Cooking or culinary holidays, vacations, tours in Italy:

Off the beaten track
. . . artisan bread making in Tuscany

Not everyone can make artisan bread. It's something special, requiring a knowledge of mixing, kneading, fermenting, shaping and baking. Only then can you produce a well textured, aromatic, delicious loaf of bread.

Join our master bakers in rural Tuscany and learn the secrets of baking English and European breads. You'll use fresh local ingredients to bake everything from sourdough to Italian delicacies.

Fresh-baked bread is an essential introduction to every meal. Learn skills that will make you an artisan baker in your own home.

Artisan Bread School offers five day in-depth courses as well as two and three day courses.

Artisan Bread School was established by Carl Shavitz to help revive the art of bread making. He has brought together some of Europe's top bakers to teach students how to bake delicious, nutritious and healthy artisan breads in their own kitchens.

The School's hands-on courses will specialize in European and English breads - sourdoughs, as well as a wide-range of English and Italian specialties like focaccia, olive bread and ciabatta.

Set in the rural Tuscan village of Mercatale di Cortona, in the Val de Pierle, students live in surroundings that will take them back to another time and place.

Artisan Bread School is offering a variety of courses in May 2008

• Five day in-depth classes

• Two and three day course

Time permitting we will visit local markets to buy ingredients for the breads, as well as food for breakfasts and lunches - Mercatale and Umbertide on Wednesdays, Camucia on Thursdays, Cortona on Saturdays.

There is swimming at Lake Trasimeno and at public swimming pools in Cortona, Camucia and Umbertide.

Tuscany has endless places to visit depending on your interests.

Photo David Johnson Cambridgeshire Journal September 2007

FIVE DAY IN-DEPTH COURSES
with Emmanuel Hadjiandreou
Monday 19th May to Friday 23rd May 2008

Instructor: Emmanuel Hadjiandreou, multi-award winning artisan baker of Judge's Bakery in Hastings, Sussex, UK.

This course is designed for home bakers and those interested in learning the craft of artisan bread making.

The course will cover:

• Working with fresh yeast
• Fermentation basics
• Mixing, kneading and shaping a loaf
• Making a sourdough and a sponge
• Making different loaves with a wide variety of flours
• Ingredients that complement the bread
• Baking bread in a wood-fired oven

THREE AND TWO DAY COURSES
with Carl Shavitz

Dates to be agreed, please contact the Director with your request - carl@artisan-bread-school.com

Instructor: Carl Shavitz, Director of the Artisan Bread School and artisan baker

Three day course
Students will make focaccia, ciabatta, rustic sourdoughs, sourdough olive bread, yeasted loaves, plain white loaves using an overnight sponge and more. You will learn about controlling temperature variations, moulding and other techniques that can be used to bake artisan breads at home.

Two day course
Students will make focaccia, ciabatta, as well as rustic sourdoughs. In just two days, learn about controlling temperature variations, moulding and other techniques that can be used to bake artisan breads at home.

Carl Shavitz
	School Director. Artisan baker supplying restaurants and specialty shops. Trained at Ballymaloe, County Cork Ireland and The Village Bakery, Melmerby, Cumbria. Worked at The Three Crowns Inn, Herefordshire UK before starting his own business.
Emmanuel Hadjiandreou
	In 2004 while head baker at Daylesford Organic Farm Shop, in Gloucestershire, Emmanuel created his sourdough bread, which won the Soil Association award. He started his baking career in South Africa and qualified as both a baker and pastry chef. Coming to London he concentrated on bread and started working at the Savoy Hotel, with Anton Edelmann, later moving on to work with Gordon Ramsay. From there Emmanuel joined his wife working with Matt Jones, at Flour Power, using organic ingredients making bread in an artisan, handcrafted manner. He now lives in Hastings in East Sussex where he and his wife have a bakery on the High Street in the Old Town.

Mercatale di Cortona

Artisan Bread School's 2008 courses will take place on the beautiful estate of La Macchia in the village of Mercatale di Cortona in Tuscany.

Mercatale is a small agricultural village at the southern end of the Val di Pierle. The valley was scene of the Roman defeat by Hannibal at the battle of Trasimeno.

Mercatale di Cortona is 20 km from Cortona, 220 km from Rome, 122 km from Florence, 90 km from Siena, 55 km from Assisi, 50 km from both Montepulciano and Perugia. Mercatale is to the east of Cortona and north of Lago Trasimeno.

There are three banks with ATMs, a mini-supermarket, a wine shop, pizzeria, bakery, butcher and several bars.

La Macchia Estate

La Macchia lies on the edge of Mercatale di Cortona. The family has farmed the land for hundreds of years and continues to do so today.

The Estate sits on a hill overlooking the valley, surrounded by trees. Its ancient and simply restored buildings incorporate Etruscan and later rural architecture, providing agriturismo-style accommodation. There is a large pond that can be used for swimming.

La Macchia was selected as the site for Artisan Bread School because it evokes a time when artisan bread-making was the norm rather than the exception. Free of modern distractions, it provides the feel of a simpler time.

Olive oil used for Artisan Bread School classes will come from the estate's 3,000 olive trees. An olive oil tasting will be included in the course.

Each evening, an authentic home-cooked meal of Umbrian dishes will be prepared in the Villa and delivered to one of the houses of accommodation. Meals will be served with Estate produced wine.

Accommodation is modest and rustic. Rooms do not have private bathrooms.