Thanks for joining us in the adventure of sourdough! Sourdough baking has traditionally been shrouded in mysticism and techniques that sound a bit difficult to comprehend when unfamiliar with it. We have taken away all the difficult terminology, simplified our delicious sourdough recipe to the extreme, there is no need to feed your starter daily or worry about it if you haven't used it in a while or if you go on holiday.

We hope you will enjoy each week, check each task as you complete it and come back to revisit the videos or recipes for help along the way. You have a permanent access to this course, so use it! You can go at your own pace, but we have divided the tasks into a five week time frame. By the end of the course we anticipate all sorts of amazing creations coming from your kitchen. Welcome and have fun!

We have prepared a list of the equipment you will need before beginning the course. You may not need everything, but I have highlighted the definite must haves in red. The other items are optional.

We have also attached a glossary of sourdough terminology. As this is a Lazy Sourdough course, most of the terms you will not need, but if this is a starting point for you, you can move ahead with more artisanal sourdough if you already understand these terms.

(Don't read it yet, proceed with the course, then come back to it as I don't want to scare you right at the beginning!)

We have a few videos below that you can refer to throughout the course. Watch them now ahead of time is you wish, though you may not know what I am on about in some of them until after you have progressed beyond day one!

This section is your reference section and you may need to watch the videos a couple of times throughout. We have attached a lot of them in the recipes online. If you are using the ebook, of course they are not linked there.

SO believe in yourself, let's make a sourdough baker out of you, shall we?

What is a sourdough starter? Simply, a sourdough starter is a stable mixture of good bacteria and wild yeast that is kept healthy and vibrant with regular feeding and is then used to leaven and flavour dough.

To create a starter is a super simple thing to do and it only takes water and flour and time and a little patience. There is a lot of mystery surrounding sourdough starters that date back to the beginning of time. I think if you follow my rules you will be baking sourdough in your 80's with the same starter you will make here. SO...as this is your first task, watch the video, then follow the recipe.

If you already have a lively sourdough starter, skip this task entirely and jump straight to next week's challenges.

Feeding your starter will keep it healthy and active, ready to use at a moment's notice. You don't need to feed it often, but generally after use it is good to feed it. To keep it healthy, it needs to be lean before feeding. I have a few tips on how to manage this further on in the course.

People often name their starter as it does become part of the family and dies if you don't feed it!! I haven't named mine. But we'd love to know what you call yours! Post a pic of your sourdough baby and name on socials. Make sure you tag me! #lazysourdoughbakery

A levain or leaven is literally like making your own little mixture of yeast from your starter, making sure it is thriving then using it to leaven your loaf. We are using two methods for creating easy (lazy) sourdough during this course. One method uses a levain and the other uses your sourdough starter straight from the fridge and is the ultimate Lazy Sourdough method.

This week you will make a loaf with a levain and you will make the Lazy Sourdough loaf without a levain. I suggest you compare them and see which you prefer.

I personally LOVE the loaf without the levain as I am intrinsically lazy and this is the Lazy Sourdough Bakery Course after all. It suits my lifestyle! Let me know what you think. There are some recipes that the Lazy Loaf dough will not work with, you need a more sturdy dough, so in those cases I specify to use a levain as part of the recipe.

A levain is also a starter of sorts, but doesn't have an ongoing life and should be used just the once, based on the loaf or dough you are making. It can also be called a poolish or pre-ferment. We will refer to it as a levain.

Making a levain or leaven is another way to use your starter. You have more control over the end result of a dough when you use a levain. You also have more control over the flavour. We recommend using a levain in certain recipes during the course, always with a link through to the levain method.

We have just one loaf recipe this week for you. But scroll down to Week Four if you are wanting extra levain recipes to try. By all means, take your time, I mean how much sourdough deliciousness can one family eat in a week? (I'm here to tell you, quite a bit. Check the chins in some of these videos. You can tell which ones were shot during the covid sourdough crisis of 2020!))

This week we are introducing other flavours and ideas for using your sourdough. The sky is the limit really. If you are used to making bread and other yeast raised foods, swapping out to using your natural yeast or sourdough is very simple once you get your head around the basic rules. (The Lazy rules!!)

To keep your sourdough starter alive and active, the more you use it and then feed it, the better. If you haven't had the chance to use it for a few weeks, to liven it up, make anything using the sourdough starter (I usually make the Sourdough Discard Crackers or the Sourdough Lemon Cake), then feed it and leave it out of the fridge for a day. This will help it become all active and bubbly again.

If you are making traditional levain, and continuing to feed your sourdough starter as directed, you will end up with quite a bit of what we call discard. This is what you remove from the original starter, prior to re-feeding it, in order to keep it lean and hungry and healthy. The leaner your starter before feeding (within reason) the more active it will become and the better it will work for you in rising your doughs. I used to keep my discard separately from the starter, but I no longer do that as I used the 'discard' as often as I use the 'starter'. To be honest, one of my favourite recipes from this entire course is the Sourdough Discard Crackers. I will feed my starter, in order to increase the volume of starter, just to make them. Crazy I know, but they are so more-ish.

The benefits of discard in your baking is to add flavour and of course a long fermentation time means that the gluten has been used up significantly making anything you eat using a discard a lot easier to digest. It has very little raising ability left by the time it has been sitting in your fridge for a week or a month. It is the perfect consistency to add to pancakes or batters. We have included a few other options for you to use your discard. Don't be confused by my references to discard and starter. They are one and the same when baking sourdough the lazy way!

This week we are tackling a few baked goods that are less lazy and more specialist. There is no need to rush into this week full on, take your time and complete these projects at your own pace, though they are all delicious of course!

Think dCroissants, Pain au Chocolat, Doughnuts and a Steak Sandwich that is cooked all in one process plus more.

This week will mark your pro-level completion of the course! We are excited for you and hope you have enjoyed the journey but just a reminder, it's 10,000 steps per day for a healthy lifestyle!

Don't be overwhelmed by these recipes if you are still getting your head around the entire process. You have on-going lifetime access to the syllabus and recipes. Also don't forget we have collated all of the content into an ebook for you to download and have handy whenever you are working.

If you are a social media butterfly, we would absolutely love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook. Please tag Cooking with Tenina accounts and hashtag #lazysourdoughbakery Thanks for joining us and enjoy your amazing results this week and every week.

Well done, you are officially a pro now.

As you become more proficient at making and baking your sourdough, you will find you have a LOT of sourdough to either freeze or use in another way. We have a few ideas listed below for you to help you use up this amazing new bread you have just laying around!

Having said that, the favourite way to use up my sourdough is to slice and freeze it. Then I have sourdough toast on demand. Pass the butter, pass the jam! Perfect!

Enjoy!