Practical Bread Baking: Sourdough Starter, Mixing, Shaping, and Your First Loaves

Practical bread baking involves rhythm, attention, and patience across many small steps. The bakers who produce reliably beautiful bread share habits of consistent timing, careful technique, and willingness to learn from each bake. This course walks through that practical work. You will work through written exercises that mirror how a thoughtful baker would establish a starter, plan bakes, and develop technique across loaves. The emphasis is on consistency rather than chasing perfect single loaves. What you'll learn: - Establish a sourdough starter and maintain it sustainably alongside daily life - Plan bake timing including starter feeding, mixing, bulk fermentation, shaping, and baking - Apply mixing techniques including autolyse, stretch and fold, and slap and fold - Develop shaping skills for boules and batards with proper tension and structure - Practice scoring patterns that allow proper expansion and produce visual appeal - Manage common challenges including dense crumb, under-proofing, over-proofing, and weak crust The course progresses from starter establishment through bake timing, mixing techniques, shaping, scoring, and common challenges. A capstone written exercise asks you to plan a complete bake from starter feed to cooling rack grounded in your real schedule. This course is designed for committed beginners with basic baking interest and bakers ready for structured practice. The course pairs naturally with hands-on baking, which remains essential. No specific equipment beyond a Dutch oven or baking stone is required for most projects. The course treats bread baking as a craft you can develop through structured practice and respects the patient rhythm that bread requires.