Getting back to the basics of bread-making on Heir Island

CROSSING water in gale-force winds, we are assured the return journey will be calmer.

Six of us, hardy travellers, are heading to Heir Island in West Cork to get back to the basics of bread-making. In Ireland we eat 57kg of bread per capita each year, most of it made in vast bakeries at great speed.

In the warm ambience of a kitchen still reeking of yesterday’s baking class, we are eager to learn. Patrick Ryan opened the Firehouse Bakery last June and his day-long bread-making courses are already booked up until the autumn. On Fridays and Saturdays, the day starts with delicious coffee and cake before we roll up our sleeves and get down to the business of kneading dough.

Patrick explains the health benefits of sourdough, and how and why it tastes better than factory-made bread.

“The ‘improvers’ added to bread allow it to be made quickly and stored for weeks. For bread to have a decent taste the yeast needs to take its time developing, and then for it to react with the flour to lighten and develop further.”

Sourdough might take a week or two to be ready for use and then needs to be ‘fed’ with added flour and water. Bakers often have sourdough starters that originated ten years ago. However, regular fresh yeast is used here for other types of bread, and Patrick isn’t against the use of dried yeast for the home cook.

Each of us is given a big white plastic bowl and a small bowl of ready fermented sourdough which we add to the big bowl along with salt. We are given permission to use machines to knead dough at home, but here it’s a bicep-toning 20-minute workout. Patrick comes around, masterfully inspecting our efforts. He cuts off a piece of dough and allows it to hang from his hands like a piece of pizza dough, to see if he can see through it without tearing — the window pane test.

Not competitive as a group of friends, we listen to remarks given to each other. We all want our dough to be well-developed and smooth. And as soon as possible so we can give our arms a rest. We leave our dough in labelled containers under the table, wash down the table and move on to another range of breads, each of us making a different type. Mine was wild garlic made from the green leaves picked on the island that morning. Another made focaccia, another fig, raisin and rosemary soda bread, another butternut squash and cheddar soda, another baguettes. New to me is Tiger bread, made with yeast and finished with a paste called Poolish — a mix of rice and rye flours with yeast, which in the oven splits to give it its striped appearance.

Coffee and delicious hummus, beetroot salad, spicy crackers, and some sweet treats are our reward for the second lot of kneading. Back in the kitchen after the break, we knock back our yeast breads, prodding the air pockets out of the dough, and leave them for another rising while we make sweet treats — chocolate and raspberry brownies, Guinness chocolate cake, cookies and muffins. Then the big moment comes to put our mark on our sourdough loaves. With a blade we etch our distinguishing mark such as an initial or a simple X, as we would have throughout the centuries when bread was cooked in communal village ovens. Our bread is slid from its long-handled peel into the clay wood-fired oven outside. Made from reclaimed brick from the Mallow sugar factory, the dome delivers our offerings 40-60 minutes later, the wind whistling as we stand in awe. We heave with pride as each swollen loaf appears, golden and glorious. We sit down for a glass of wine and lunch prepared by Galway girl Laura Moore whose former family holiday home houses the school. With Patrick, she also runs the sailing school there, as well as bed and breakfast accommodation. She and Patrick are opening a bakery, coffee house, restaurant and grocery in Delgany, Co Wicklow on Wednesday. A former corporate lawyer, Patrick’s chef training in GMIT and Thornton’s Restaurant, Dublin, dovetails with Laura’s degree and experience in hotel and catering management.

The sun bursts through so we manage a walk around, to appreciate the unspoilt pathways and vistas of Heir Island, where 27 people live permanently. The ferry then takes us back to Cunnamore pier and we are happy. A satisfying day.

* The day-long course costs €110 per person, including lunch, snacks and taking away what you make.