Baking bread can be mysterious. Diners might be puzzled by how sourdough bread can taste sour, how to achieve a crunchy, crusty exterior paired with a soft, chewy interior, or how to use a starter.
Breadmaking novices and experienced bakers can unravel the mysteries of how it’s done at the Spanish Heritage Sourdough Bread Workshop, offered by bread-baking expert Marea Jenness on Saturday, April 19, at the Presidio San Agustin Tucson, 196 N. Court Avenue.
“It’s really fun to share with people,” she said, “and I think we’re at the time of the year when it’s OK to turn your oven on.”
Essentially, students will learn to make delicious sourdough bread from scratch. The workshop involves creating a sourdough starter using heritage White Sonora Wheat flour milled by a Gilbert mill, along with learning to prepare the dough and bake the perfect loaf. It’s both easier and more challenging than most people think.
“I taught high school science for 20 years so I figured out ways to write recipes and give directions so it works for everybody,” Jenness said. “People make it seem a lot harder than it really is.”
Students complete their loaf at home because this workshop lasts only two hours. They leave with an armful of supplies: a jar of sourdough starter, a loaf of sourdough bread to bake in their kitchen and a recipe for maintaining the sourdough starter. She truly prepares students for success.
Students will learn how to mix sourdough bread properly. This technique differs from the kneading method most of us know. In her classes, students learn a technique called stretch and fold. “We do two stretch and folds in class together so everyone feels comfortable doing it, and then everyone takes their dough home for one more stretch and fold,” she said.
Now everyone has to wait.
“To develop layers of complex flavor, a long, slow fermentation is really good, so (students) put their dough in the refrigerator overnight,” Jenness said. “The next day they gently deflate it and I show them how to form it in different ways and then it rises for two or three hours and then you put it in the oven.”
The waiting pays off, however.
“Everybody gets a really nice loaf of bread with a beautiful crust on it and they learn a lot of the science, the chemistry of breadmaking,” she added.
After 20 years in the classroom, Jenness can’t help but incorporate a science lesson into the workshop.
“I wait to add the salt as the very last ingredient,” Jenness said. “There’s this really cool chemical reaction that happens when you add the salt, and it happens almost immediately. You can see your dough get elastic and smooth when we add the salt. It’s sort of like a big chemistry experiment.”
Spanish Heritage Sourdough Making Workshop
WHEN: 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 19
WHERE: Presidio San Agustin Tucson, 196 N. Court Avenue, Tucson
COST: $60 members, $70 nonmembers
INFO: tucsonpresidio.com, casitacatalina.org
This article appears in Feb 13-20, 2025.
