On one of the hottest days of the year, I was taken along to a one day bread making course in London Fields, situated in three disused railway arches under the overground railway. The course was at the E5 BAKEHOUSE who have been going since 2011. The course had been given to me as a birthday gift back in April.
Will (the guy above taking the bagels out of the oven) was our tutor for the day and took us through the whole process of working with sourdough. From making a leaven, starter, kneading dough, to some fantastic tips of how to bake a good loaf at home without a proper 'bread' oven.
There were ten of us on the course, some local and some who'd travelled from further field. After a cup of coffee and some delicious fruit buns, we were set up with our aprons and team mates ready for the four breads we were to make.
Hackney Wild (just prepped the dough, so could be baked at home)
Sourdough Bagels
Rye
Ciabatta
There are two kitchens at the back of E5 Bakehouse, so that whilst the courses take place the actual bakery can continue with creating the never ending supply of delicious loaves.
Half way through the day we were given a quick tour of the main working kitchen. WOW the speed in which these guys work is impressive! See the quick little video below that I managed to capture on my phone (hope the video works ok). We were all in awe of the speed and preciseness of the bakers.
We were then taken to the third and most recent arch, that holds the grain store. This is newest addition to the bakery and is currently a working progress. The plan is to mill 'heritage' gains and create their own batches of flours.
It was fascinating to hear how the old 'heritage' grains have nearly but all disappeared due to preference of fast growing but less nutritious wheats. Their aim is to source the small growers of these more nutritious wheat growers which are notoriously harder to grow.
After our insightful tour we went back to our kitchen where a delicious lunch of salads, soups and breads had been set out for us.
At the end of the day Ben and I walked out with 7 loaves, 2 prepped doughs and 8 bagels! good thing we took a couple of massive sacks with us to carry it all home in.
Fortunately we'd previously contacted a few local friends to pop over that evening to try out our creations!
You probably noted that we also took home two balls of proving dough, to bake at home. You'd think that these wouldn't have come out as well as the loaves cooked in the professional bread ovens.. well you guessed wrong! Will, gave us one of the best tips ever for creating a superb loaf (if not better than in a professional bakers oven) and that is to bake the loaf in a large Le Creuset casserole dish. The trick is to heat the empty casserole dish and lid in the oven, until the oven is up too temp (Depending on the loaf and oven, we did it at 220c) Once up to temp carefully take the dish out of the oven and place the proving dough into the dish replacing the lid.
By baking the bread inside the dish, means the outside crust won't dry out and will keep in the moisture and allow the loaf to rise more than if it was baked directly in the oven.
I can't recommend the course enough and look forward to creating a new leaven for my very on sourdough soon! All in all a superb birthday present which I shall enjoy again and again.
395, Mentmore Terrace, London E8 3PH, United Kingdom
Breakfast, brunch or lunch.
7am until around 7pm every day of the week.
Serving lunch between 12 and 3pm.
www.e5bakehouse.com
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