A Northport cherry farm is keeping busy this winter offering an experience with different smells and tastes from what you’d normally expect: workshops on how to make fresh sourdough bread.
Owner Sarah Hallstedt said she’s already hosted 10 workshops since the first sourdough workshop in November, with five others scheduled for January. The classes in their kitchen will likely go until March, Hallstedt added, and a couple may be scheduled during the summer, too, considering the great interest she’s received so far.
“It worked out this winter and it’s after the cherry season,” Hallstedt said. “It’s a new thing I’d like to continue doing, and we just finished up wreaths right before Christmas. It gives me an excuse to get out of my office and connect with people. The people who want to come, want to come, and they are excited about it… people get here and they find out they can actually make it (sourdough) and they are excited about that, and that just fills my heart.”
The two hour long workshop can host up to eight people, and participants will walk out with several takeaways like a loaf of bread ready to bake the next day, a robust starter in a jar, the recipe, and the experience, knowledge, and tips needed to make a quality loaf of sourdough. People also have the chance to taste Hallstedt Homestead cherries wine and cherries jam.
“They walk out with a jar of starter so they can keep making bread, as well as a loaf of bread they can make the next day,” she said. “It’s just fun and I’m having a blast with it. I think COVID peaked the interest of getting people back into the kitchen and garden. Probably the most important thing is not the class itself, but getting a good hearty starter.”
Hallstedt began making the bread a few years ago after one of her former summer interns brought her own sourdough starter from Cleveland and made them a loaf. It was then Hallstedt learned how to make the recipe and shared some of the starter, a key mixture to making the bread, with her sister. When Hallstedt’s starter went bad the first time, she was able to use some of her sister’s and continued to feed that mixture every week.
“The starter is the main ingredient in making sourdough bread — it’s fermented live culture that is goopy, it’s kind of like wet cake mix and it gets passed around to people,” she said. “You feed it by adding equal amounts of starter, water, and flour. I do that once a week so it doesn’t go bad, then it ferments and you let it sit on the counter for eight hours with this recipe. It starts bubbling as it ferments, and then you put it in the refrigerator to slow down that process so it can just sit while it’s in there.”
Participants will need to bring four items to the workshop with them: a large non-metallic bowl, thin rubber spatula, a widemouth glass jar if you have one (or another container at least one quart in size), and a kitchen scale that can hold the bowl and weigh in grams. After you leave the workshop, you’ll need to have several items in your home ready to make the bread, including a cast iron dutch oven, a kitchen scale that weighs in grams, a thermometer, parchment paper, or cling wrap, dish, tea, or hand towel.
During the workshop, people also have time while the bread is baking to talk and get to know each other. For about 30 minutes, people can sample other sourdough flavors and partake in some homemade wine. Hallstedt said she’ll go around the group and ask people about their stories and how they made it to Leelanau County or if they have lived in the area their entire life.
“It’s just fun because everyone has a story right,” she said. “About the time we finish going around the circle, the resting time for the ball of dough (about 30 mins) is ready and we prepare it for them to take home.”
And while anyone can register for a workshop, Hallstedt said she can also accommodate a group of friends or family who may want to try something different, noting how the bread workshop can be a great “girls night” as well.
“If people are interested in doing one in March or April and if they want to connect with me they can,” she said. “I have a running list of emails I also send to people letting them know when there are classes.”
The cost is $40 per person and the next workshops are set for January 6, 18, 20, 24, 28 all in the late afternoon or early evening. For more information or to reserve a spot, text or call Hallstedt at 317-440-9273 or email [email protected].
