From some scribblings on the back of a leaflet, he never looked back. The following week he quit his job and set up a bakery from his home kitchen. To make sure he could bake enough loaves he set to work and built his own wood fired clay oven in his back garden.

From here, he formed the Friday Bread Club - a community supported bakery - where locals would 'subscribe' to the bakery. Advance payments meant he could invest in the equipment and ingredients needed, and be sure of no waste. He baked 40-50 leaves each Friday in his three ovens. One domestic, one counter top, and the wood-fired one outside.

Based in Stirchley, he talked us through how the high street was similar to many high streets in small towns these days - mostly boarded up, with little signs of activity or new business. He'd found what he thought would be the perfect sight for a true community kitchen on his local high street. However, £80K stood in the way of him making this a reality. And so, it remained an idea, festering away in the back of his mind, until one day someone introduced him to the Everards Brewery. They were keen to support local social enterprises and once Tom had talked them through his vision they took no time in stumping up the cash.

They paid for the re-fit, the equipment; everything that was needed to get the bakery up and running. From a home-based community bakery delivering to a small group of local subscribers, Tom's bread would now be baked and sold on his local high street for everyone to enjoy. A truly inspiring story to never give up.

They now bake 600-700 loaves a week, with just one overnight shift a week. They bake each morning and sell the bread in the shop that afternoon, not a standard set up, but again this relates back to Tom Herbert's point that it's having customers that appreciate what you are doing who can adapt to this way of shopping, rather than the 24hr availability of the local Tesco. Tom has organised the business to suit his lifestyle, and why not.

As well as the support from Everards, he set up a Bread Bond scheme whereby he approached 25 individuals to make an investment of £1K each. These were in the form of three-year loans at the end of which they would get their money back with a 6% interest rate. Much of the interest rate was paid in sourdough loaves over the course of their investment!

Tom truly believes that baking should be at the heart of every community, a real bread bakery has the power to regenerate a high street as he has begun to show in Stirchley.

Baking bread is often referred to as one of those 'forgotten skills' that has missed a generation or two, but through the Real Bread Campaign they're fighting to re-educate and re-introduce these skills back into people's everyday lives. Tom has run many pop-ups and events at home, in the bakery, and on the move, to allow people to get to know his business, the buildings, and the people behind it.

Find out more here.

Third up was Mark Simmonds of Co-operatives UK, who following on from Tom Baker's story, wanted to talk about the support available to small real bread enterprises. In the shape of 'Making Local Food Work', a community enterprise that connects land and people through food.

It's a lottery funded initiative (or I should say was) as this ran out in June 2012. However the initiative was so successful that they secured further funding meaning they can continue to provide support in key areas.

What's on offer?
- A mentor for your business
- Organised study visits to other bakeries
- Business advice and training
- Introduce you to collaborative community shares to extend the reach of your local food and share best practices with your peers

Another form of support is through the Co-operative UK's Start-Up Guide, co-written by Mark Simmonds himself. This guide talks you through the process of starting a Co-operative or Community Enterprise and features numerous case studies (all food-related). One of these is that of  The Handmade Bakery - one of the first Community Supported Bakeries in Britain, aiming to provide residents with organic artisan bread and re-skilling people in home-baking, based in Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire.

Whether you're looking to set up a community-based initiative, or just starting out on your own, it's a handy little turn-to guide. Download it here.

Next up was Wayne Caddy, Head of Baking at the School of Artisan Food.

"I've got the best job in the world."

I was surprised to learn that the School had only been going for three years.


Their aim is to teach students how a recipe hangs together; to understand the science behind how it works, not just to copy the recipes they teach.

As any baker knows, it's all in the senses... "Feel the dough."

The School uses both technical and sensory tests to guide students' learning and they encourage everyone to develop their own signature recipe.

Emmanuel Hadjiandreou (Manny), author of 'How to Make Bread', then took the helm. He talked about the joys of teaching the art of baking bread. The dead silence as the oven door opens and the students see their loaves: golden, risen and unique. And the attachment each student feels for their own 'rustic' loaf.

