Saturday-Sunday September 25th-26th 2010

Cost £395         Book a course now

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The birthplace of the Slow Food movement has things to teach us about the role of time in good breadmaking and the distinctive character of regional flours. This course is an introduction to the varied breads that can still be found in a country where baking remains largely regional in character and the work of artisans not machines.

We examine the most famous (to foreigners, at least) of Italy’s breads – ciabatta – and show how its open porous texture depends on successful handling of very wet dough made with surprisingly soft flour. And at the other extreme, we enjoy the wheaty flavour and hearty texture of semolina bread made from durum wheat such as is grown in the Altamura region in the south-east.

At the heart of all good Italian bread, of course, is long fermentation, embodied in the famous biga or yeasted sponge. The course explains how to make your own and then develop it to bring flavour, keeping quality and vitality to all your breads.

‘Many thanks for an inspirational weekend. The course managed to be serious about real food yet good fun at the same time.’