< Go Back Sourdough Bread Posted: Nov 10, 2019
Being a fan of Instagram (you can find us at 'Middle Holly Cottage' on Instagram) I was digging around, as you do, killing time, look at other bakers beautiful sourdoughs when I happened upon a blog called 'Bake With Jack'. Now September was the month for promoting the art of Sourdough and was called 'Sourdough September'. There was all sorts of stuff around the web promoting this fascinating and infuriating bread and Jack had published a blog post called 'Sourdough Start to Finish'. He explained which flour to use for the best starter and then how to go on to produce a basic white sourdough loaf. I followed his instructions to the 'T' and hey presto it worked!! I was hooked and couldn't stop myself making Sourdough, not just white sourdough either but a variety of different flavours. I instagrammed pictures and found a myriad of other bread making enthusiasts with gorgeous photos of their home produced loaves, scored to perfection. And you know what, they have all been so helpful and supportive, 'liking' my photos and answering my questions. I've never come across such a helpful community in all my baking life, normally people will close down and refuse to share their recipes but not bread bakers, no they are just so helpful. I am well and truly hooked.
Over the first weekend of November 2019 I took my course in Nottingham with world renowned baker Emmanual Hadjiandreou at The School of Artisan Food (www.theschoolofartisanfood.org). Emmanuel has a real passion for artisan bread. Having trained as a baker in South Africa, he has baked around the world. In the UK, Emmanuel has worked for Flour Power, Gordon Ramsay, Daylesford Organic and Judges Bakery. He has a special knowledge of continental breads, having baked in Germany, where he learned to make a world-class Stollen. While at Daylesford, the award-winning organic farm shop in Oxfordshire, Emmanuel s bread won a Soil Association Organic Food Award, with several other bread creations earning the Highly Commended award.
Emmanuel has also published three books (I have the 1st and the 3rd and they are brill):
first book How to Make Bread won a coveted Guild of Food Writers award. second book Making Bread Together - step-by-step recipes for fun and simple breads to make with children third book How to Make Sourdough - 45 recipes for sourdough breads that are good for you as well as being great-tasting. I returned home shattered but with a wealth of knowledge and a basket full of the wonderful sourdoughs we had baked over the course of the weekend. And I couldn't wait to get started. I sent out a Facebook post listing several breads I would have on offer to local people for the following weekend and got some orders! My Sourdough journey had begun. I worked my 4 different doughs throughout the day on Thursday, proved the loaves I had worked on all day overnight in our fridges and baked them off and delivered on Friday morning. It is Sunday evening and I already have orders for next week and haven't even posted next week's bakes on Facebook yet. Now I'm saving up to purchase a Rofco oven so I can bake a bigger quantity in a shorter time and thus be more efficient and I've asked Santa for another fridge for Christmas!!
Andy & Gill Osborne 
