“Come and uncover the secrets of sourdough!”
5 Day Sourdough and Artisan Baking in Saleres, Granada
Casa Del Mulo, Calle Tapon 1, Saleres, Granada, Spain
Wonderful Artisan Baking Course Spain
It has long been known that natural leavening, using a long, slow fermentation, results in exceptional flavor. The public is becoming increasingly aware of the health issues of factory-produced bread and, as a result, the sales of artisan bread are steadily increasing. Lara's Loaf Sourdough School teaches people how to succeed at home with minimal equipment, at low cost, and with very little effort using only natural organic ingredients, your hands, and basic kitchen equipment. No stand mixers! No kneading either!
Meet the instructors
Mike & Lydia
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Highlights
- Daily artisan baking classes
- Get to learn from experienced bakers
- Every class is limited to only four students
- Bake Tartine-style country bread, sourdough baguettes, and viennoiserie pastries
- Learn how to make authentic sourdough pizza
- Tools and equipment for baking included
- Daily sumptuous meals and wine
- 4 nights accommodation
Skill level
- Beginner
- Intermediate
- Advanced
Styles
3 days with instruction
Group size: Maximum of 4 participants
Accommodation
Check-in Time:
16:00
Check-out Time:
12:00
Facilities
- Barbeque facilities
- Dining area
- Fireplace
- Kitchen
- Lounge
- Luggage room / storage
- Terrace
- Free Wi-Fi
- Ironing / ironing board
- Laundry
- Wireless internet
During this course, you will stay at Casa del Mulo which is a pretty, traditional Andalusian, whitewashed, townhouse located close to the church car park overlooking the picturesque pueblo of Saleres in the Lecrin Valley with views of the often-snowcapped Sierra Nevada as a wonderful backdrop.
They have three comfortable guest bedrooms, two of which have en-suite bathrooms. There are two pretty patios at ground level and two delightful roof terraces (one is for dining and barbecues) with spectacular views.
Program
Lara's Loaf Sourdough School's top-quality sourdough bread requires very little effort. It does need plenty of skill though and arguably a bit lot of love too!
They simplify artisan baking for you and drastically shorten the steep learning curve. You will create wonderful products from scratch, developing a real feel for the ingredients, the dough at different fermentation, temperature, and hydration levels, shaping techniques, and the final bake.
With classes of between one and four students, the school is able to provide a highly personalized experience, tailoring their approach to you and your own level of aptitude and experience. Each student gets a high level of attention and support.
The objective of the course is for you to learn some core skills which are essential to artisan baking and to perfect them to a very high level of proficiency, including:
- Baking with a natural sourdough "mother"
- Retarded fermentation, the key to artisan baking
- Managing dough with a high water content
- Laminating dough with butter to make a wide range of pastries
Throughout the course, you will be creating baked products from scratch. This is a hands-on course with a mission - to make you an accomplished artisan baker - so there will be lots of one-on-one coaching, with a focus on “practice makes perfect” until you are confident
Sunday
- Arrival
- Welcome drinks
- Discuss the history of baking from the time of the Pharaohs
- Developments to the present day
- Introduction to the advantages of artisan baking, natural leavening, and retarded fermentation
- The health benefits of sourdough
Monday
- Breakfast 08:30
- Hand out recipes, notebooks, aprons
- Briefing on safety and hygiene
- Preparing a sourdough culture (“mother”)
- Refreshing an existing mother
- Preparing and growing a starter (first stage fermentation)
- Bake some prepared bread to eat with lunch
- Lunch at 13:30
- Mixing flour, water, and starter to form dough
- Autolyse (hydrate) then add salt
- Stretch and fold the dough six times during the second fermentation
- Prepare bannetons (baskets for individual loaves)
- Weigh, cut, and shape the dough
- Place in bannetons for overnight final fermentation in the fridge
- Mix pastry dough, wrap, and overnight in the fridge
- Drinks and dinner
Tuesday
- Breakfast at 08:30
- Learn how to make authentic sourdough pizza (which will be served for lunch)
- Lunch at 13:30
- Remove sourdough from bannetons
- Learn different scoring techniques
- Bake bread, using a Rofco stone bread oven and a standard enameled dutch oven (Le Creuset)
- Lunch at 13:30
- Prepare sourdough for Wednesday’s baguettes, refrigerate
- Prepare butter for pastry lamination
- Laminate pastry for overnight second fermentation
- Drinks and dinner
Wednesday
- Breakfast at 08:30
- Prepare starter and dough for afternoon’s high hydration bread practice
- Prepare laminated dough pastries, including classic French croissants, pains aux raisins, and pains au chocolat
- Prove pastries, then bake in the convection oven
- Lunch at 13:30
- Cut baguette dough, shape, prove baguettes in a baker’s couche, score, then bake
- Practice high-hydration loaf shaping - the most difficult challenge!
