Take this free short course to get my 10 top tips!

What’s the best flour for my starter?

How do I keep it warm?

How often do I need to feed it?

My starter looks like it’s died what should I do?

So many sourdough lovers struggle with their starters, and that’s understandable: starters can often be the most troublesome part of sourdough baking and is one of the things I receive the most questions about! This short, free course gives 10 tips to help you succeed with creating and maintaining a sourdough starter! The clear, entertaining, and information-packed videos are full of helpful guidance. They are for you if you’ve never made a starter, if you’ve tried before and failed, or if you’ve already got a sourdough starter but want to make your process simpler and easier.

Sourdough bread made from rye is a healthy alternative to wheat, has a rich history and is so tasty! Learn how to create 100% wholegrain rye sourdough breads in your own kitchen, whether you are a novice or seasoned baker.

Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics

Rye is an ancient grain packed with a rich, deep flavor that has a long history of being used to make bread. It’s low in gluten and brought to life in sourdough loaves, making an exciting, tasty, and healthy alternative to wheat.

In Rye Sourdough Bread: Mastering The Basics, you’ll learn everything you need to know to create delicious, nutritious 100% wholegrain rye sourdough bread in your own kitchen, whether you are a complete beginner or a seasoned baker. You’ll be taught why rye is a wonderful flour for sourdough starters, and be walked through, step-by-step, creating your own. Then, armed with this starter, you’ll create a rye bread you can make and eat daily, along with a more adventurous Russian-style rye loaf. You’ll also also learn ways in which you can use your sourdough discard to create even more rye deliciousness!

You will learn:

• From over 240 minutes of step-by-step video, plus photos and downloadable instructions (all available to keep, forever)
• Why rye is such a great choice for sourdough bread, including its health benefits and history
• How to create a 100% wholegrain rye starter from scratch and how to easily maintain this starter, no matter how often you bake
• How to create a reliable, delicious everyday wholegrain rye sourdough bread
• How to use more advanced techniques to create a Russian-style wholegrain rye sourdough bread
• How to use your sourdough discard, including recipes for wholegrain rye pancakes and spice bread

Course curriculum

Welcome & Course Overview

Module 1: Why Rye & Why Whole Grain?

• The rich history of rye and rye breads
• Why rye, why wholegrain and why sourdough
• Bread-making with rye: The low down – part 1 – introduction
• Bread-making with rye: The low down – part 2 – comparison
• Bread-making with rye: The low down – part 3 – the bottom line
• In pictures! Bread-making with rye v. bread-making with wheat
• Sourcing your flour, grinding grain and storing rye

Module 2: How To Make & Maintain a Rye Sourdough Starter

• Get ready for this module!
• What is a sourdough starter and why use wholegrain rye?
• The equipment you’ll need
• In pictures! Downloadable starter creation and maintenance graphic.
• How to create a rye sourdough starter
• How to maintain a rye sourdough starter
• Rye sourdough starter FAQs

Module 3: The Breads: Equipment & What To Expect

• Useful equipment for baking rye sourdough bread
• Equipment listing to download
• How to tent a loaf tin with aluminium foil
• What to expect from your breads

Module 4: Everyday Rye Sourdough Bread

• Introduction to the everyday rye sourdough loaf
• Everyday rye sourdough bread recipe to download
• Making the pre-ferment
• Mixing the main dough
• Panning your fermented bread
• Is your bread ready to bake?
• Just out of the oven!

Module 5: Russian Borodinsky-Style Rye Sourdough Bread

• Introduction to the Russian Borodinsky-style rye sourdough bread
• What to expect from the Russian Borodinsky-style rye sourdough bread
• Russian Borodinsky-style rye sourdough bread recipe to download
• Making the scald
• Making the sponge
• Combining the sponge & scald
• Mixing the main dough
• Shaping and panning the fermented bread
• Is your bread ready to bake?
• Just out of the oven!

Module 6: Recipes for Sourdough Discard and Leftover Rye Bread

• Sourdough porridge, polenta and polenta bread
• Sourdough pancakes
• Rye discard spice bread
• Traditional Danish Rye Bread Porridge Øllebrød
• Russian Rye Bread Kvass
• Wholegrain Rye Sourdough Crackers

Module 7: Where Now? Inspiration, Thank You & A Gift

• Where next with your rye sourdough bread
• Thank you and a gift for you
• More inspiration and help

Do you want to make sourdough but feel overwhelmed by the starter process? Maybe you’ve tried before and it didn’t work or maybe you’ve never quite got to it?