Again he talked about the beauty of teaching children to bake. He'd recently taught a class of 59 to bake bread at his son's school.

"They listen to you and just do it. No asking questions. No how, or why. They just get on with it. But the look on their faces, the shouts of 'wow', 'look at that', and the dead calm on seeing the loaves, is the same for both kids and adults alike."

Chris Young, Campaign Co-ordinator of the Real Bread Campaign then stepped in once more to introduce the final speaker of the day.

"Bread starts as a seed in the ground. We need to look at improving the starting point, the actual grains themselves, to truly make a difference and produce real bread."

And then finally Andrew Whitley took to the stage. Founder of The Village Bakery in Melmerby, and author of 'Bread Matters'.

His aim is that "Everybody should be in walking distance of a loaf of real bread."

Whether that be the walk across their own kitchen, to their neighbour's, or the local bakery. He talked about the changing face of bread and the importance of the grain. There's a long change from seed to plate, creating a disconnect, where compromises in quality are made, to speed up the process and make bread look more appealing to the customer. Ie Additives and preservatives.

It should clearly be a significant public health concern that the grains used in bread, no longer agree with a growing part of the population.

The best bread should provide benefits of 'health', 'contentment' and 'joy', not leave you feeling 'fractious' and 'disagreeable'.

"We need to make the connection shorter. And somehow 'Tesco-proof' the concept. This relies on forming the process around a chain of people that is not saleable." A co-operative therefore does seem to be the answer.

"We need to create maximum diversity in seeds, developing more secure and resilient forms, to sustain the making of real bread." He pointed out that very little scottish wheat is actually used to make scottish bread, instead it is distributed far and wide. This needs to be changed. We need to be living off the land on which we live, shortening processes and working with those around us for the common good.

He ended with the following rally for support.

"The bread is rising. You bet it is!"

After the talks, it was time to chat and eat more bread of course. I had some interesting conversations with a few start-up micro-bakeries, getting insights on the problems they were facing and how they were going about trying to build up a customer base. Alison of Real Slow Bread said she was getting concerned she'd forgotten how to make a good loaf of bread as she'd got so caught up in the numbers and getting her accounts set up.

Before the taxi home I wanted to take a look around and so headed down to the Welbeck Bakehouse with a few other bakers in tow. As we turned the corner into the bakery, we got a first glimpse of the 5 tray oven - what a beaut!

Dough was being mixed in what I can only describe as a large-scale Kitchen Aid. And then our eyes caught sight of the bread. Wow, they'd gone to town baking all sorts of wonderful types of bread, from focaccia to baguettes. I was sadly feeling full after the bread and cheese I'd already been helping myself to but managed to find room for some apple and cinnamon bread - I'd never had anything like it but am now determined to have a go at making my own. They'd made so much we even got to take a loaf home each, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I helped myself to a tasty looking seeded loaf.

Next it was time to take a look at the source of wondrous heat that was emanating into the kitchen. The home of the wood-fired ovens! They were truly huge, and the heat was fantastically warming on such a bitterly cold day. I was transfixed. Despite their size, they had such a charm and character about them.

You couldn't really get a full feel for how big they were until you saw the size of the peel - I'd estimate it at about two and a half to three metres long.


Manny talked us through the process of loading and unloading, and the art of getting to know your bread oven. It's hot and cold spots, how these could often change one day from the next - much like in a relationship!

Then it was sadly time for us to leave this beautiful bready oasis.

But alas the fun was not over yet, my hopes and dreams came true, when taxi Andrew did turn out indeed to be Andrew Whitley. Myself and fellow Bread Angel Adri of @BreadandRoll could not quite believe it. On the road he told us his story of how he started up. Like us he was originally based down in London, but made the move to making real bread up in Cumbria. Wanting to do something similar myself, I fired question after question to him, highlighting my concerns of making such a move on my own. He put my mind at rest with his tales and experiences of how he had headed up to Cumbria despite being told that there was no demand for wholemeal bread, and that people didn't even know what organic meant (this was back in the 70s). With his friends back in London asking who he would talk to up there, he told of the community spirit he encountered and how he had formed bonds with people on a level he had never really achieved in London.

