BREAD BAKING COURSES

Home baked bread - more than just following a recipe

Bread making is not only an interest; it can become a way of life. Hand crafted bread is easy , and takes very little time, once you know the basic steps. Below are details of our 2009-10 courses.

SO WHAT HAPPENS ON THESE 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. Course materials are provided for your own personal use and include recipe sheets with timings, and prompts sheets covering the techniques and question and answer sessions.

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, and 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 !

Our range of courses for 2009-10 are shown below. Look at Baking Bookings for dates and prices.

CHOOSING A COURSE

Base your course choice on you bread baking experience .

New to bread baking	If you are completely new to bread baking by hand take a look at the INTRODUCTION TO BREAD BAKING courses below. These are ideal for anyone wishing to move on from using a bread making machine, or have had problems with baking bread. These courses cover all the hand baking techniques in easy steps, so that you will learn how to improve the consistency and quality in your home baked bread . See below for more details about the course types and content.
Baked bread before	Join us for a MORE BREAD BAKING course if you want to extend your baking repertoire, and find out more about traditional and "artisan" baking techniques. These courses are ideal you have already tried to bake by hand or have been on a been on one of the introductory courses Click for details of More Baking courses
Wood-fired baking experience	An experience day for a group of 3-6 participants. Make traditional breads and bake them in the wood-fired oven - a real artisan baking experience. Click for details of The Wood-fired Bread oven experience

INTRODUCTION TO BREAD BAKINg

Baking British Breads- an Introduction to Bread Baking

A baking course with a British breads theme! You will make a range of British yeasted breads beginning with an “everyday dough” to make soft breakfast rolls. You will have the opportunity to make variety of breads such as an English cottage loaf , traditional tin loaves, and and a poppy seed bloomer. Our course includes an introduction to wholemeal flours to make wholesome rustic loaves and a Welsh clay pot loaf. Tuition will follow a series of easy steps from mixing the ingredients, kneading, shaping and proving, to baking. With individual help you will learn many useful practical baking skills and will have time for discussion about the techniques, ingredients, and storage. Recipe sheets and technique prompts are provided for you to take away to use at home. 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

Easy Bread Baking for Christmas- Festive breads -an Introduction to Bread Baking

An introduction to home baked bread with a Christmas theme as part of your festive season cooking. This course shows you a simple step by step baking routine to compliment your Christmas and New Year holiday menu. The smell of fresh bread will delight your family and friends and recipes include a simple recipe to make festive rolls and a delicious crusty round, ideal for those turkey sandwiches. Using a mixture of wholemeal and other flours we will make a full flavoured granary loaf and rustic tin loaf to compliment hearty soups for Boxing Day. We take a more adventurous excursion to make a delicious savoury pull apart bread and for we will make the Lincolnshire Christmas Plum bread, a sweet fruit bread for afternoon tea. Recipe sheets and technique prompts are provided for you to take away to use at home. As well as learning many useful practical baking skills, you will find out about the finer points of baking including timing, techniques, ingredients, and storage. Bake for Christmas and share wholesome hand made traditional festive breads. Dates and booking

MORE BREAD BAKING

Traditional baking exploring ferments and flours – More Bread Baking

If you want to expand your bread baking repertoire, try this course! Yeast contributes more to bread than just making it rise and you .You will make a variety of traditional breads using three different ferments: fresh bakers yeast, an overnight slow ferment or biga, and a “wild yeast” sour dough. Each gives the bread a distinctive flavour and character. Our traditional recipes include Focaccia, Grissini, and rustic rolls, a slow ferment to make a traditional round Italian Pagnotta ,a rustic sour dough bread ,and a full flavoured Spelt loaf . In addition our baking journey includes the use and blending of a range of stone ground flours including white, spelt and wholemeal. Recipe sheets and prompt sheets to summarise the techniques we carry out during the day including making, maintaining and storing of biga and sour doughs. This course will offer an insight into making a range of artisan breads. Dates and booking

Sweet and savoury- More Bread Baking

Using a range of traditional yeasted recipes we will make a mixture of sweet and savoury breads appropriate to the home bread baker. You will see how to work with bakers yeast and slower ferments , and see how to work with enriched doughs containing butter sugar and egg. The recipes include a variety of stone ground flours, and you will see how flour type and the addition of other ingredients affects the flavour and character of the bread. You will find out how to incorporate sweet ingredients such as fruit and sugar,or savoury ingredients such as herbs , and learn how to shape and finish a range of traditional yeasted breads. Recipe sheets are provided for the enriched, sweet and savoury recipes, with prompts and summaries for the techniques covered in the day. Dates and booking

Mediterranean breads - More Bread Baking

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. We have a wide range of breads to increase your yeasted repertoire including breads , flat "quick bake" breads including a delicious pizza, those containing sun baked herbs.You will explore some fuller flavoured breads using a range of stone ground flours, such as traditional Tuscan bread, Sicilian bread, and Ciabata. Our recipe and tips sheets are provided, and will be an excellent foundation for you to be successful and begin a more exploratory approach to bread baking. Dates and booking

THE WOODFIRED BAKING EXPERIENCE (GROUP BOOKING)

A wood fired baking experience is now available as a group booking for 3-6 friends or work colleagues in this convivial bread baking experience. You will prepare doughs and then shape and bake a range of traditional breads in the wood fired oven using local stone-ground flour. Our repertoire includes quick cook breads such as pizzas, Focaccia and other hearth cooked flat breads.

After a convivial lunch of your freshly baked breads, you will have the opportunity to make and bake some rustic full flavoured breads such as Roman Spelt loaves or a Polish Rye bread.

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 replicatedn a domestic oven and we will provide recipe sheets for use at home. No baking experience is necessary and our course tutors will guide you through the bread making and baking process! Dates and booking

BOOKINGS

The booking page explains how to book a course for yourself or as a present for someone else.

Click here to go to the Bread Booking page

GROUP BOOKINGS It may be possible to arrange a group booking for ANY type of course(4 persons required) and arrange a special date. An excellent day for friends or work colleagues or even as a team building activity.

WHERE ARE WE?

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.

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