Know Your Dough

In-depth insights on how to bake your best breads ever!

What you'll learn
Understand your dough and develop your baking judgement
Get recipes and techniques for handling a variety of dough types: wet / dry / heritage / lean / enriched / fancy etc.
Judge different stages of fermentation more accurately.
Control the variables, including gluten development, time, temperature and hydration
Retard the dough to make baking fit your schedule.
Analyse your baked breads and learn from what they tell you.
Requirements
Most bakers will already have a basic range of equipment, but the list of what we use on the course is given here:
Digital scales, or measuring cups. Probe thermometer Jug Mixing bowl (which will fit in your fridge) Plastic scrapers Sharp lame, grignette or craft blade for scoring dough A couple of metal baking trays and a loaf tin A couple of bannetons or proving baskets. A clean dish brush (or similar) for brushing out bannetons A silicone spatula A flour shaker A couple of clean shower hats A plant sprayer for misting dough with water .
Instructions for making a wild yeast leaven (sourdough starter) are given in the course.
Description
Ever wish you knew what was REALLY going on with your bread?Are you unsure WHEN to move to the next step in rising/proving/baking?Do you know WHY kneading, folding & shaping are so important, or HOW to apply these techniques to best effect?Do you want to LEARN how to build and maintain better structure in your dough?Are you frustrated when your bread doesn’t turn out like the photo in the recipe? Or would you simply like to move on from baking BRICKS?!Look no further.Know Your Dough is designed to remove those mysteries, leaving you with the clarity you need to happily pursue your baking goals.If you’ve already got the baking bug, you’ll know that dough is a living thing that sometimes seems to have a mind of its own. Whilst not claiming to be able to read the ‘minds’ of a squillion yeasts, we have produced this course to give you the equivalent of x-ray 'dough goggles' – i.e. penetrating insights into the structure, the texture, the temperament and the behaviour of your dough.Because, once you understand your dough, making outstanding bread will be easier than you ever thought possible!Like baking itself, this course is: a blend of art and science a careful balance of theory and practice The emphasis is on video demonstration and not too much reading.PART ONE – BECOMING A BETTER JUDGEIn the first part, we show you how to ask and answer the questions that mark each of the Four Stages of the Dough, from first mix to baked item. Your ability to answer these questions is what defines your progress as a baker. As your judgement of each stage improves, so will your baking results.You will learn how to handle the different modes of the dough; what it means when the dough is tightened, or when it is relaxed, or what difference it makes whether the dough is warm or cold, old or young, drier or wetter.As the course unfolds, you will learn more about fermentation, including how to make, manage and troubleshoot a sourdough culture. You’ll discover how to use the relationship between temperature and time to build a baking schedule that's super convenient for you.In our Bakers Toolbox, you’ll find a whole reference section on the use and impacts of various baking techniques. This is where you can build your repertoire of skills, and your grasp of baking theory, with the how’s, why’s and when’s for every technique. You can digest this in one sitting, or refer back to it as you need.PART TWO – THE MASTERCLASSESTo accelerate your development as a baker, we use the middle section of the course to deliver 10 different recipe-masterclasses, each carefully selected to highlight a specific technique and a particular aspect of dough and gluten development.• The Daily Bread - white, yeasted or sourdough• Brown – yeasted or sourdough• Heritage Brown – autolysed sourdough• Heritage Seeded - yeasted & sourdough• Sourdough Rye• Cheese, Chilli & Garlic (yeasted & sourdough)• Brioche Burger Buns - yeasted• Ciabatta – sourdough• Focaccia - yeasted• Pizza – yeasted and sourdoughPART THREE - DOUGHOLOGYWith all that masterclass experience behind you (or before you, if you prefer to do this section first), you will be ready to delve into 'Doughology' – further insights into fermentation, time, temperature and retardation. This section will help you push forward in your experiments.Finally, you’ll learn how to read your baked bread - which tells you more than you might imagine about your progress. We’ll show you how to record your observations and get the most from your analysis.At The Artisan Bakery School, we (Dragan & Penny) have been demystifying dough for over a decade. We want you to love baking bread, so instead of just teaching you recipes, or baffling you with bakers voodoo, we teach you essential baking principles and techniques. That way, you can troubleshoot problems, be creative with more confidence, and measure your own independent progress from amateur to amazing.5-Star Reviews for Know Your Dough:What an amazing course. I'm a professional baker/pastry chef and this made me understand in depth what is happening with our dough, all the things forming and growing. Thank you!Lara MeloHere are a few of our favourite 5 star testimonials from our other courses:This is a fantastic course. The photography, detail, and explanations are superb. All the important information comes together that will help anyone become a better bread baker. Many thanks to Dragan and Penny for sharing their knowledge to provide such outstanding instruction. I really loved the Masterclasses section and the video showing how to read finished bread and dough. Lance PawlikowskiI gave five stars because the genuine enthusiasm of Penny and Dragan is so infectious, and all the various aspects are explained and demonstrated in such an easy to follow manner. I felt drawn in and couldn't wait to get a starter going. I'm looking forward to the time when I have rocked & rolled & chafed and, hopefully, ended up with a lovely smooth ball of dough - like the one that Dragan cradled in his hands so affectionately. Looks a little like play dough for grown-ups. George.E. MorleyPenny and Dragan removed the mystique surrounding sourdough and made it very "do-able." Really love the FAB recipe! Bobby Ollar…The bonus too is they show the stages of dough development clearly and this was something I struggled to understand before this course. They keep it simple as bread baking should be. I'm really looking forward to more courses. Julia BileckiDragan and Penny! Thank you for putting together such an awesome course. Incredible support, you know what you are talking about. Very insightful course. I really learned a lot, all of the additional advice/tips very helpful and useful. All the best for you. Marcelo AriattiThe videos are priceless!  AdenWhy not check out the promo video and the free lectures for yourself?Remember, if all you need are recipes, there are plenty out there to choose from.If you want to REALLY know what you're doing with your dough - start here!