He went on to talk about some of his experiences in Russia and what he'd been up to since taking leave of the Village Bakery. He truly was one of the most genuine and approachable men I've ever had the honour to meet. Even once we'd arrived at the train station we carried on the discussion, moving onto the Real Bread Campaign - what it is trying to achieve and the obstacles it's facing. If you're passionate about real bread and the difference it can make to people's lives you really should become a member. And if you already are, you should seek to get another to join. They need our support.

To end, all I can say is a massive thanks to the Real Bread Campaign for putting on this event, for free, and to the School of Artisan Food for hosting it, and to all the speakers and bakers that came along. I'm so happy I took the plunge and dived right in. I could not have asked for a better day. What's more I'm still reliving it making my way through the tasty loaf I received from the Welbeck Bakehouse.

To market, to market, to sell some loaves of bread, I hope!

After becoming somewhat addicted to baking sourdough bread, I realised I'd finally hit upon a way to make my lifelong dream of setting up my own business in the hills a reality.

I'd been taking each week's sourdough attempts into work for sampling. They're a bunch of real foodies so I knew they'd be a tough audience. I thought some people's noses would turn up at the mention of rye, but adding spices such as cumin and cinnamon seemed to do the trick, with  everyone lining up for a try. After the first couple of weeks I got my first customer and then another, and I started putting a jar out for donations to cover the costs. It was great getting feedback from everyone and a real confidence booster, everyone was so interested in how it was made, it was great to be able to answer everyone's questions and realise just how much I'd learned in the short space of time I'd been baking bread. Even been asked if I can teach them how to make it themselves. Couldn't have asked for a better start!

And so it was I decided to take the next step and book onto Virtuous Bread's Bread Angels Course. This is a course for all those looking to set up their very own home baking business. It was a fantastic two days with the wonderful Rosie Clark and Lisa Wilson up in Kensal Rise. I was so inspired to see how far they'd come in the time since they themselves had taken the Bread Angels course. It was also really interesting to meet the other attendees and find out their stories and where they were on their own bread baking journeys.

During the course Rosie mentioned that a new start-up market had been in touch and had a vacancy on a stall if any of us would like to take the offer up. I couldn't get my hand in the air fast enough. And sure enough a week later I was put in touch with Hannah Whelan of Kilburn to Kensal Winter Market. A few emails and a phone call later it was agreed - I was to have my own section on a stall at the market for the next two Saturdays! There wasn't much time for shock and amazement, the first stall was just two days away.

My bread making experience was pretty limited to the breads baked on the courses, so I decided to keep it simple for the first week as time was tight: 12 rye sourdough loaves, and a big batch of milk and honey buns, along with some homemade strawberry jam.

I was confident on the rye loaves, but it would be my first time making the milk and honey buns.

So the night before, I made my biggest batch of rye sourdough starter and set it to refresh overnight. The result the next morning was unbelievable, the bubbles were huge. I lost most of them in moving the bowl, but you can get an idea from the below pic.

After a morning trip to get some string and labels and a few more loaf tins I had everything I needed. A day of baking lay ahead - I couldn't wait.

Turns out making 12 rye sourdoughs takes quite a bit of time, particularly in a small, alley style kitchen. But 12 I made and left them in their tins to rise. 

Here's the first batch five or so hours later...

I then set about work on the milk and honey buns. But then had my first real hiccup - my kitchen scales broke! I couldn't believe it, I'd managed to get some water in the workings and a horrible error message sat staring back at me every time I tried to turn it on (the major drawback of digital scales). What to do now? Well at least I could crack on with the jam as the amount of sugar needed was the full bag's weight, same for the strawberries. I made my first jam from my latest purchase salt sugar smoke by the great Diana Henry. The smell was just incredible and it was so quick and easy I couldn't believe I hadn't made jam before.

But now to find a solution to my kitchen scales dilemma. I tried knocking on a few neighbour's doors but to no avail - doesn't anyone do home baking anymore?

