Starting Sourdough with Confidence
Class details:
In this hands-on class, you’ll learn the essential skills for baking delicious, nutritious sourdough bread at home and gain the confidence to keep baking long after you leave.
This class is suitable for complete beginners as well as for people who have some experience baking sourdough bread.
- 8 places, €139 (incl. VAT) per person, 11am-6pm, 1-day class
Availability:
- Saturdays – 1st November (fully booked), 22nd November (fully booked), 25th November (fully booked), 10th January 2026 (fully booked), 24th January 2026 (fully booked), 31st January 2026 (places available), 7th February 2026 (1 place available), 28th March 2026 (places available), 11th April 2026 (places available)
- Tuesdays – 30th September (fully booked), 25th November (fully booked), 13th January 2026 (places available, 27th January 2026 (places available, 17th February 2026 (places available), 24th February 2026 (places available), 10th March 2026 (places available), 31st March 2026 (places available), 14th April 2026 (places available)
You will learn:
- how to make flavoursome and highly nutritious wheat and rye sourdough breads
- how to start and maintain a rye sourdough starter
- how to manage the fermentation and flavour of your doughs
- how to blend flours to create different flavours in your breads
- how to incorporate Irish grains and flours into your baking
- how to maximise the nutritional benefits and digestibility of sourdough bread
Price includes:
- All the delicious sourdough breads you have baked at the class for you to take home so that you can taste, showcase and share your learning experience with others.
- Fresh vibrant Riot Rye Sourdough Starter to bring home with you. This powerful, well-nurtured starter is perfect for your journey into sourdough baking.
- A full set of class notes to accompany you on your sourdough journey.
- Delicious Home-made Vegetarian Lunch: enjoy a farm-to-table meal made with fresh, organic, and locally sourced ingredients from Cloughjordan Community Farm, the Ecovillage and Mossfield Organic Farm.
- Ethically sourced Organic/Fair Trade Tea & Coffee available to refresh you throughout the day.
Most importantly, you will bring home the confidence to bake sourdough with ease at home!
Please see terms and conditions here.
Testimonials
“Over the course of a day we learned a vital life skill, and picked up tips about every aspect of the process of making bread. The nine people attending the course were made up of beginners, bread-makers and bakers, and everybody went away with an increased skillset and an understanding not only of how to bake bread, but armed also with a new insight into community, agriculture, and the well-being of the planet.The course is very good value for money, and classes are small. You really learn deeply here in Riot Rye, and you’ll be so glad you chose to take a class in Cloughjordan.”
“Joe Fitzmaurice, baker extraordinaire in Cloughjordan, Ireland, is the godfather of sourdough in Ireland. Take a sourdough course with Joe and a few of your pals. It’s the best money you’ll spend this year!”
“A huge thank-you to Joe and Julie for their hospitality on their Sourdough Course. I highly recommend this course as Joe is a master sourdough baker who is passionate about the ethos behind feeding people with nutritious, healthy, well balanced, organic food. Thank-you!”
“Joe is so knowledgeable and kind with his time. He gave us a great understanding of the fermentation process and how to get the best nutritional value and digestibility from your bread. For anyone wanting to increase their knowledge whether beginner or amateur baker this course is for you. We travelled from Dublin for the day and I have to say it was well worth it. And its great craic too!”
“Thank you for a really wonderful day in your beautiful bake-house. The course was fascinating and inspiring and the lunch absolutely delicious. I was also delighted to become acquainted with the Ecovillage. I’d heard much about Cloughjordan over the years but never been there, so your introduction to the project, Julie, was most welcome. I used to be a historian and a long time ago I wrote about the history of the co-operative movement in Ireland. The poet, painter and co-operative organiser, George Russell had a vision of how he would like to see villages in Ireland evolve which is quite close to what you are achieving. I’m sure he would be thrilled to know that his dreams haven’t died.”
“I did a one day course with Joe and it was excellent. Really enjoyed the day, the people, the food, the bread making, the oven and everything else! Been making sourdough bread regularly ever since. We make more bread than we buy now, for sure!”
“Fantastic day baking along with my hubby and daughter last Saturday..just baked our first Common Loaves this evening. Thanks guys for sharing the love of good wholesome bread”