Topic: artisan baking

[fi]

i have been looking for artisan bread making course as i would like to learn to make with fresh living yeast. found a course in nottm but was £150. does anyone know of cheaper courses? and within easy reach of the midlands.

[Gadget]

Hi Fi,

I watched a programme about this and it did look very good, here is a website which may help, my mother always made bread with fresh yeast its not as hard as you think, so maybe worth buying a book and doing a bit experimenting.

http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/real_bread_campaign_bread_making_courses/

Good luck with it all. :)

[goodlife]

Making bread with live yeast is almost same as you would use dry stuff..the yeast just have to be crumbled into hand warm liquid and stired until its fully disolved...then mix rest of the dry incredients as recipe says.
Or did you mean with 'living yeast' sourdough starter...?
You definately don't need to pay that sort of money to learn bread making skills...but with or without course, learning will come with experience..more you do..more you learn... ;)
I bet there is lots of videos in youtube to follow....

[Jeannine]

I make all my own breads, and have done most of my life , we never buy bread.I usually use live yeast, I just mix the yeast and small amount of sugar together and it creams to a liquid nicely on its own, then add to whatever liquid you are using.

If you can't find a course I can suggest an excellent book you can teach yourself from very easily.

Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads.. the new abridged version.

I have an enormous library of  food books including a couple of shelf fulls on bread alone, this is without a doubt the best I have seen. Amazon UK is sure to have it. It is about 2 1/2 inches thick so very comprehensive. Gives info on everything to do with  bread, flour, yeast, ovens, how  yeast works etc etc,It has mu highest recommendation for a bread book. Recipes are from all over the world from Aberdeen Butteries to Pannetone.

I would think the libraries will have it if you want alook.

I used to buy my flours direct from a mill in Driffield, there must be something similar to you, a favourite one was Bradmalt  which had a sprouted seed in it, but I bought strong bread floue etc etc from them too, never bought it in the supermarket.

Live yeast I got from a bakers supply but Asda and Tesco used to give it away if you asked as they were not allowed to sell it for some reason.

Good Luck


XX Jeannine

[lillian]

An alternative might be River Cottage Bread DVD by Hugh and Gill. :)

[Debs]

Morrisons sell fresh yeast - very cheap, about 40p

Debs

[macmac]

Morrisons sell fresh yeast - very cheap, about 40p

Debs

Do they Deb ? I've sometimes got it free from Asda but they won't let me buy it and only give a small quantity ,that's if you can find someone to fetch it for you (I always feel like I'm begging as they don't charge :-[)

[pumkinlover]

i have been looking for artisan bread making course as i would like to learn to make with fresh living yeast. found a course in nottm but was £150. does anyone know of cheaper courses? and within easy reach of the midlands.

Transition chesterfield run breadmaking courses- anything like that in your area.

[pigeonseed]

It's nicer to learn things from a person than a website or book, but in the end I'm sure you could teach yourself that way.

My mum also always used fresh yeast when I was very small, I've asked for it in supermarkets and no one ever said they couldn't sell it, they just looked mystified and looked on the shelves for it.

I assume in the 70s it was normal and could be purchased. Now it seems to be a secret vice!

[fi]

Thanks fo tips. Shall invest in a decent book and try chesterfield as that's not too far. Have experimented with fresh yeast before but the bread was beer flavoured!

[goodlife]

If you can taste the yeast in bread..I might have use bit too much of it.. ;)

[Bugloss2009]

and there's nothing like kneading dough for getting the dirt out from under your fingernails.

[knottygal]

  :o Ewww Bugloss!

[Bugloss2009]

just call it wholemeal............

seriously, fresh yeast or dried yeast are both OK, the problem is that people buy dried yeast and then try to use it a year later, when it's mostly dead.

the secret to bread is the flour.  Find a local mill that produces their own. That's artisan

[taurus]

Sainsburys sell  fresh yeast from their bakery.  You need to ask for it, its not displayed.
Ryton do artisan bread making courses.  Theres one in Oct they run from 1 pm to 4.45 but you would have to check on dates/prices.

[Jeannine]

Slow rise is best for bread with as little yeast as possible, if risen too fast or with too much I think the yeast flavour seems more pronounced. XX Jeannine

[Trevor_D]

You don't need to go on a course! It's easy! Like Jeannine, I've been making my own bread most of my life. My son - who's 42 - has never eaten anything other than home-made.

I agree about the flour. My son now does voluntary work at a local water-mill and brought us some flour he'd ground himself the day before. Wow!!

And the yeast. As Jeannine says, use as little as possible and leave it to rise for as long as possible. I leave it all day. I once left it for two days and it tasted even better.

[goodlife]

I don't refer to anybody in here..but I think many first time bakers haven't seen or tasted proper bread before and expect the end result to be something like in supermarkets..fluffy 'marshmallow' like stodge..and to get bread like that they end up using more yeast that is necessary.
Of course you cannot produce bread like that in home..and you are not suppose to neither...proper bread is dense and heavier.
Last winter I gave a loaf for somebody to try homebaked bread..and it was sourbread too.. ;D It was bit of shock for their system. But once they got over the idea lack of fluffy cotton woollyness..they found it tasty..and they didn't want any filling to go with the sandwich neither..just a bit of butter..
Yes..good bread needs time..time left to be alone and do its raising slowly. Of course there is certain breads that need bit more yeast and less time..but they are more sweet doughs than breads.

[SteveT]

Have done one of the one day "Bread back to basics" courses at Loaf (http://www.loafonline.co.uk/) which I thought was an excellent introduction to baking bread.

As you can see from the details, they're small classes so you get plenty of hands on tuition and advice.

[Jeannine]

Another thing.. if using bread tins, use the right size for your bread and don't be in a hurry to bake it.Often recipes say double in size..that isw fine for first rise but for final rise, if your flour is good and strong, it will rise much higher than that, I have gone out and forgotten my bread was rising and it has been soi high I was scared to move it,  but good flour with a good gluten content will stand a lot of abuse. Of course when the over risen ones bake it is like eating a cloud but it is fun now and again.


My bread is not dense or heavy though unless I cook it too soon or the odd time or two I add tons of stuff to it or use sprouted wheat , rye  etc etc.My white bread is actually very light but iut has more flavour than shop bought and of course it does not keep like the cotton wool stuff does.

XX Jeannine