Sourdough baking workshops

Red Beard’s baking workshops are led by John & Al Reid who co-founded Red Beard Bakery and have 21 years' sourdough baking experience between them.

The full day workshops are held from 9am to 3pm on Sundays, and the half-day workshops from 10am to 2pm on Wednesdays (see dates above), in our baking room using traditional techniques.

What will I learn? Both workshops are hands-on, with participants shaping, baking and tasting sourdough bread.  Both workshops cover:

• The difference between sourdough and 'normal' bread
• A short history of baking and wood-fired ovens
• Milling your own flour and experimenting with different types of flour
• Proving and shaping dough
• Adding grains and fruits
• Proving in tins versus cloth or baskets
• Cooling and storing bread

In addition, the full day workshop includes:

• Making and mixing doughs from scratch
• How to make your own sourdough starter culture from scratch (you take home your own starter culture plus a bag of the finest biodynamic flour).

What else is included? Participants enjoy lunch, bottomless coffee and snacks from Red Beard café, plus you take home the loaves you bake, our special sourdough bread recipe and baking tips.

Loading the firebox	Making leaven from scratch
Learning the theory of fermentation	Learning to shape sourdough loaves
Cutting the sourdough loaves	Sourdough loaves proving in linen
Loading the Scotch oven	Loading the Scotch oven
Unloading the Scotch oven	The finished product
Tasting the finished product	Workshop participants after the bake
Taking home the sourdough goodies

Book your place in a sourdough baking workshop at Red Beard Bakery through the Trentham Neighbourhood Centre on 03 5424 1354.