What is our secret?

Perhaps you have been blessed to try our delicious homemade bread? We receive requests from many people asking how we bake our bread. This free course was designed to share the secrets of our bread baking with our friends at the monastery.
Learn how
Brother Baker stacking fresh bread

What you'll learn

    1. What is the role of bread in the monastery?

    2. What is bread?

    3. About Wheat and its Varieties

    4. Wheat Berries and the Parts of Wheat

    5. Milling and Making Flour

    6. Our First Primitive Mill

    7. Mixing and Sifting Flours

    8. Other Ingredients for Bread

    9. The Role of Bread During the Monastic Fast

    1. What is a Fermented Food?

    2. Health Benefits of Fermented Foods

    3. How Does Fermentation Work in Bread?

    4. Fermented Bread in Particular

    1. Introduction

    2. Flours In the Monastery

    3. Why use multiple flours?

    4. Flour we use - King Arthur Mills - Sir Galahad Artisan Flour

    5. Flour we use - Heartland Mills - Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour

    6. Flour we use - Heartland Mills - Stone Ground Whole Rye Flour

    7. Flour we use - Heartland Mills - Whole Spelt Flour

    8. Flour we use - Cairnspring Mills - Trailblazer Bread Flour

    9. Flour Containers

    1. What is a Starter?

    2. Do I need to purchase a starter or get one from a friend?

    3. Should You Keep Different Starters for Different Breads?

    4. Starters From Around the World

    5. How to make your own Starter (aka Sourdough Starter)

    6. What is Sourdough Feed?

    7. Making Your Own Starter Part 1 - Adding feed to jar

    8. Making Your Own Starter Part 2 - Adding water

    9. Making Your Own Starter Part 3 - Stirring to the right consistency.

    10. Making Your Own Starter Part 4 - Watch for signs of fermenation

    11. Making Your Own Starter Part 5 - Feeding Your Starter - Scrapings Method

    12. Tips on Feeding

    1. What is Leaven?

    2. How does it work?

    3. Starter vs Leaven

    4. Prepare Your Leaven

    5. How to know when your Leaven is ready - The Float Test

    1. Introduction

    2. Tools of the Trade - Everything you need to start baking bread

    3. The Recipe: Introduction to Baker's Math

    4. Preparing Dry Ingredients Part 1 - Measure Your Flours

    5. Preparing Dry Ingredients Part 2 - Blend them together

    6. Preparing Wet Ingredients Part 1 - Measure Water

    7. Preparing Wet Ingredients Part 2 - Hold Back Water for Salt

    8. Preparing Wet Ingredients Part 3 - Add Leaven To Water

    9. Preparing Wet Ingredients Part 4 - Distribute the yeasts in the water.

    10. Preparing Wet Ingredients Part 5 - Salt

    11. Combine Wet + Dry Ingredients Part 1

    12. Combine Wet + Dry Ingredients Part 2

    13. Begin Autolysis (30-60 minutes)

    14. Mix-ins Phase - Add Salt and Olive Oil (and anything else!)

    15. Bulk Rise (4 to 18 hours)

    16. Regularly turn your dough during Bulk Rise - Every 30 minutes for the first 2-4 hours

    17. Knowing When Bulk Rise is Complete

    18. Remove the Dough From Your Bulk Rise Container and Initial Shape Up - Part 1

    19. Remove the Dough From Your Bulk Rise Container and Initial Shape Up - Part 2

    20. Initial Shape Up

    21. Shaping - Bench Knife Skills

    22. Shaping - Moving Loaves Around

    23. Shaping - Pinching Bubbles

    24. Bench Rest

    25. Envelope Fold and First Shape Up

    26. Proofing - Put the Dough into Proofing Baskets

    27. The Proofing Curve - Part 1

    28. The Proofing Curve - Part 2

    29. The Proofing Curve - Part 3

    30. Deciding When Proofing is Done

    31. Baking - Bring Baskets to the Oven

    32. Baking - Scoring - Part 1

    33. Baking - Scoring - Part 2

    34. Baking - Scoring - Part 3

    35. Baking - Remove Lids

    36. Baking - Check Temperature, Remove and Cool

    37. Remove from the Oven and Cool

    38. Cutting Your Bread - Part 1

    39. Cutting Your Bread - Part 2

    40. Judging Your Bread - Checking the quality of your bake.

    41. Share with Family and Friends

Details

  • Free
  • 95 lessons
  • Brother Baker cutting bread
  • A Brother praying over the landscape
  • Brother Baker explaining the dough

FAQ

  • How much does the course cost?

    This course is completely free, but is by invitation only for friends of the monastery. We are excited to share our baking secrets with those we love and pray for on a daily basis.

  • How long will the course take to complete?

    Bread baking is easy once you know how, but learning can take many weeks. The more you bake, the better and easier it will get. The end result is worth it to make delicious and nutritious bread for your friends and family.

What are you waiting for?

You too can bake like a monk!

Learn how