Join me for an hour-long pre-recorded Zoom session that’ll walk you through how to create and look after a rye sourdough starter from scratch.

What you’ll learn:

• Why wholegrain rye is such a great flour for sourdough starters
• What ingredients and equipment you’ll need
• Step-by-step how to, from scratch, create your starter
• Routines that will help you succeed
• How to troubleshoot issues
• How to look after your starter, however often you bake

This course is a recording of a Zoom session held live in February 2022. 

Take your relationship with it to the next level:

Create it in your own kitchen!

Making your own chocolate, from bean to bar, is a magical experience: You get to see where this adored-by-all food comes from, how it transforms from bean to unctuous paste and you get to touch, smell, see and taste this ‘food of the Gods’ every step of the way.

It was learning about how our ancestors revered and used chocolate that started my own authentic chocolate journey. Having read The Secret Life of Chocolate, the 700+ page chocolate bible from herbalist Marcos Patchett, I was absolutely convinced that making it myself was the way forward. I wanted to have the most nutritious chocolate possible. I wanted to know where it came from and what exactly was in the mix. I wanted to experience the flavours, the transformation and the gloopy, gorgeous liquid in my own kitchen.

Then I looked at how other chocolatiers made this liquid gold and realised that they had special equipment: machines to crack the roasted beans and get the shells off and super-expensive melangers that grind the beans for hours, making them into a smooth paste.

But I knew that chocolate-lovers hadn’t always had industrial machines, so I decided to experiment using what I did have in my kitchen. And I came up with a way to make chocolate from bean to bar without any expensive equipment.

I’ve made chocolate bars. I’ve made individual chocolates. I’ve added my chocolate to smoothies and breakfasts and covered other beautiful foods with it. I’ve added sweeteners and used spices to make exciting flavour profiles. I’ve hand-shelled beans and I’ve crushed them with mallets. I’ve roasted at many different temperatures, using a pan and the oven. I’ve done so much experimentation the last year and I want to share all the fun I’ve had with you.

Let’s make bean-to-bar chocolate together!

What’ll you’ll get:

Personal hand-holding through the whole bean-to-bar process. In three video sessions, I’ll take you from a bag of raw cacao beans, through selecting your beans, roasting them, getting the shells off, grinding them and then mixing and setting your chocolate. By the end of the three videos, you’ll have transformed your beans into your very own chocolate.

By the end of the course, you’ll not only have created home-made chocolate, but you’ll also know:

• Some of cacao’s exciting and surprising history, its medicinal benefits and why it’s so gastronomically appealing.
• How you can control of the taste and nutritional benefits of your chocolate by making it yourself.
• How industrially and home made chocolates are vastly different.
• About cacao beans and the differences between varieties.
• How to select beans to use in your chocolate.
• The pros and cons of raw versus roasted beans.
• Considerations when roasting and options available to roast beans.
• How you can crack your beans and get their shells off without using expensive chocolate-makers equipment.
• Options for grinding your beans into a paste, using whatever equipment you have.
• How to optionally combine the cacao paste with other ingredients to make flavoured or sweeter chocolate.
• How you can use the cacao paste to make ancestral chocolate drinks.

Note: The chocolate that we’ll make will be unlike the usual chocolate you can find in the shops. I term it as ‘stone-ground‘. The rustic result is the joy – you’ll have chocolate direct from the beans, from your hands, without the industrial processing that has taken us so far away from chocolate’s original roots. I’ll also be making it 100% – by that I mean that the only thing in my chocolate will be from the bean – but I’ll also show you how you can add sugar and flavourings if you want to explore those options.

Note: This course is a recording of a live Zoom chocolate-making day. There are students on the recording interacting with me. This will hopefully not only give you a community-feel, but also help answer any questions you might have had!

Sowans is a traditional Scottish oat fermentation that produces both a creamy lacto-fermented porridge and a tangy probiotic drink. Learn how to make it in your own home, using whole oats or oat flour.

Sowans: The Scottish Oat Ferment

Oats are synonymous with Scottish cuisine and so many people worldwide love the oat grain for the sustenance and health benefits that it provides.