Then I set off to a local shop and hit gold. I got home, set up to go and would you believe, they didn't work! Agh, set off again to head to a big supermarket, surely they would have some, but alas, they'd just run out of stock. Clearly this was not meant to be, but I would not be beaten. My original scales were sort of coming back to life, although they kept creeping up in weight with a life of their own so I decided just to go for it.

I put some milk on to boil, keeping a close eye on it, and then left it to cool down ready to make the buns. The recipe was from Jane Mason's All You Knead is Bread, with a bit of added honey to the dough to make them even more special. I was so happy with the result, they looked and smelled fantastic coming out of the oven - even at 1am!

Then it was off to bed, but clearly sleep was not to be had as my mind raced round and round with ideas, thoughts, and the excitement of the next day ahead.

An early start the next morning, saw my friend Lily kindly couriering me, my loaves, buns, and jars of jam, from Stoke Newington to Queens Park. I couldn't have asked for a better day for my first ever market stall experience. It was the perfect winter's day: chilly, but with a clear blue sky and the sun shining brightly to ward off the chill.

And then for the taste test... thumbs up all round thankfully.

The first day went really well. Making my first sale was such a great experience. It was a milk and honey bun to a mum for her little boy, who I then happily watched eat it all up in a matter of seconds. I sold a bit of everything and it was great fun talking to all the other traders and hearing their stories of how they'd got to be there. There was a real mix of first-timers like me, and then a few more established stalls, such as Flour Station - talk about competition!

But I left with a big smile on my face and lots of ideas for the following week...

Cracking the rye sourdough

Ever since the Virtuous Bread sourdough course I've been on a mission to crack the 100% rye sourdough. It's such a healthy loaf, but at the same time, is so tasty and feels like a real treat compared to the nasty pre-sliced, plastic-covered slabs of rye you get in health food shops and some supermarkets.

Also, it couldn't be much simpler compared to most bread recipes that require kneading, proofing, shaping and resting before getting anywhere near an oven.

So if all that kneading and shaping has been deterring you from making your own bread then I urge you to give this a go. You'll never think of rye bread in the same way again.

Lessons Learnt

Refreshing the starter - leave your starter to refresh in a warm spot, too cold and you'll find you won't get the bubbly froth you're looking for. (PS the bigger the batch, the better the result)

Water - use only lukewarm water (ie when you dip your finger in you can't really feel the temperature as it's the same as your blood). My loaves had been prone to dryness and I couldn't work out what I was doing wrong. Until I suddenly realised I'd been adding hotter and hotter water each time, thinking that this would help the sourdough work harder and faster to make a lovely risen loaf. Clearly I was wrong, having now devoured many bread books, I have discovered that the one key thing you can get wrong in bread making is to use water (or any liquid that you are using) that is too hot - this basically kills the yeast.

Consistency - you're looking for a sloppy not stiff dough, the wetter the better!

What you'll need

100% rye sourdough starter
Rye flour
Salt

Optional:
Treacle / honey / molasses
Spices / seeds / raisins / nuts

1lb loaf tin
Butter for greasing
Shower hat / plastic bag

My guide to the perfect 100% rye sourdough
(adapted from Virtuous Bread course notes)

The first step is to refresh your 100% rye starter.

Take 20g of starter, add 120g of lukewarm water and 60g of rye flour. Mix, don the bowl with a shower hat or somesuch, find a cosy warm spot and leave to brew overnight.

I put mine to bed with me as it's the warmest room in the flat. Upon waking, you can tell it's ready when it has developed a nice bubbly top as below.

This is your refreshed starter. You can top up your dormant starter in the fridge with 40g of this.

Then take the remaining 160g of your refreshed starter, add 100g of lukewarm water, followed by 40g of treacle, honey, molasses or whatever takes your fancy. (Or you can simply use 140g of water.)
My favourite so far is treacle - it gives a lovely colour to the loaf and a real depth of flavour - but I'm yet to try molasses which I think could top it.
Then add 240g of light or dark rye flour and 6g salt. My supermarket doesn't offer a choice so don't worry if the same applies to you, a standard wholegrain rye flour will do you fine.
Again you can then make it your own, by adding a tsp of your preferred ground spice or a big spoon of soaked seeds, whole spices, dried fruits or nuts.
My two favourites are ground cumin and seeds, and ground cinnamon and raisins.

