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Monday 22 December 2014

Sourdough Bread Making Class at E5 Bakehouse



 A few weekends ago me and the mister took ourselves over to London Fields for a sourdough bread masterclass at the E5 Bakehouse. I bought us tickets for Jonathan's birthday, thinking it would be a nice thing to do together, and that with our newly found bread making skills we would never go short of yummy freshly baked bread. (plus this guy freaking LOVES cooking, and I love eating so...)

Neither of us had made sourdough bread before, so there was lots to learn - luckily we had an awesome teacher for the class (which was a bit of a long one, running from 11am till 5pm.) He taught us about different types of sourdough, making our own starter (you use something called a starter instead of yeast, which is what makes this different from regular bread), and a bit about the science behind making bread.


 We made four different types of sourdough in the class (yup, four, we had tote bags full to carry home!) - rye bread, mini ciabatta loaves, bagels, plus the E5 Bakehouse signature bread, the 'Hackney Wild' which is kind of half and half (half white and half rye.) All of them were SO fun to make, and tasted absolutely amazing.


The ethos behind the bakery is what made me want to take our sourdough bread class there - it has grown very organically from a small business making little batches of bread to sell to local homes, the bakery has come a long way, with its own cafe front (which sells the most incredible food guys - seriously, please check it out if you're a Londoner!) and also supplies bread to local cafes and restaurants, as well as running bread making classes.

As part of the course we were served lunch - a yummy pasta bake, plus a ton of different freshly baked breads, and cheeses from Neal's Yard (I still dream about the goats cheese I had there!) Everything they serve at their cafe is organic and sourced locally, just like the ingredients they use for baking their bread. How can you not love a company that is so dedicated to ensuring their products are not only of amazing quality, but are also responsibly and ethically sourced?


Each class is kept relatively small, with a maximum of ten people per session. This meant we were able to ask lots of questions and get one to one help with our dough. It was awesome seeing everyone's bread take shape, going from the raw basic ingredients, to a dough, to a shaped loaf, and then to a finished baked bread.


 All the bread we made was AMAZING (even if I do say so myself!) but my favourite was the bagels - I cannot wait to make more of these for breakfasts. I'm thinking of making care packages for my new studio neighbours with some freshly baked bagels, and a selection of fillings. Cute right?!

 

If you've ever wanted to learn about making bread then I cannot recommend the courses at E5 Bakehouse enough. The staff are so friendly and knowledgeable, and we left feeling confident that we could replicate (or try to at least!) the breads we made in the class. It's not exactly cheap, but for a full day out including lunch, plus all the bread we took home, we thought it was pretty awesome value for your pennies! To book yourself on to one of their classes simply click here (ours was the one day bread making class.)

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