The Sherwood Workshops The Real Crust

Active starter doing her thing

There are three smells that really get me going in the morning, and when combined together make the Holy Trinity of any meal.  They are: aromatic coffee, sizzzzzzzling bacon and most importantly FRESHLY BAKED BREAD – serious droolage.  Lucky for me the ever providing Sherwood recently hosted a workshop with the delightful Ruth Brown from The People’s Bread Co where over the course of three hours we made sourdough, we ate sourdough, and ultimately made some amazing bloomin’ bread.
The Sherwood Workshops The Real Crust

Prep

As an absolute novice in the kitchen and as someone who spends a stupid fortune on artisan breads this course intrigued me.  How hard can it be to throw some flour and water together in a bowl, punch it around a bit and whack it in the oven?  Turns out it’s not hard at all, even a goofball like me can do it.
The Sherwood Workshops The Real Crust

Bloomin bread!

The Sherwood Workshops The Real Crust

Nothing better

The Sherwood Workshops The Real Crust

I made that!

So off I went on one sunny afternoon to spend three hours with a group of incredibly nice strangers to talk all things au pain.  We learnt about the benefits of milled grains, the fermentation process, different types of flour and even had (and took away) a 93-year-old active starter that grew right before our eyes!  And for the more experienced in the group Ruth happily shared all her hot tips on technical equipment and processes.  Personally I would want to keep all these secrets to myself to build my mysterious and lucrative bread empire, but Ruth really is about the people and her community and I wish everyone was like her.
The Sherwood Workshops The Real Crust

Always cake

In the end we walked away with our loaves to bake at home.  As the bread baked in my oven the smell was fantastic, and I ate several slices on their own, buttered, and/or dipped in homemade fennel soup.  Be-geeze it was good.  This bread course really was an eye opener into how easy it is it bake a loaf at home, whatever your bready needs.
Once again The Sherwood delivers an excellent and useful workshop totally in their style of community sharing and healthy eating.  Ruth has said she’ll be back so keep an eye out for her and other equally awesome workshops available at The Sherwood