If adding raisins or seeds, you can either soak these overnight in cold water or if you forget, simply soak them in hot water for 30 minutes before adding to the mix. This will stop them from soaking up moisture in the dough.

Now it's time to get your hands dirty, mix all the ingredients together giving them a big squelch between your fingers until they're well combined.

It shouldn't be too stiff, if it is, keep adding water until it's almost too sloppy to pick up.
I find I need to add up to 50g of additional lukewarm water to the mix to get it to the right consistency. 

Not much to look at I know. But stay confident, this sloppy, odd looking dough will provide you with the most beautiful bread I promise.

Grease your 1lb loaf tin with butter (not oil as this will form pools in the bottom and fry rather than bake your bread).




Then wet your hands and have a bowl of water handy. Scoop the mix up using your scraper to make sure you get every last bit and then pass it from one hand to the other shaping it into a sausage shape that will fit snugly in your tin. If the mix sticks to your hands, wet your hands again. The wetter the dough, the better your loaf will be!


Then simply plop it in your tin and don't touch it again!

No matter how tempting it is, don't flatten it or spread it into the corners, you should almost be able to see your handprint on the top, as on the left.

Leave as is and don it with the shower hat again. Then place back in a cosy warm place for between 3 - 5 hours.

You'll  know it's ready when the dough has risen to the top of the tin and small holes have started to form on the top.

When it's starting to look near ready, pre-heat your oven to 230 / 210 (fan).


Now you have another
choice on how to dress
the top of your loaf.

Here's a couple of examples of what you can do to make your loaf look even more tasty when it comes out of the oven.

Savoury spices / seeds - sprinkle wet mixed seeds on the top
Sweet spices / raisins - sieve flour on the top

When your dough is ready, take off the shower hat and add your topping of choice, then pop it in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, drop the temperature down to 210 / 180 (fan) and bake for another 30 minutes.

To test your loaf is ready, slide it out of the tin and tap it on the bottom with your fingers - it should sound hollow - if  it produces more of a dull thud then simply pop it back in the oven for another couple of minutes.

When ready, take it out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack. Once cool, wrap in greaseproof paper or foil and store in an air-tight container.

And now for the hard part - if you can, wait at least two days before tucking into your rye sourdough bread. It will be edible before, but the crumb structure takes time to develop and the flavour of the spices really develops over a couple of days. Believe me, it's worth the wait. Your loaf will then last for a week, if you don't eat it up before then. It also freezes really well.

If this has inspired you to give it a go, do let me know how you get on. I'd love to see your pics and hear what flavour combinations you went for. If you'd like to find out more about the wonderful world of sourdough, you can book on the Virtuous Bread course here.

My first encounter with Sourdough

After discovering Virtuous Bread I'd initially booked onto their Basic Bread course, but after doing some more research I decided to take the plunge and go headfirst into the world of sourdough. The idea of making bread from just flour, water and salt appealed to me after a life-long obsession with cake and biscuit baking where there was always baking powder, bicarbonate of soda or of course, self-raising flour to do the job for you.

I'd booked onto a course with Jane Mason, the mastermind behind Virtuous Bread, on the 10th of October. With a day off work I was looking forward to trying my hand at bread baking - I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day.

I turned up at her lovely home in Hammersmith, right on the riverside, with rowers working their way up and down on a beautiful sunny autumnal morning. I was greeted not by Jane but Lucy Heeley - it turned out Jane's parents were over from Canada for the book launch of Jane's book 'All you knead is bread' later that week and she was taking them on a tour of London. At first I was disappointed not to be meeting and being taught by Jane, after reading so much about her and the real passion she holds for bread baking and sharing this with others. However, my disappointment did not last long.

There were three of us on the course: myself, a lady in retirement who had been bought the course as a birthday gift from her son, and a lady over from Singapore who wanted to start baking her own bread.

