Last Updated on October 20, 2025
Homemade sourdough demystified
A lot of us experimented with sourdough over lockdown, those long weeks stuck indoors, allowing a prime opportunity to start a new life in your airing cupboard. It can be quite daunting to manage the mercurial nature of that ancient balance of wild yeast and bacteria. Beginning the process of making your own sourdough starter alone is challenging and unpredictable; the opportunity to do so with fellow beginners and a trained professional helps allay much of the mystery and stress.
Founded in 2013, Bread Ahead has been baking and teaching from its London bases in Borough and Wembley for quite some time now. A new addition to their courses is a 90-minute sourdough starter school in Borough.
While most of Bread Ahead’s workshops are operated in special classrooms, this workshop took place in the bakery proper. We were surrounded by whirring mixers and ovens as well as the intoxicating smell of the viral crème brûlée doughnuts that the Bread Ahead bakery sells, these being caramelised before the queue snaking through Borough Market can purchase them. Donning our hairnets, we were a crew of mixed beginners and returnees, excited to understand precisely how the process of beginning a starter works. Our instructor, Lucy, with 8 years of experience and having graduated from the National Bakery School (when does that get royal patronage?), was happy to answer our many questions.
We started with a comprehensive explanation of what sourdough is, what it can be used for and how to treat it. We then got to skip to the end of the entire process and see how a loaf, released from its wicker mould, can be prepared for the oven. While this loaf was baking, we rewound to the very start and were given the ingredients to make our own sourdough starter. I named mine Dough Schmoe. We also got to meet Bruce, the bakery’s 12-year-old starter that has risen many a loaf since and was even blessed with water from their neighbours at Southwark Cathedral.
When I started making sourdough myself, I was loath to discard my excess starter as instructed, as it felt wasteful. The Bread Ahead method we were taught meant that you could still have a healthy starter without having to discard much of it. Instead, you start with a 5-day additive process that, in a week, results in a healthy starter ready to rise its first loaf. Another failing of well-known recipes is the requirement for daily feedings; The Bread Ahead sourdough starter method only requires intervention once it’s set up every two weeks, which is much more feasible now that we’re all back to work.
Instead of the standard mixture of white and whole wheat flour, our sourdough starter was made of the ‘highly fermentable’ sieved white rye flour, and we were also given a recipe for a spiced rye flour loaf to make with it. We then received detailed instructions as to how to make a loaf of sourdough, including the mixing, bulk fermentation, shaping, final proof and baking process, which in real time takes between 2 and 3 days, so definitely a weekend job. The benefit of the time it takes to make proper sourdough is that the bacteria and yeast work to predigest all the nasties that cause so many gastrointestinal issues these days, making sourdough more palatable for some than your standard Hovis.
We finished our time with a fresh loaf in our goodie bag and a slice of the freshly baked one Lucy had talked us through preparing for the oven at the start of the workshop. Topped with butter and jam, we left with a much clearer sense of how to go forward, making sourdough in our own homes.
The Sourdough Starter school is running 4 times a week until the end of November.
Book here
Bread Ahead Bakery & School
Borough Market
Cathedral Street
London
SE1 9DE
0207 4035 444
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