Foundational Sourdough Baking & Crumb Mastery

For anybody whose loaves keep coming out dense. This is the removal of the guesswork.

Booking now
Each session2 hr a session
How oftenOnce a week
Cohort8–10 per cohort
SeasonYear-round · a new cohort starts each month

What you leave with

An open-crumb loaf you can reproduce at home, without guesswork

A structured introduction for bakers who want consistent, open-crumb, golden-crusted loaves at home rather than one good one in five.

Hydration maths, fermentation milestones, tension shaping and domestic oven management — the four places a home loaf actually goes wrong.

What makes this one worth it

  • Flour Types, Water Temperature & Hydration Math
  • Gluten Development & Fermentation Milestones
  • Bench Handling, Tension Shaping & Bannetons
  • Baking at Home, Crust Colour & Open Crumb Analysis

What is included

  • All 4 sessions of the 4-week cohort — 8 hours of instruction
  • A place held for you for the whole run, in a cohort of 8–10
  • Every piece of equipment listed below, provided on the day
  • Your instructor, and their attention in a group this size

What to bring

  • Water, and something to eat if you want it
  • Nothing else — the kit is provided

How it runs

Once a week · 2 hr a session

Frequency
1x / week — 2 hours a session
Session length
2 hr
Each month
4 sessions, about 8 hours
Cohort size
8 – 10 participants
Where
Culinary kitchen / outdoor community hearth
Level
Beginner (Level 1)
Commitment
Monthly — stay as long as it is worth it

What you cover, in rotation

The group works through these in order and then begins again on fresh ground. Join at whatever stage it is on — nothing here assumes you were there for the last one, and nothing runs out — or drop in for a single session if that is all you can manage.

  1. Stage 1Flour Types, Water Temperature & Hydration Math
    • Baker's percentages for consistent 70%, 75% and 80% hydration.
    • Controlling water temperature for ideal dough fermentation.
    • Hand-mixing dough without kneading.
  2. Stage 2Gluten Development & Fermentation Milestones
    • Building gluten strength with minimal effort using timed folds.
    • Telling under-fermented from over-fermented dough by texture.
    • The poke test and bubble density observation.
  3. Stage 3Bench Handling, Tension Shaping & Bannetons
    • Gentle degas control and dough dividing.
    • Envelope folding and surface tension rolling.
    • Transferring into cane bannetons for the cold overnight proof.
  4. Stage 4Baking at Home, Crust Colour & Open Crumb Analysis
    • Preheating baking vessels and managing domestic ovens.
    • The first 20 minutes: lid-on steam against lid-off browning.
    • Slicing open and diagnosing the crumb together.

4 sessions in the cycle, then it begins again on new ground.

Who leads it, and what is provided

Led by Artisan baker and bread educator.

Step-by-step dough coaching and crumb troubleshooting.

On the table when you arrive

  • Mixing bowls and bench scrapers
  • Proofing cloths
  • Recipe workbooks

When it runs

August 2026

M
T
W
T
F
S
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Runs Not running

Saturday 8 August

  • 10amup to 10 guests

Usually runs Saturdays.

This is the operator’s schedule, not live seat availability. We check the date with them and come back to you — nothing is booked or paid for here.

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