BREAD BAKING COURSES

Home baked bread - more than just following a recipe

SO WHAT HAPPENS ON OUR BAKING COURSES?

All our bread baking courses have a practical focus and you will be guided through a series of well tested recipes appropriate for the domestic home baker. Baking bread is more than following a recipe and you will learn many of the baking techniques and artistry that are so often overlooked in the recipe books. Summaries are provided for your own personal use, including recipe sheets with timings, and the techniques covered during the day.

The Well Cottage has a well equipped domestic kitchen with familiar equipment so that the bread recipes you try out and techniques you learn can easily be repeated at home.

With a maximum of four people, we ensure you get the most from the demonstrations of techniques, benefit from individual tuition as you do them yourself, with have plenty of opportunity to ask questions. This gives you an enjoyable baking experience and confidence in the skills you learn for more successful baking!

Ingredients We pride ourselves on sourcing and using local organic ingredients and all ingredients and equipment are provided. For baking sessions all flour is stone ground from organic grain milled at local windmills. All you will need is an apron and suitable containers bags or basket for your bread!

Refreshments We include Tea/coffee/squash and home make biscuits/flapjack during the day and a vegetarian “Bakers lunch” with freshly made bread and home make and locally sourced produce.

One day Courses start at 9.30am and finish approx 4.30pm, depending on the bread! As well as developing your baking skills first hand, you will take home all your bread at the end of the day !

CHOOSING A COURSE

Base your course choice on your bread baking interest. Our range of courses are shown below with an outline of what we will cover on the day.

Follow this link to Baking Bookings for course titles, dates and prices

BRITISH BREADS - Introduction to Bread Baking

This popular baking course with a British Breads theme is the best place to start for absolute beginners!

You will make a range of British yeasted breads beginning with an “everyday dough” to make breakfast rolls and loaves such as a crusty Cob, Cottage loaf, traditional tin loaves, and a poppy seed bloomer. Our course includes an introduction to using wholemeal flours to make wholesome rustic loaves such as a Welsh clay pot loaf. We follow a series of easy steps from mixing the ingredients, kneading, proving, shaping and baking. With individual help you will learn many useful practical baking skills, and will have time for discussion about the baking techniques, ingredients, and bread storage. Even if you already bake your own bread this will help you gain consistency in your baking. Armed with the best of British your baking journey begins here.

Dates and booking

TRADITIONAL QUICK BREADS- Introduction to Bread Baking NEW

This course will show you how make a variety of quick breads many of which can be prepared and ready to eat within the hour! Faster to make than many traditional yeasted breads, these recipes use other raising agents instead of bakers yeast. This course will enable you to make a range of delicious rustic breads from around the world including Irish Soda breads,a delicious American corn bread, and Scottish griddle breads or Irish Bannocks.New additions to this course are a quick enriched fruit “tea bread” and a rustic yeasted seeded cob loaf.

You will learn how to use a variety of raising agents, and how to make, handle, shape, and bake non yeasted dough. Our recipes show you how to make the most of many stone ground grains and learn many important techniques to make a range of traditional quick breads without yeast.

Dates and booking

CONTINENTAL BREADS - Introduction to Bread Baking NEW

A course to show you how to use your conventional oven to be successful with a selection of of the regional speciality breads from countries bordering the Mediterranean. Using a range of stone-ground flours you will get a chance to explore the taste and texture of breads which will add a little warmth to a dreary winters day or equally add another dimension to your summer picnic. Included are "quick bake" breads such as the French Flamiche, and a rustic Italian Fougasse with olives. A crusty French stick or Baton, Italian Ciabatta, and a sweet French Brioche will allow you to develop many important baking techniques and learn how to use a range stone ground flours.

Dates and booking BAKING FOR CHRISTMAS - Introduction to Bread Baking NEW

This baking course will show you how to make a range of traditional yeasted breads as a part of your festive fare. We begin with an“everyday dough” with stone ground flour to make Festive rolls and a crusty Christmas Coburg. A traditional Tin loaf and Cob loaf will add another flavour dimension using wholemeal flour, and we also make a delicious traditional Lincolnshire Plum Bread, using an enriched dough to make this sweet fruit loaf to add to to your Christmas baking repertoire.

This course will follow a series of easy steps from mixing the ingredients, kneading, proving, shaping and baking, with finishes for a festive appearance for your bread. We include some tips on planning a Christmas bake and storing bread.

Dates and booking

TRADITIONAL BAKING – Artisan Breads and Sour doughs NEW

This new course is ideal for those who have already baked bread by hand or have done one of our other Introduction to Baking courses, including a range of savoury and rustic recipes.

You will make a variety of traditional breads using three different types of ferments, each giving the bread a distinctive flavour and character. We begin with a fresh bakers yeast recipe to make an Italian Focaccia and a savoury Tomato bread. Next we use a “wild yeast” sour dough to make a traditional "Country" loaf. In addition our baking journey includes the use and blending of a range of stone ground flours such as spelt and wholemeal with an overnight slow ferment to make a Beer and Oat bread or an Italian Pagnotta. This course will offer an insight into artisan breads, covering the part played by the ingredients, and the important baking techniques. The use of bakers yeast, overnight ferments and sour doughs are also covered including setting up and storing them.

If you want to expand your bread baking repertoire and find a new dimension in baking, try this course!

Dates and booking

THE WOODFIRED BAKING EXPERIENCE (GROUP BOOKING)

A wood fired baking experience is available as a group booking for 3-6 friends or work colleagues as a convivial bread baking experience. You will find out how to prepare doughs , then shape and bake a range of traditional breads in our brick wood fired oven, using our local stone-ground flour. Our day includes quick cook breads such as Pizza, Focaccia and other hearth baked flat breads such as Piadini.

After a convivial lunch of your freshly baked breads, you will have the opportunity to make some rustic full flavoured breads such as Roman Spelt loaves baked in the wood fired oven.

This is an opportunity to have a memorable baking experience and add a new dimension to your baking. All the recipes you will try can easily be replicated in a domestic oven and we will provide recipe sheets for use at home. No previous baking experience is necessary and our course tutors will guide you through oven handling and the traditional bread making and baking process! Dates and booking

WHERE ARE COURSES HELD?

Courses are held in Little Bytham, Lincolnshire. Little Bytham is between Stamford and Grantham in the West of Lincolnshire, about 10 mins drive from the A1

GROUP BOOKINGS? It may be possible to arrange a group booking for ANY type of course

(Minimum of 3 and maximum of 4 persons required) and arrange a special date.

An excellent day for friends, family, or work colleagues.

reciPES

By popular request from those who have been on our courses

Organic pickles; Organic piccalilli and Spicy apple chutney

Biscuits ; Flapjack and Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS

Bread is more than following a recipe. It is important to make a careful choice of good quality ingredients and gain confidence in using what works well for you!

Click here to find out more about flour and other ingredients