What Do Sourdough Classes Have to Do With Plastic-Free Gift Wrapping?
New sourdough classes plus a wheat paste recipe you can use to make your own paper tape
If you wanted to attend one of my recent sourdough starter Zoom classes but couldn’t, I have another one coming up on Sunday December 20th. If you can’t make that, watch the video below to learn how to make your own sourdough starter.
Online sourdough starter workshop
Before you can make the bread, you need to start and nurture a lively, active sourdough starter. In this Zoom class, I will show you how to start a starter culture and how to keep it alive. I’ll also give you some ideas for baking with the discard left over from feedings. Bring your questions and I’ll answer as many as I can after the demo.
Date: Sunday, December 20th
Time: 1pm to 2pm Pacific Time
Cost: $0
There are 250 spots available but these tend to go quickly. If you’d like to make a starter along with me and the class, please bring the minimal materials listed here.
Online LIVE sourdough bread workshop
Many have asked and here it is: an online, interactive sourdough bread class.
Years ago I taught myself to make delicious sourdough bread—and didn’t bake a really good loaf for months. If only I had had someone show me how to do it.
I’ll show you how to do it!
In this small online and interactive class, we will make our bread side-by-side, with a maximum of six students. Please register only if you have an active sourdough starter. Find the list of tools and ingredients you’ll need for the class here.
Class schedule
We will meet several times over the weekend on Zoom. On Saturday, while we go offline during the bulk fermentation, I’ll stand by on Zoom, ready to help if you need it. We will also have lots of time during class to discuss your questions. If a student’s dough isn’t ready to shape by 1pm, the two of us can meet later when it is. In other words, be prepared to be as flexible as your elastic bread dough.
Friday 7pm–8pm PT: Soak the flours and make the leaven
Saturday 8am–10am PT: Make the dough and begin the bulk fermentation
Saturday 1pm–2pm PT: Form the loaves
Sunday 8am–10am PT: Bake the loaves!
I’ve added two classes in January. One on the weekend of the 8th and one on the weekend of the 22nd. The cost is $100 per student.
What else can flour and water do? Make wheat paste for wrapping up presents
‘Tis the season for wrapping gifts. Don’t want to use wasteful plastic scotch tape? You can make your own paper tape with wheat paste and, well, paper. Brush the wheat paste onto the paper, wait a couple of minutes, then apply it to your package and smooth it down. Or you can brush wheat paste directly onto wrapping paper to “tape” it closed.
Wheat Paste Recipe
Materials
1 cup water
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Instructions
Add the water to the pot. Over medium-high heat, while slowly adding the flour, whisk the mixture aggressively and continuously. The paste will begin to bubble. Keep whisking. Within a couple of minutes it will thicken.
Remove from heat when the paste has reached the consistency you like. We make ours quite thick. If yours turns out too thick, stir in a tiny bit of water before using it.
Store leftover wheat paste in a clean glass jar in the refrigerator. If it thickens up, thin it out with a small amount of water.
For a longer post on wheat paste, including info on a gluten-free version, go here.
