This course is for would be home bakers, who have limited experience baking bread or get inconsistent results and are not sure why.

You will learn how to make a really good white dough from scratch, learning the skills to knead and prove effectively by hand. Half the dough will be used to create the traditional shapes you see in the bakery, such as bloomers, cobs and plaits. The second half of the dough will be used to make our famous Stilton + Raisin bread, giving you an introduction to Speciality breads.

The course includes everything you need for the day: apron, tea towel, ingredients, recipe sheets and equipment, and lunch on the day. You also get to take home all of the bread you make- around 4 to 5 loaves! This course is £135.00 pp.

Beginners bread making - skills & techniques

Linda  Dedman

It was a fantastic day from start to finish ,Giovanni was excellent at leading and teaching our class of 7 and you could see everyone was enjoying the course ........

Anthony Glynn

A great time at the bread making training day with Giovanni who shared his wealth of knowledge  as a 4th generation Italian baker.    Would thoroughly recommend.

denise Rankin

Really enjoyed the bread making course. Giovanni and Angelique were lovely and provided us with all the knowledge to enable us to make good healthy bread for our families. I would like to take another of their courses in the future.

jose  da silva

Really nice class. I definitely recommend Giovani. The course is very beginner friendly. He gives enough knowledge to make my own bread instead of buying it from supermarket. 

Ellie Chinnery

I had a fabulous day - Giovanni is a wonderful teacher!

Vyvyan Bentley 

A great place to stop off and have a lovely treat. I attended a bread making course on Sunday and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A great day with the very passionate travelling baker !

Flora Efstathiou

We thoroughly enjoyed the bread making course with Giovanni today and looking forward to attending more courses at Mayfield Farm. 

Carol Austin

Brilliant day, great teacher learnt loads and made 6 delicious loaves. Also had a lovely lunch included 

In just one day, you will learn how to create a magnificent sourdough loaf in our hands-on bread-making workshop.

Your tutor, Gio, is a fifth generation baker in his family, who learned his skills in the family bakery in Pollena Trocchia, Naples, at his Grandmother's knee. 

He will teach you how to make and care for a sourdough starter and loaf from scratch. Then, using the discards, you will bake sourdough scones, grissini (breadsticks), and sourdough chocolate chip cookies.

This class is suitable for all abilities and starts at 11am, finishing around 3.30pm.

A light lunch and unlimited hot drinks are included,  as well as your ingredients and recipe sheets.  You will be taking the bakes that you have made home with you at the end of the day.



Introduction to Sourdough bread making

Martin 07870884291

What a fantastic day. Well organised, really interesting with loads of practical help & tips.  If you love bread then this a course you will really enjoy & benefit from. Big thanks to Gio & his wife. I will be signing up for their bread course very soon.

Sunshine Goodfellow

I had step by step instructions, in the bakery itself, with an expert who is passionate about baking bread. From preparing the dough to kneeding and finally baking. It was an amazing experience to be taught the traditions and secrets of baking a sourdough loaf. A must for all bakers. 

Judy Scott

Attended the sour dough work shop on the 26th July. Very enjoyable, informative and well instructed giving confidence to bake at home thank you x x x

Jeanne Mann

Lovely day - learnt lots of news things and came home with delicious bread and ideas. Will definitely be making more sour dough.

Arinola Agoro

Wow! What a fantastic day! I attended a Sourdough bread course on the 26th of July, 2025. I learnt a lot and received some professional tips has I intend to have my own bakery. A big thanks to Gio and wife. By the way I must say this that Gio has a wicked sense of humour. 

Lisa Leal

I attended the Sourdough workshop with Baker Giovanni.  He explained everything clearly and was very informative making it easy to follow even as a beginner.  I left with a delicious sourdough bread, scones, bread sticks, raw dough and the confidence to bake at home. A fun and hands-on experience.  Highly recommended! 

Philip Parker

I had a great day at Mayfield Bakery learning how to make sourdough.  I can’t believe how much we fitted in - three loaves, scones and grissini.  Giovanni was a great teacher - both the passion and the technique.  We had a tasty lunch too.  