But how many of us know that, in Scotland, oats were traditionally wild-fermented, creating a soft, tangy porridge called sowans, and a hearty probiotic drink called swats?

In Sowans: The Scottish Oat Ferment, Alison will show you how to prepare oats as the Scots historically did for centuries. You’ll make sowans, a morning porridge that’s creamy, tangy and smooth (Alison describes it as ‘eating clouds’) and can be sweetened or taken savoury. In the process, you’ll also create Swats, a probiotic-packed drink that is super-refreshing cold, but can also be spiced and drunk warm – perfect for a cold day. In addition, Alison will share with you many more unusual ways the porridge and drink can be used in your recipes, dishes and kitchen.

You will learn:

• From over 55 minutes of video instruction
• All about Sowans, the Scottish Oat Ferment, including its history, practical uses and health benefits.
• Step-by-step, how to create the fermented porridge Sowans and the probiotic drink Swats in your own home, whatever equipment you have.
• How to know when your fermentation is done, and then how to process and store the porridge and drink.
• Many delicious options for bringing Sowans and Swats to your table and incorporating them into your recipes/kitchen.

Course curriculum

Welcome & What is Sowans?

• Welcome & What is Sowans?

The History and Health Benefits of Sowans and Swats

• The History of Sowans
• The Health Benefits of Sowans and Swats

Equipment for the Fermentation

• Equipment Options to Prepare Sowans
• Full Equipment List

Preparing Sowans

• Preparing Sowans with a Roller Mill
• Written Instructions for Preparing Sowans with a Roller Mill
• Preparing Sowans with a High-Powered Blender
• Written Instructions for Preparing Sowans with a High-Powered Blender
• Preparing Sowans with Purchased Oat Flour
• Written Instructions for Preparing Sowans with Purchased Oat Flour

Fermentation and Post-Fermentation Processing

• Fermenting Sowans
• Post-Fermentation Processing

What you can do with Sowans and Swats!

• How to Prepare, Eat and Cook with Sowans
• How to enjoy Swats and also use it in your Kitchen
• Sowans Scones!

Are you interested in a dairy-free, gluten-free and lectin-free tasty probiotic drink?

Would you like someone to walk you through how to bring an ancestral, super-successful fermentation recipe to life in your kitchen?

When I first heard of Boza, the probiotic millet drink that’s a household name in Turkey, I was surprised. I’d never heard of it. I did a little digging and despite learning that fermented millet drinks have been made in Europe since the 8th/9th century B.C.E., I couldn’t find anyone in online fermentation communities making this drink.

I wanted to! Not only was I curious to taste this historic drink, but I’d been looking for another source of probiotics for my son, who is dairy and lectin sensitive. Boza is dairy-free, gluten-free, lectin-free (and vegan) as well as fizzy and fun to drink.

So I dug into historical records, stories of how it’s made now, forums where people shared what they knew about making this drink. And, armed with that knowledge, I set about experimenting in my own kitchen.

This video course is the culmination of those experiments. It comes from a kitchen where Boza is made weekly and always in the fridge; one with a 7-year old who can’t wait to have his daily cup!

I’d love to guide you through how to bring this fun, fizzy, super-healthy probiotic drink to life in your kitchen!

What you’ll get:

• 35+ minutes of high-quality video instructions
• 2 downloadable step-by-step .pdfs
• Extra photos and videos
• FAQs and the chance to ask any questions that you have about the method/drink

By the end of the course, you’ll know:

• What Boza is and its history
• How to make a one-off ‘starter‘ to begin your Boza journey
• How to use this ‘starter’ to make 1.5 litres (quarts) of Boza
• How to store Boza/How long it lasts
• How Boza is traditionally drunk and how you can drink it
• How to continue to have a Boza supply without having to make the starter again
• How to take a break from Boza yet maintain your ‘starter’
• How to vary and personalise your drink with different grains, sweeteners and flavourings

Please note: This is my version of Boza. It comes from a kitchen where sugar is not often consumed. Because of that I don’t believe the drink tastes as sweet as the Boza served in Turkey today – where sugar is added before serving. You can adapt the end result and add sugar yourself, if you’d like (and I’ll explain options for doing that), but I, and the rest of my family, love it just how I make it here!

For the £24 (which converts to a little over $30), you get access to all the content, in perpetuity.