Another great sourdough workshop

We held our second last Simple Living Toowoomba workshop for the year today and once again Chris from Gully Grove presented a very interesting and informative sourdough workshop. Chris made her Honey and Sunflower Loaf which featured in a recent blog post.

Heavy rain was predicted for today but that didn't seem to deter anyone and the workshop was well attended despite the damp conditions.  As usual Chris was very organised and had already been up early to cook a very delicious loaf for us all to sample.

Then she set to explaining the process of feeding the starter and how to know when it was ready to use....

...as she had been feeding her starter, Griffin, for a couple of days prior to the workshop so that those who wanted to could take a bottle of it home to cook their own loaf. Despite the cold day, Griffin looked very happy and was bubbling away.

Chris then added her flour etc. to the starter and started kneading until the dough was ready to form into a ball and be put aside to rise. 

Then the dough was shaped and put into a warm oven for an hour to rise for the second time. When ready it came out of the oven, the scoring was done, the oven was turned on again and the loaf went back in to bake...

...and voila! We had a fresh from the oven loaf to share around. This was the first cooking workshop we have had in the new venue so nobody was sure what the oven was like but Chris did a great job. 

She has a full tutorial of how she makes her sourdough on her blog in the post 'The' Sourdough Tutorial so do check it out if you are keen to make a loaf. I daresay Chris will be doing a sourdough post in the near future so keep an eye on her blog so you don't miss it. 

I know a lot of people are gluten intolerant these days and if you would still like to make sourdough then check out The Art of Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking and there is also a free eBook available too Gluten-Free Sourdough Baking. If you look on that page there are other free eBooks for download as well on fermentation and cheesemaking as well as another one on sourdough. If you are keen on cooking muffins, focaccia, waffles etc. there are 145 Sourdough Recipes to tempt you as well as those on King Arthur Flour. 

So give it a go if you are thinking of making your first loaf. Mine was like a frisbee as it was like a rock but with a bit of practice, I am now quite happy with the loaves I make each week. 

I always make two loaves and Chris has instructions on her blog on how to do this. Just scroll down towards the end of the post.

Our last Simple Living Toowoomba workshop for 2017 will be held next month and I think the date will be the 18th November. Racheal will be showing us how to make seasoned salt for gifts, Margy and Margaret will be demonstrating how to gift wrap in different ways as Margaret is quite familiar with  Furoshiki. Margaret will also be selling some dishcloths, Racheal from Birdsong Market Garden will have some items to sell as well as Shiralee from  A Peaceful Homemaker. So if you live in our region and would like to come along just contact Margy by filling out the Contact and Booking Form and she will put you on the email list so that you are notified of upcoming workshops. 

I know some of my overseas readers would love to come along to our workshops but perhaps you could start a group up where you live. Sometimes if there is a workshop on in your area, such as a cheesemaking or breadmaking one, you might meet other like minded people there who would be happy to meet up regularly even if it is in someone's home to start off with. If you haven't read how ours started up it is explained in the post How to Start Up a Simple Living Group.

Have a great weekend everyone!