Lesley Burton-Brown

An excellent course led by Giovanni.  He made it fun so everyone had a good experience.   I came away with two delicious loaves and a batch of scones, plus a portion of dough to be baked next day.  Highly recommend.   I will most likely book a similar course for my son as a Christmas present. 

Annie Standish

I attended the sourdough course this weekend with my daughter and some friends. It was great fun and we learnt so much. We have come home inspired to keep baking and we have even made  our own sourdough starter today.Thanks to our fantastic teachers. X

Paul Mitchell

What a fantastic introduction to sourdough bread making. I learnt to make bread at the Mayfield Bakery in 2012 and have not bought a loaf of bread since. I have often thought about trying to bake sourdough and decided that attending a course presented by an expert would be the best plan. I was not disappointed the course was excellent and covered every step of the process, from making a starter all the way through to actually baking a couple of loaves, bread sticks and sourdough scones. Giovanni, the baker presenting the course, and his wife Angelique,  were excellent making the process memorable and fun. I can thoroughly recommend this course to anyone wishing to improve their bread baking skills. The lunch included was also excellent and served in the wonderful Tea Rooms at the bakery. 

 Brian Hill

I spent a rainy Sunday with seven other Bakers as well as Giovani and his wife. Giovani's approach was enjoyable and informative. I would definitely go to another. 

Lesley Runciman

Had a wonderful day making sourdough yesterday. Thank you so much , brilliant course !

Caole  Nash

A great course learnt so much - great location in the bakery 

In just one day, you will learn how to create a magnificent sourdough loaf in our hands-on bread-making workshop.Your tutor, Gio, is a forth generation bak...

My name is Giovanni, an italian baker and pizza chef and I will teach you the "Neapolitan technique": how to work the dough by hand and the importance of the ingredients.

We will talk about its chemistry, about the pizza's history, than you will be free to top your pizza with any ingredients available (expect pineapple 😅) and finally you will learn how to bake it in our wood fired oven.

Lunch will be served: an incredible 24-hours leavened pizza dough, before to continue to learn how to make an authentic "Italian Focaccia" and a delicious "Garlic bread".

You will take with you all the pizzas, focaccia and garlic bread that you have made, to show the rest of your family the brilliant skill that you have learned, which will go down very well at home!

We will have fun and we will eat lots of food. I promise!

Ciao!

Pizza Workshop

Mark Parrott

A really great value day, lovely people, lovely course and great instruction… a new skill taught and learned.. my second visit and I will return !

Another excellent day's course with Giovanni. Learning about, preparing, cooking and eating traditional Neapolitan Pizza. Thoroughly enjoyed the day and the group interaction. Would recommend.

Julia Eve

We were a group of four ladies (of a certain age) and we had the best time on our Pizza workshop. We leaned lots of interesting facts about flour, dough, wood fired ovens and fresh ingredients before getting stuck into the practical side and Giovanni, our teacher, made it so much fun. I feel like I have had a work out at the gym after all the kneading! The group was 8 in total which was small enough to have one-to-one help if needed and to have all our questions answered. The course took place in the bakery's working kitchen and all the staff were very helpful and pleasant. We ate a pizza each and took 3 pizza's home (to our drooling families). We all agreed we will make our own pizza dough in future and the Bakery sells everything you need to do that. I look forward to doing another course with the very knowledgeable and charming Giovanni. The bakery is easy to find and has a mountain of fresh bread and cakes, plenty of parking, a tea room and a sausage shop. A great day's entertainment. Would thoroughly recommend.

Vanessa Frankel

Very informative and fun! The pizza we made was really good. Thanks to Giovanni and his wife for all the passion and commitment which shone through.

Maria  Fuller 

We had a fantastic time on the pizza making course, lots of fun, delicious food and very interesting and informative. Thank you for a wonderful day!

Lucy Bostock

Fab day, Giovanni is an amazing tutor.  Highly recommend the course to any pizza lovers!