Andy Tyrrell
Sourdough and Wild Yeast Baking
- Regular price
- £150.00
- Sale price
- £150.00
- Regular price
Tax included.
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River Cottage baker Andy Tyrrell teaches you the art of making sourdough bread with wild yeast. You'll be creating a starter and baking your own sourdough bread as you learn.
Choose Expert option for personal feedback from Andy on your sourdough bakes.
Wild yeast is all around us, the joy of foraging into flour and water to create your natural starter can be a life-long journey. Looked after correctly, your sourdough starter will provide you with the fantastic reward of your own sourdough makes for years to come.
Sourdough is bread with immense character, with presence – bread with a point. A sourdough loaf is so different from what often passes as bread these days. It is the antithesis of the industrial factory loaf – that soft, structureless, flavour-lite bread that is produced in such huge quantities.
This sourdough bread making course offers a superb introduction to the magical world of sourdough and its versatility. Learn all about using natural yeasts and levans to make deliciously flavoursome country loaves, pizzas, baguettes and brioche.
You'll learn
- how to gather your own wild yeast and create a sourdough starter
- which flour to use
- kneading and proving techniques
- recipes for sourdough bread, bread rolls, pizza and brioche
- how to increase the variety and healthiness of your bread making with additional wholegrains, seeds and nuts
The course includes:
- 4 on-demand video lessons - presented by Andy Tyrrell
- lifetime access to the video, notes and recipes and interactive class
- flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
- downloadable lesson notes
- practical (optional) sourdough making assignments
- access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
- small interactive online classroom chat online to students from around the world
Time to complete the sourdough bread making course:
Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 13 hours 5 minutes to complete including:
- Video lesson: 2 hours 5 minutes in total
- Course notes: 15 minutes per lesson
- Assignment: at least 2 hours per lesson
- Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
- Tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson
Note the sourdough starter takes several days to develop, and proving your dough takes several hours (and can often be done overnight). But it will be worth it when you taste your soughdough makes!
You'll need:
All the ingredients are in the course notes, but at first you'll be creating your starter using flour and water. You will need a loaf tin and a dough scraper is helpful.
This course has been approved by the Independent Cookery Schools Association (ICSA), recognising the highest standards of training.
Ready to get started?
Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Andy on your starter and sourdough baking.
Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the orange speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.
Lessons
What You’ll Learn
Explore the lessons and topics covered across the course.
Creating your starter, is where the whole process begins. It is really just a flour-and-water batter. Well, perhaps not "just". Because it will also contain, invisibly but crucially, the spores of wild, airborne yeasts – the ones that happen to be native to your own kitchen. These will begin to feed and multiply and, as they do so, all sorts of interesting things are produced: bubbles of gas, flavoursome alcohol and the acids that give sourdough its characteristic, slightly tangy taste.
During this lesson you’ll be shown how to make your starter, and we’ll do them together to make sure you get your timings right, then you’re ready for off! We will show you a simple loaf to bake as your first and give plenty of ideas of what can be made from the excess ‘discarded’ starter.
In this class you’ll follow the natural process of allowing the dough to develop slowly. You’ll learn about folding the dough and master the method of making country sourdough which can incorporate different flours and varying levels of hydration to suit your taste and skill. These are the lovely rustic loaves that we often think of as ‘sourdough’ and this method is what you need to get you started.
In this lesson you’ll learn two very adaptable recipes. First a hybrid dough where we include a tiny pinch of yeast that helps us to create baguettes, focaccia, pain rustique and pizzas. For the second recipe we’ll make a complexly naturally-leavened brioche dough that we’ll turn into a classic loaf and a chocolate, almond babka. A great way to extend your repertoire.
Natural fermentation is the key to unlocking the natural goodness found within the grains we use in baking. When we use more wholegrains you’ll also create the most delicious bread. We’ll look at how to increase the wholegrains in your sourdough, incorporate them successfully and ways to make them more digestible. We’ll use a variation of the country loaf technique that will ensure success. We will also be focusing on a delicious Danish Rye using ale and malted grains, that will be welcome in any kitchen.
Learning options
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Expert
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A guided learning experience with expert support, feedback and recognised outcomes.
Peer
£95.00
Learn alongside others with a collaborative, flexible learning experience.
COURSE TUTOR
Andy Tyrrell
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Common Questions
Answers to the most common questions about learning with us.
Our online classroom is designed to help you learn from experts in a collaborative, social environment alongside a small group of learners.
Each lesson combines expert-led videos with optional assignments, giving you the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned and share your work with others. You can take part in ongoing discussions, ask questions, exchange feedback, and learn from a community of like-minded people from around the world.
By learning together in a small, supportive group, you benefit not only from expert guidance but also from shared ideas, perspectives, and experiences—helping you stay engaged and retain what you learn.
You can start your course at any time within 12 months of purchase. Once you begin, you’ll have lifetime access, so you can revisit lesson videos and notes whenever you like.
Courses are designed to fit around your schedule, allowing you to learn at your own pace. Each lesson video is typically 30–40 minutes, and we recommend around an hour for each assignment.
Both Peer and Expert options give you full access to the course content, including lesson videos, downloadable notes, assignments, and a collaborative online classroom with up to 20 learners. You’ll also have lifetime access to revisit the material at any time.
The Expert option includes everything in Peer, plus personalised assignment feedback, direct messaging with your expert tutor, and a certificate of completion.
With the Expert option, you can interact directly with your tutor throughout the course. You’ll typically have one week per lesson to ask questions and receive feedback on your assignments, with as much interaction as you need during that time.
Your tutor access begins when you enter the classroom and follows the course schedule (for example, a four-lesson course usually runs over four weeks). If you need more time or support, our team is here to help.
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