Professional Baking - 3 Week

Professional Baking

Master artisan baking on our professional bread baking course with Kevan Roberts.

This course is designed for those wanting to bake bread to professional standards. Whether you’re an existing baker or chef looking to enhance your skills, an aspiring artisan food business owner in need of further experience and inspiration or an advanced home baker wanting to move on to the next level, this intensive course is designed for you.

Over three-weeks, and under Kevan's expert guidance, you will gain the skills, knowledge and confidence needed to master a comprehensive range of traditional and contemporary bread baking techniques and industry processes.

Hosted in the School’s bakery training facility, using professional equipment, you will work in teams through four structured modules. The course is delivered over three weeks, running from Monday to Friday. Students will be given hands-on experience of every stage of the artisan baking process and will be supported by Kevan and a technician at all times. The course may cover the following topics:

• Professional recipes and formulas
• Baker's math
• Basic raw materials and secondary raw materials
• Flour classification and wheat groups
• Production planning
• Practical bread fault analysis and troubleshooting
• Calculation for Final Dough Temperature
• Yeasted pre-ferments and naturally levained pre-ferments
• Creating and maintaining a sourdough culture
• Handling wet or super-hydrated doughs
• Overnight and long fermented breads
• Dough inclusions
• Professional large batch mixing methods, including double hydrated dough and the autolyse technique
• Practical and theoretical overview of the bread making process includes: bulk fermentation and folding, hand shaping and moulding, dividing and scaling, razor blade techniques for scoring
• Advanced decorative breads and shaping techniques
• Bread stencil techniques
• Electric deck oven management
• Wood-fired pizza oven management

Module One

You’ll be baking a range of artisan breads and flatbreads with yeast and yeasted pre-ferments. There will be a series of test bakes to explore the functionality and role of raw materials in the baking process. You’ll produce breads such as:

• Ciabatta 
• Focaccia
• Traditional baguettes 
• Wood-fired pizzas

Module Two

You’ll be focusing on 100% sourdough baking. An in-depth focus on a range of light to wholesome rye breads and wheat sourdough breads, such as:

• Wheat Sourdoughs
• Country sourdoughs
• A variety of flavoured sourdoughs
• Rye sourdough
• Tourte au Seigle
• New York deli rye
• Vollkornbrot
• Seeded sourdoughs

Module Three

You’ll explore the fascinating topic of ancient and sprouted grains, gaining detailed insight into the many different varieties and their nutritional benefits. You’ll produce breads such as:

• Sprouted wheat sourdough
• Sprouted rye sourdough
• Grain breads
• Ancient grain
• Khorosan
• White spelt
• Wholewheat spelt
• Population wheat loaves

Module Four

This final module focuses on producing decorative bread and baguettes, using advanced shaping techniques and stencilling.

Entry Requirements

Though there are no specific entry requirements to join this course, you will need some previous bread making experience.

All equipment and ingredients are provided by the School and refreshments and an informal light lunch will be provided each day.

Course Fees

The course fee can be paid in instalments but must be paid in full 21 days before the start of the course. Please note a 25% non-refundable deposit is required at the time of booking.

The School of Artisan Food makes a conscious effort to reduce waste and packaging. Students are encouraged to bring their own containers to transport their food home.