THE ARTISAN’S DAY OUT 

A unique event showcasing important artisanal skills for a dynamic and vibrant home culture. This event is limited to 10 people.

I will teach you how to make:

1. SALAMI: from cutting meat off the bone, to salami making math, how to prepare casings, how to mince, how to use a sausage stuffer, how to stuff, how to tie, hang, ferment and inoculate with Penicillium nalgiovense mould (these skills then lead beautifully into sausage making too).
2. SOURDOUGH: how to make a starter, how to make a leaven, Baker’s % math, Core bread baking steps, Bulk Fermentation know how, proofing, scoring, baking & equipment.
3. PRESERVING: the Boiling Water Bath Method, Fermenting Vegetables & Dehydrating (beef jerky, fruit pastes, fruit & vegetables).
4. CHEESE: sterilising equipment, heating milk, add starter culture, acidifying milk, separating curds from whey, salting, adding to moulds and ripening.
5. SOAP & ESSENTIAL OIL DISTILLATION: key soap making ingredients, how to work with caustic soda & why it’s an essential ingredient, how to make lye, how to use a soap making calculator, add colour, essential oils & texture followed by Pot and Column Lavender Distillation.

7am -7:10am Welcome to ORTO

7:10am – 7:35am- Visit Artisanal Stations & Meet the Makers, then spend dedicated time at each station – I will deliver all content & I will be supported at each station by an experienced demonstrator.

1. Salami: Start breaking down pork shoulder
2. Sourdough: Introduction to ingredients
3. Preserving: Introduction to substations: Boiling Water Bath, Fermentation, Dehydration
4. Cheese: Equipment sterilisation & heating milk
5. Soap: lard will be used to make soap, lavender will be distilled to make essential oil

7:40am – 8:40am Sourdough: Starter, Leaven, how to care for leaven, Baker’s % Math, Flours & Gluten & Nutrition, How to add ingredients, how to mix, Autolyse & Fermentolyse, kneading techniques (Stretch & Fold, Laminating, Slap & Fold, Palm Knead, Rubaud), Bulk Fermentation until 12:40pm then shaping.

8:40am – 9am Morning Tea

9am – 10:30am Salami: Separate silver skin, good fat, skin, and meat into separate buckets. Ingredients must be cold to prevent the fat from smearing during emulsification. Now for salami maths.

Mince, then emulsify until a patti sticks to your hand, add salt & pepper & fennel, wine until meat is wet through really well, stuffing, tying twice and pricking, then spray with Penicillium nalgiovense: then equipment discussion, where to source materials & salami math.

10:30am – 10:45am Walk through the garden

10:45am – 11:45am Preserving – Boiling Water Bath: used for making passata, jams and pickles, learn about acidity, elevation, sterilisation, Raw Pack & Hot Pack.

11:45am – 12:15pm Preserving – Fermenting: sterilise jars & lids, mix all ingredients, weigh, add salt at 2% of ingredient weight & rest for 15mins. Taste test ferments: black garlic, kimchi, beetroot an apple.

12:15pm – 12:45pm Preserving – Dehydrating: what you can dehydrate: fruit whole or halved (bananas), fruit roll ups, fruit paste, zucchini slices, tomatoes, meat: beef jerky or fish. Texture vs shelf life.

12:45pm – 1pm Sourdough: Inspect Bulk Fermentation, How to Divide, How to Shape, Proofing: what to look for. Proof until 3pm.

1pm-2pm Lunch fresh warm home-made flat breads and baked fillings.

2:10pm – 3:10pm Cheese: Sterilisation of equipment, Acidification & Rennet & their role in cheese making, curds & whey: how to cut and why. Culturing to create specific cheeses, the importance of the perfect cool curing space, ventilated and moist, the need for observation and good handling practices.

 3:10pm Sourdough Bake in Wood Fired Oven

3:15pm – 3:30pm How to Distil & Extract Essential Oil: using herbs from nature or your garden, essential oils extraction is a simple & wonderful process.

3:30pm – 4:15pm Soap Making: You can use over 100 oils or fats to make soap and if you have excess lard from salami making then using to cook with or to make beautiful hand made soap is a lovely skill to have. Add to it essential oil made from herbs from your garden and la vita becomes molto, molto, bella!

4:15pm Grab a loaf of sourdough, soaps and a pickle to take home.

4:20pm – 4:45pm Afternoon Tea for a safe drive home

This event will go ahead if we are able to secure adequate ticket sales. We ask for your generous understanding, should we be forced to cancel the event. Cancellation will occur 7 days before the event date & a full refund made.

It is absolutely crucial that you arrive on time. We have accomodation for 6 (two queen sized beds & one double bed on our farm), $230 per night for the Straw Cottage Accomodation queen beds, $150 per night for the farm stay apartment double bed accomodation. Email me  mara@villagedreaming.com.au for information and to make an accomodation booking.
Please note no refunds given once a booking has been made unless we are forced to cancel at our end.

Can’t wait to meet you!