Bread Making Course at Bore Place

Bake your first loaves with Italian home baker, Pietro Pagani from The Alternative Table.

Bread making is easier than you think, you just need a little patience, a few techniques and practice. In this six-hour workshop, you'll make one simple dough by hand, then turn it into three breads: a classic tin loaf, a herb focaccia and a sweet cinnamon swirl. No mixer, no sourdough starter, no special equipment.

We work with stoneground strong white flour from Nonington Farms in Kent, grown using regenerative farming methods, and butter from Chiddingstone Dairy, a few minutes down the road from Bore Place. You'll learn how the flour itself changes the way a dough behaves, and taste the difference good local ingredients make.

The day is built around the dough's natural resting periods, so there's plenty of time to watch, practise, ask questions and eat. You'll mix and fold your dough, learn what gluten actually is and why hydration matters, then head out to the market garden to pick herbs for your focaccia (subject to availability). While the dough proves, you'll watch a live demonstration of the focaccia and the swirl going into the oven, and taste them warm over a shared lunch. In the afternoon you'll shape all three breads yourself, using three different techniques, and bake them.

You'll leave with three breads baked with your own hands, printed recipes, and, most importantly, the understanding to repeat it all at home.

This workshop suits complete beginners and anyone who has tried bread making and been disappointed by the result. It makes a good gift, and a very good day out for two.

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT
To celebrate the launch of this new course, we're offering a 20% discount on all tickets booked before 1st October 2026. Usual price £126pp.

If you can't make this one, Pietro will be back for another Bread Making Course in January.

What's included in the workshop

• All ingredients, including stoneground flour from Nonington Farms and butter from Chiddingstone Dairy (a vegan alternative is available on request when booking)
• Tea, coffee and a mid-morning tasting of freshly baked cinnamon swirl
• A shared lunch of freshly baked focaccia
• Printed recipe cards for all three breads
• Three breads to take home: a tin loaf, a focaccia and a sweet swirl

What to wear and bring

• Please bring a large container or box with a lid to carry your breads home
• Wear kitchen appropriate clothing, no trailing sleeves etc
• Please wear closed-toed shoes suitable for the kitchen
• If you have long hair, please bring a hair tie/cover
• If you prefer, you're welcome to bring your own lunch, just let us know when booking

Allergen info: this workshop uses ingredients containing gluten and milk. Vegan or dairy-free? No problem - just let us know when booking and we'll happily adapt it for you.

About Pietro Pagani
Pietro grew up on Lake Como in northern Italy, where every meal was made from scratch and nothing was wasted. He learned to cook alongside his parents and grandmother, and has spent the last twenty years teaching friends and colleagues informally before founding The Alternative Table, a cookery school based in Tunbridge Wells. Because his own baking started at home, in a domestic kitchen with a domestic oven, he teaches the way he learned: slowly, with stories, and with a lot of room for mistakes.