5 Day Sourdough and Artisan Baking in Saleres, Granada

Facilities

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

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

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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.

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

• 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

• Airfare
• Airport transfers

Recommended Airports

• 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.