Course description

Have you always wanted to bake your own bread, but weren't sure where to start, or had a loaf come out flat and dense? This course teaches bread baking from the very beginning, by hand, in an ordinary home oven, and explains what is happening at every stage so you know what to look for and how to fix it.

It's a full course, not a few quick recipes. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, each with a practical exercise. You follow a fictional beginner in Arbroath through her first seven months of baking, from a dense first loaf to sourdough and a three-bread bake day for her mum's birthday, with the exact quantities, times and temperatures of every bake, the mistakes she made and how she fixed them. Every section has a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and printable recipe cards or tools.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: what bread is made of, the kit you need, weighing, baker's percentages and safe baking habits.
• Ingredients: flour, yeast, water, salt and extras, and how to read and scale any recipe.
• Your first loaf: mixing, kneading, rising, shaping, proving and baking a white tin loaf.
• Baking skills: shaping round and oval loaves, proving baskets, scoring, steam and baking in a lidded pot.
• Everyday breads: soft rolls, pitta, focaccia, wholemeal and seeded loaves and plaits.
• Slow bread: no-knead bread, using your fridge, poolish and planning bread around your week.
• Sourdough: making and caring for a starter, your first sourdough loaf and fixing common problems.
• Enriched doughs: a milk loaf, cinnamon buns, rich buttery rolls and a spiced fruit loaf.
• Storing and sharing: keeping and freezing bread, using leftovers, working out costs, and allergens and labels when you bake for others.

The final project

You'll plan and bake three breads in one day for an occasion of your own, using one oven and a timetable you work out yourself, then label them and ask for useful feedback. A planner, timetable spreadsheet and feedback sheet are included.

Who this course is for

• Complete beginners who have never baked bread by hand.
• People who have tried a loaf or two and want to understand why they turned out the way they did.
• Anyone who'd like to bake sourdough but wants to learn the basics properly first.

How the course works

Read each lesson, then bake. All you need is an ordinary oven, digital scales, a large bowl and a loaf tin to start; the course explains what to add later and what you can use instead. You keep lifetime access, so you can come back whenever you need a reminder.

What will I learn?

• Weigh ingredients properly and use baker's percentages to understand, check and scale any bread recipe
• Choose the right flour and yeast and control dough temperature and timing
• Mix, knead, rise, shape, prove and bake a reliable white tin loaf
• Shape round and oval loaves, score them, and bake with steam or in a lidded pot
• Bake soft rolls, pitta, focaccia, wholemeal and seeded loaves and plaited bread
• Use no-knead methods, your fridge and pre-ferments to fit bread around your week
• Make and look after a sourdough starter and bake a sourdough loaf
• Bake enriched breads, store and freeze bread well, and label bread safely for people with allergies

Frequently asked questions