- Discuss making schedules and timetables that work well, fitting in with your busy day and to allow for a good nights sleep
- Cover suggestions and recipes ideally suited for sourdough
- Learn how best to store bread
- Discuss different types of flour, where to buy, and how to store
- The tools and equipment needed and where to source them
- Acquire lots of tips and tricks you won't learn from books or YouTube
- Debunk common myths and misconceptions about bread and sourdough
- Dinner
Thursday
- Breakfast at 08:30
- Bake high-hydration bread to take with you and sourdough starter
- Check out by 12:00
Instructors
Mike Sims
Mike is a retired Chartered Accountant from England, and has held senior directorships of many companies, including finance, renewable energy, and food. He fell in love with sourdough bread in the early 1980's during the first of many trips to San Francisco, and spent many years experimenting with bread recipes from different countries before discovering the "Tartine" recipe which, ironically, was created in San Francisco!
Lydia Sims
Mike's wife, Lydia, hails from Nigeria and is multi-talented and very resourceful. She has an excellent command of English. She specializes in cakes and pastries but considers her baguettes to be better than Mike's.
Location
This course will take place in Saleres, Spain. Saleres is located midway between Granada and the Costa Tropical, close to the Alpujarras and Sierra Nevada Mountains. Saleres is considered the most authentic of the whitewashed hillside pueblos in the Valle de Lecrin. Its layout has not changed since it was last occupied by the Moors at the end of the 15th century.
There is a remarkable sense of peacefulness and tranquility here as if time has stood still. No noise from traffic or aircraft, just birdsong and the occasional religious fiesta with music and fireworks. It is a wonderful place to stroll around or from which to venture through the surrounding groves of citrus, almond, and olives or along the footpath by the river. Andalucia's 1,250 kilometre GR7 footpath passes directly through Saleres - it offers spectacular views.
Nearby places
- Almería International Airport (LEI), 1 hour 45 minutes
- Federico Garcia Lorca Airport (GRX), 45 minutes
- Málaga Airport (AGP), 1.5 hours
Features
Activities
- Cooking classes
General
- Dining area
- Kitchen
- Terrace
- Patio
Food
Every day during this course, you will be served with cooked or continental breakfast, lunch as well as dinner with wine. Lara's Loaf Sourdough School prepares a wide variety of delicious meals and snacks for their guests, not tied to any particular country or region. They are well accustomed to catering for guests with allergies and food intolerances and will endeavor to accommodate reasonable dietary requests. You are welcome to join them in the main kitchen if you want to observe them or participate in preparing any of the dishes.