We started the day with tea and a chat about why we were all there. Lucy, it turned out, had spent a year doing the Leith's Diploma of Food and Wine, something I'd previously looked at, but sadly the cost was just too prohibitive. Through the connections she'd made at Leith's she now helps run courses at the school and has been working with Jane to teach the basic bread and sourdough bread courses.

First up, we needed to get our rye sourdough breads on the go. She led us through to Jane's kitchen which backed right onto the river and drew our attention to the bowl that sat in the middle of the table. After pulling away the plastic cover, a brownish, frothy liquid sat at the bottom of the bowl. This it turned out was what a refreshed sourdough starter looked like. Something we'd all be aiming to achieve if we wanted to make our own.

We each poured out the necessary amount into our own bowls, I was transfixed by all the bubbles in the liquid. We then added flour, water and salt and had the choice to start tailoring the bread to our own tastes... treacle, honey, spices and seeds... so much to choose from. The heady world of bread baking was already pulling me in.

I opted for treacle to give it a good colour and a depth of flavour along with cumin and seeds. Then it was time to get our hands dirty. After plunging our hands into the mix, we squeezed and squelched until we had combined all the ingredients into what basically resembled a wet sticky mass. Turns out that was the job done for rye sourdough. All that was left to do was to grease our little loaf baking tins, and with wet hands scoop up the sticky mass and shape it into a rounded oblong and simply plop it in the tin with a shower hat on top to rise. This would take anywhere between 3-5 hours, depending on the heat in the kitchen.

After this eventful start we then sat down for more tea and some delicious toasted raisin bread with jam (all home baked of course). Divine! Once we'd had our fill Lucy talked us through the science behind sourdough, explaining it in simple terms, and patiently answering our very many questions.

Then it was back to the kitchen to make a wheat sourdough. This bowl of refreshed starter looked somewhat different to the first. It was off-white to begin with and very gloopy and stretchy; almost like melted mozzarella cheese. Again we each pulled and stretched our portions into our individual bowls. Then added the basic flour, water and salt. We had the choice of white, wholemeal, and spelt flours, I opted for a 50/50 mix of wholemeal and white spelt. Then we got our hands in and combined the ingredients once more. This time the mass took the form of what I had imagined a dough to look like. Once done, it was time for our first knead!

Lucy showed us her technique, kind of a two-handed, stretch and pull method, where the heel of your right hand stretches the middle to top of the dough upwards while the heel of your left holds and pulls the bottom of the dough towards you. From the very get-go you can see the glutinous strands working their magic, as a web becomes visible in the dough each time you stretch and pull. Lucy set the clock and we kneaded our hearts out for a whole 10 minutes. With each of us developing our own unique technique that worked for us. The method didn't seem to really matter as long as you were creating a stretch in the dough to form the glutinous web. It was surprisingly hard work kneading for a solid 10 minutes, we all seemed to end up using our whole body in the kneading movement with a rocking motion from hip to foot as we stretched and pulled, all the while looking at each other's to see how our own compared. As we'd all chosen a different flour combination each of the doughs had taken a slightly different route, with some more stretchy (glutinous) than others.

At the end of the 10 minutes we performed the 'windowpane test' to see if we'd kneaded sufficiently. We each picked up our doughs and started to pull and stretch them in mid-air as you would to draw curtains, the dough thinned to reveal thin panes through which you could see the daylight coming through when held to the light - hence the name. Aha we'd all pretty much cracked it, but Lucy still made us do a couple more minutes kneading just to be sure and make sure we'd truly mastered the kneading technique. After which, it was time to let our doughs (and us) rest. We popped our doughs under a tea towel for an hour while Lucy talked us through the plan for the rest of the day and started to get lunch prep under way.

We then performed our first stretch and fold of the dough. This apparently helps to create those lovely big holes you get in sourdough bread. We each took our doughs, which were already starting to look bigger than before, and in a clockwise motion pulled a small clump of the dough up and away from us and then pulled it back into the centre, then moved to the next section until we'd gone round the clockface. Then we had to flip the dough over and quickly smooth over the surface with our hands lightly pulling from the top to the bottom until the surface looked nice and smooth - easier said than done! Then it was time for them to rest for another hour.

