This weekend, I’m leading a workshop/demonstration about sourdough bread baking in the shared kitchen of the Bendix Apartments in Manchester. Below are notes for those who attend. Any other bakers out there with suggestions or tips for new bakers, please comment and happy baking.

Tools

Below is a list of all the tools you might want to consider when getting into sourdough baking. The only one I consider required is the scale. For everything else, most typically stocked home kitchens will have something that will work. (All links are provided as examples not necessarily recommendations.)

• Scale (Digital recommended) – I like a scale that can handle up to 5kg, just to ensure it has plenty of capacity for the bowl and dough, even on big loaves.
• Mixing bowl – Any bowl that will fit on your scale and can hold all the ingredients.
• Spoon/Dutch whisk or Mixer – I have a mixer in Seattle. It’s nice, but certainly isn’t necessary. A spoon works great.
• Rising bucket – Not needed but I like it over having the dough rise in the mixing bowl because I find it easier to see how much it’s grown in size. My previous one was a plastic tub headed for recycling
• Banneton or lined bowl – Can purchase from Companio NQ. Besides the scale, this is the best (cheap) piece of kit to get
• Lame or kitchen knife – I use a double edge razor blade with something to hold it
• Bench scraper – Not needed, but often handy for shaping and cutting dough
• Baking tray – I’m currently using a ceramic dish I found at a charity shop but was using a fry pan at first
• Steam device – The baking tray that come in the Bendix flats works great

Ingredients

• Flour – There are lots of options depending on what you want. I like a mix of bread flour and whole wheat flour, sometimes with some rye as well
  • Companio – Wildfarm White Bread
  • Amato – Molino Mari
  • Grocery stores – Dove Farms produces good flour
• Salt – No need to get too fancy, you’re not really going to know the difference
• Starter – I can share or you can start your own from scratch
• Rice flour for dusting – Wing Yip is a very convenient place for this

Recipe, Tips, etc

• My current recipe – Moving to Manchester, leaving my tools behind, and needing to start a new sourdough culture was a challenge, but things are going well now
• Starter care – First, relax. Starter will grow if you just let the ingredients do their own thing. Don’t try to over-complicate it… but if you want complex, this article also goes into some of the science which gets deep fast.
• Precious recipe and technique – This has more photos and demonstrates a more hands-on recipe. I don’t use this style of sourdough anymore, but for some people, it works better.
• Keep experimenting – Try different techniques and recipes. Even if they fail, they’ll probably taste fine. Even the ones that don’t, the pigeons will love.
• Community baking – If you really get into baking, there are all sorts of things you can do to help your community by baking bread.