Overview

Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Welcome and Introduction.

Lecture 2 What Kind of Baker Are You?

Lecture 3 Your Artisan Baking Goals

Section 2: The Four Stages of the Dough

Lecture 4 The Four Stages of the Dough

Lecture 5 1st Stage of the Dough

Lecture 6 "Is the Dough Wet Enough?"

Lecture 7 2nd Stage of the Dough

Lecture 8 "Is the Dough Ready for Shaping?"

Lecture 9 3rd Stage of the Dough

Lecture 10 "Is the Dough Ready for Baking?"

Lecture 11 4th Stage of the Dough

Lecture 12 "Is the Bread Properly Baked?"

Section 3: The Seven Simple Steps Method

Lecture 13 The Seven Steps

Section 4: Modes of the Dough

Lecture 14 Two Major Modes of the Dough

Lecture 15 Modes

Lecture 16 Gluten Development Overview

Section 5: Know Your Sourdough

Lecture 17 What IS Sourdough and Why Is It So Good For You?

Lecture 18 Making & Managing Your Sourdough Culture

Lecture 19 Making a Wild Yeast Starter

Lecture 20 Making a Sourdough Leaven from Your Starter

Lecture 21 Troubleshooting Starters

Section 6: Ingredients

Lecture 22 Flour Power

Lecture 23 Water, Salt & Yeast

Lecture 24 Bakers Percentages

Section 7: The Bakers Toolbox: Key Techniques

Lecture 25 Techniques

Lecture 26 Let's Rock & Roll!

Lecture 27 Rock & Rolling

Lecture 28 Folding

Lecture 29 Folding: How, When & Why?

Lecture 30 Autolysing

Lecture 31 What IS Autolysing?

Lecture 32 Tucking

Lecture 33 Pre-shaping

Lecture 34 Tucking & Pre-shaping

Lecture 35 Shaping How's and Why's

Lecture 36 Shaping for Boule & Batard

Lecture 37 Shaping Baguettes

Lecture 38 Scoring How's and Why's

Lecture 39 Different Designs for Scoring

Lecture 40 Decorating

Lecture 41 The Olive Tree Bread Recipe

Lecture 42 Harvest Wheat Sheaf

Lecture 43 Harvest Wheat Sheaf Recipe

Section 8: The Masterclasses

Lecture 44 Yeasted or Sourdough?

Lecture 45 The Daily Bread: sourdough or yeasted, long fermentation in the fridge.

Lecture 46 Yeasted Brown

Lecture 47 Daily Heritage Brown Bread

Lecture 48 Dragan's Heritage Seeded Bread

Lecture 49 Sourdough Rye Bread

Lecture 50 Cheese & Chilli Bread

Lecture 51 Brioche Burger Buns

Lecture 52 Ciabatta

Lecture 53 Stuffed Focaccia

Lecture 54 Pizza Dough

Section 9: Doughology: the Key Processes

Lecture 55 How Do You Dough?

Lecture 56 Fermentation: the Soul of Bread-making

Lecture 57 Bubbles! Interior Structure.

Lecture 58 Time and Temperature

Lecture 59 Retardation & Scheduling

Lecture 60 How to Read Your Baked Breads

Lecture 61 "Read Any Good Breads Lately?"

Section 10: Lifelong Learning for Bakers

Lecture 62 Knowing the Score: Defining Your Baking Goals

Lecture 63 So Long and Happy Baking!

Bread making enthusiasts who want to develop their baking skills and judgement.,The information contained in this course has been verified and documented as carefully as possible. The authors cannot be held liable for the use or mis-use of its contents. This means, that we cannot be held liable for accidents or injuries resulting from mis-use of ovens, blades or other kitchen equipment. Baking is a very responsible business and under-18s should be supervised by a competent adult.