Meanwhile we had a lunch of tasty lentil and vegetable soup with lots more bread and cheese. I could have quite happily gone for a nap after all that food, but no, it was time to shape the wheat doughs. Under Lucy's direction we stretched and folded once more before rolling, stretching, smoothing and all other manners of movement that by the end were beyond me. Lucy made it all look so simple. Somehow we all got our doughs into the correct shape (basically a long, fat oblong) and placed them as gently as we could on a floured tea towel and then covered them again to do their final rise.

Next it was time to move onto making some swedish crispbreads. Lucy had already made the dough, which had some milk and spices added to it, as it had needed time to proof before we could start to make the finished product. Our first job was to pluck small little clumps of the dough and shape them into balls (hopefully of a relatively equal size). Then Lucy masterfully demonstrated the shaping technique.

On a floured surface Lucy rolled the dough up and down with a mini rolling pin, flipping it over, time and time again, adding flour as she went so the dough didn't stick to the table or the rolling pin. Then once it was about 50cm long by about 8cm wide she sprinkled some sesame seeds, cumin seeds and rock salt over it and then rolled this in using a funny looking knobbled rolling pin which created an unsurprisingly knobbled pattern on the rolled dough. This was then simply placed on a greased baking tray ready to go in the oven. Now it was our turn. We each had a go with varying degrees of success, but after working our way through the full mix (of about 40 balls) we'd pretty much mastered it and were churning them out, up to four at a time, by the end. Lucy cooked them as we went so we got to taste test while working the production line. They were really crunchy and packed full of flavour - particularly the ones with cumin added. I was amazed when Lucy said that if well-wrapped and stored in an airtight container they could last happily for a year. They're perfect if friends pop over at short notice for a drink, particularly dipped in hommous or somesuch.

Then it was time for the final sourdough of the day. Scones!!! One of my favourite things with a cup of tea. We watched and learned as Lucy rolled out the dough she had again pre-prepared and simply shaped it into rounds using cutters and popped them in the oven.

Then we had to sit and wait for them to cook followed by the endless torture waiting for them to cool enough so we could tuck into them. Apparently, they're best eaten fresh on the day of cooking, so alas we had to relent and fill our already full stomachs with even more. Still warm, served with butter and apricot jam, they were a thing of beauty, with a real depth of flavour compared to a standard scone. It was impossible to have just one...

After this, we somehow pulled ourselves back off the sofa as it was time to cook the rye and wheat breads. The rye sourdoughs had each worked their way to the top of the tin, so we topped them with our preference of seeds or flour and popped them in the oven for 40 mins. We then did the 'prod test' on the wheat doughs; basically prodding your finger into the dough and if it pops back to its original shape then it's ready to bake. All our doughs passed the prod test so in the oven they went. Lucy thankfully picked them up one by one and placed them on the baking tray to go in the oven. While they cooked, we cleaned up the kitchen one last time as Lucy talked us through everything we'd done that day.

It felt like being a child when it was time to check the breads, as Lucy pulled first the rye breads from the oven and did the tap test on the bottom of each to check they sounded hollow. They looked perfect! And then the wheat bread - wow, they'd grown huge and each one looked fantastic.

We each formed our own little pile of sourdough goodness to take home with us, along with a Virtuous bread bag to put it all in, a scraper and of course, most importantly, our very own starter! After thanking Lucy for a wonderful experience and for putting up with our incessant questions, we left in a buoyant, happy mood, with our bags wafting out the scent of freshly baked bread.

It truly was a lovely day, spent in good company, creating wonderful looking, smelling and tasting sourdough goodies. I couldn't wait to try it all out for myself back at home.

If you're thinking of taking the plunge - I have no reservations but to say go for it. You'll never look back! Find out more and book up here.

PS - sorry for the lack of photos, I was too busy taking it all in to even think about doing this.