Sourdough baking at the E5 Bakehouse
Bread, it's one of the most basic of foods, a staple of many cultures with both nourishing and spiritual significance. Having bread means that you will not go hungry and yet, this simple food can turn a sparse meal into a feast. It's a shame then, that so much of the modern bread we see is tasteless, indigestible and treated with disregard. Learning how to make bread properly and successful has long been on my list of things I wanted to achieve especially as I have an expensive artisanal bakery habit and have been known to go several miles out of my way to find a perfect loaf. Proper bread with a decent crust, a satisfying flavour and keeping qualities that mean you are not re-creating Louis Pasteur's lab within a day or two is a thing of beauty and also somewhat of a rarity around these parts.
The E5 Bakehouse in Hackney, East London is a fantastic bakery selling great bread, it's just a shame that this isn't exactly local. They do, however, offer a variety of baking classes so that you can learn the skills required to make your own. A full day's baking includes breakfast, a fabulous lunch and a generous quantity of cake as well as informative tuition, all your ingredients, a tour of their mill and bakery and enough bread to take home to feed you (and many others) for over a week.
After a breakfast of fresh bread, butter and jam with lots of coffee we started with weighing out the ingredients for the breads we were going to make; 66% rye, ciabatta, bagels and the 'Hackney Wild', a country style loaf. Dressed in heavy cotton aprons we worked as a group around a large wooden table each preparing our own doughs, learning the art of mixing and feeling the surprising differences in the textures of the different doughs. Each dough was left to rise between stages whilst we worked on the others and it was hard not to feel seriously hungry as the wafts of baking bread, cakes and other goodies drifted in from the working bakery next to us. With our appetites enhanced by all the wonderful smells, the lunch of onion soup, salads, cheeses and breads was devoured ravenously until we remembered (some would say too late) that the day also included cakes. I'm not sure I've ever eaten quite as much at one sitting but as 'research' I just had to try them all.
After a much needed coffee to re-awaken me from my carb coma, we started baking our proved loaves. First up, the 66% rye loaf, looking prettily rustic with the pattern from the cane banneton (proving basket).
Ciabatta loaves followed, all showing the individuality of the different bakers. Our bagels were poached, then decorated with poppy or sesame seeds before being the last to bake. The Hackney Wild would be baked at home.
We were also given some excellent tips on how to bake bread using a domestic oven with a really great practical example using a Dutch oven. Armed with information on how to care for our sourdough 'mother' (and make our own), and instructions for transporting our still proving Hackney Wild we packed away our still warm loaves, full of enthusiasm for baking bread and belts loosened.
So what did I do after a whole day's baking? Well, I baked my Hackney Wild at home after another day of proving in the fridge, using the recommended Dutch oven method (which works really well) and since then I have been eating a lot of bread (I have Dutch genes so not a problem). Bread and cheese, toasted bagel breakfasts, ciabatta with a hearty sausage and bean stew and tonight, ribollita, served on garlic rubbed sourdough toast with a drizzle of olive oil. There is still plenty left too, anyone fancy some toast?
The E5 Bakehouse in Hackney, East London is a fantastic bakery selling great bread, it's just a shame that this isn't exactly local. They do, however, offer a variety of baking classes so that you can learn the skills required to make your own. A full day's baking includes breakfast, a fabulous lunch and a generous quantity of cake as well as informative tuition, all your ingredients, a tour of their mill and bakery and enough bread to take home to feed you (and many others) for over a week.
After a breakfast of fresh bread, butter and jam with lots of coffee we started with weighing out the ingredients for the breads we were going to make; 66% rye, ciabatta, bagels and the 'Hackney Wild', a country style loaf. Dressed in heavy cotton aprons we worked as a group around a large wooden table each preparing our own doughs, learning the art of mixing and feeling the surprising differences in the textures of the different doughs. Each dough was left to rise between stages whilst we worked on the others and it was hard not to feel seriously hungry as the wafts of baking bread, cakes and other goodies drifted in from the working bakery next to us. With our appetites enhanced by all the wonderful smells, the lunch of onion soup, salads, cheeses and breads was devoured ravenously until we remembered (some would say too late) that the day also included cakes. I'm not sure I've ever eaten quite as much at one sitting but as 'research' I just had to try them all.
After a much needed coffee to re-awaken me from my carb coma, we started baking our proved loaves. First up, the 66% rye loaf, looking prettily rustic with the pattern from the cane banneton (proving basket).
Ciabatta loaves followed, all showing the individuality of the different bakers. Our bagels were poached, then decorated with poppy or sesame seeds before being the last to bake. The Hackney Wild would be baked at home.
So what did I do after a whole day's baking? Well, I baked my Hackney Wild at home after another day of proving in the fridge, using the recommended Dutch oven method (which works really well) and since then I have been eating a lot of bread (I have Dutch genes so not a problem). Bread and cheese, toasted bagel breakfasts, ciabatta with a hearty sausage and bean stew and tonight, ribollita, served on garlic rubbed sourdough toast with a drizzle of olive oil. There is still plenty left too, anyone fancy some toast?
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