The following meals are included:
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Snacks
- Drinks
The following drinks are included:
- Water
- Coffee
- Tea
- Alcoholic beverages
The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:
- Regular (typically includes meat and fish)
If you have special dietary requirements it's a good idea to communicate it to the organiser when making a reservation
Things to do (optional)
In the Lecrin Valley you can:
- Hike - Andalucia's 1,250-kilometer GR7 footpath passes directly through Saleres - it offers spectacular views of the Lecrin Valley and surrounding mountains
- Bike
- Horse ride
- Explore the orange, lemon, almond, and olive groves and the Barranco de Luna Gorge in Saleres
The following attractions are within a 30-minute drive:
- Granada, with the historic and beautiful Alhambra and Albayzín
- The Alpujarra, thermal spas, and picturesque mountain villages like Capileira, Pampaneira, and Trevelez
- The Sierra Nevada, the second highest mountain range in Western Europe, with Europe's most southerly ski resort at Pico Veleta (45 minutes by car)
- The Costa Tropical, where the Sierra Nevada stretches down to uncrowded beaches and produces a remarkably mild, year-round, sub-tropical climate
What's included
- Baking classes
- Cooked or continental breakfast
- Lunch
- Dinner with wine
- Snacks and refreshments
- Aprons
- Tools and equipment for baking
- Recipes - on arrival
- Some sourdough starter and flour to take away
- Aftercare, follow-up help and advice by phone or WhatsApp
- 4 nights accommodation
What's not included
- Airfare
- Airport transfers
How to get there
Recommended Airports
GRX
Federico García Lorca Airport (Granada Jaén Airport)
32 km
Transfer not provided
AGP
Málaga Airport
85 km
Transfer not provided
Driving directions from Federico Garcia Lorca Airport (GRX)
- From Granada airport, follow signs to Granada then take the A44 motorway signposted Motril.
- Take exit 160 signposted Lecrin, then follow the signs to Saleres, which should take approximately 15 minutes.
- As you enter the village, bear right then park by the church fountain.
- Walk up Calle Rosario passing three houses until you reach Calle Tapon on the right.
- Casa del Mulo is on the corner ahead of you, where the two streets meet. The journey time is approximately 40 minutes.
Driving directions from Málaga Airport (AGP)
- If coming from Málaga airport, follow the signs posted Almeria / Motril (caution - make sure to ignore the signs to Granada!).
- Then follow the coast motorway N-340 and exit on to the A44 signposted Granada.
- Take exit 160 signposted Lecrin, the follow the signs to Saleres, which should take approximately 15 minutes.
- As you enter the village, bear right then park by the church fountain.
- Walk up Calle Rosario passing three houses until you reach Calle Tapon on the right.
- Casa del Mulo is on the corner ahead of you, where the two streets meet. The journey time is approximately 1 hour 30 minutes.
Arrival by airplane
The main access routes for coming on this sourdough baking holiday in Saleres would be international flights to Malaga (AGP) or Madrid (MAD):
- From Madrid, either fly to Granada or take the new fast train to Granada
- From Malaga, either drive to Saleres (1.5 hours) or take the express “autobus” to Granada, and then go to Saleres by bus or taxi
Granada airport (GRX) is very small. Some international flights do land there e.g. from London City airport, but mostly in the high season. This airport is approximately a 45 minutes drive from Saleres.
There is no doubt having a car will be very useful, and it multiplies your options for sightseeing Rentals are plentiful and cheap and the roads from Malaga and Granada airports are very easy to navigate
But a car is by no means a necessity!
Most, but not all, single guests take the autobus on arrival. These buses are well equipped, comfortable and cheap and they will deliver you to Granada Central Estación de Autobuses in very good time. At Malaga, you can board your bus inside the airport terminal. At Granada airport, the bus actually waits for your plane to land!
The only snag is that buses do not run between Granada and Saleres on Sundays, so a taxi becomes necessary
Lara's Loaf Sourdough School offers to collect guests from the bus station on Sunday for a fixed fee of 30 EUR per person, one way (or from Granada airport for 45 EUR)
Other alternatives, to be agreed in advance, are for them to pick up one or more guests from Malaga airport for a fee of 100 EUR (85 EUR for the return). This saves time and can be very convenient when, for example, flight arrival times are either very early or very late.
The car, which is always used, is a 2019 Ford C-Max MPV.
Cancellation Policy
- A reservation requires a deposit of 20% of the total price.
- The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
- The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.
For this organizer you can guarantee your booking through BookCulinaryVacations.com. All major credit cards supported.
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