Koroit Library - Author Talk - The Baker's Percentage

Mara Ripani, author of 'The Baker's Percentage' will be presenting information about her book and how to make your own sourdough at home at Koroit Library on June 20th, at 10:30 am

 

You'll learn more about the Baker's Percentage and why it is so helpful for making your own bread.

Sourdough bread baking can appear very difficult when you are only taught one way of baking.
But when you are shown that multiple approaches exist, it becomes super accessible.
Take leaven (starter) for example, it can seem so mysterious, and yet it’s just wet flour.
And when people talk about feeding a starter all they mean is ‘add to it more flour and water’.
Often home bakers are led to believe you must feed the starter every day, an onerous task, and yet it can be fed as little as once a month.

I want to make sourdough baking more accessible, because the bread made is very delicious, highly nutritious, and so much cheaper.

My talk introduces participants to:

• What sourdough is and why it is called sourdough

• What is meant by the Bake’s Percentage: a simple formula that allows bakers to create their own recipes

• How to care for your leaven

• Answer questions from the audience

• Give away a dollop of my leaven to participants that bring their own jars

• Share some of my home-made bread with cheese

I love building community, I adore teaching, and I especially love helping others find solutions quickly. I teach cooking, garden design and passive solar building design skills: kitchen, garden, home.  

I love watching barriers fall away as you come to understand how to achieve a certain goal thanks to the help of others.

I worked as a community development coordinator for many years: always in the social justice meets environmental advocacy space. I worked for CERES Environment Park, RMIT University, and Local Government, Have contribute to ReNew, Sanctuary & PIP magazines.  

I love sharing my Italian culture and language and hence have thrived working in roles that encourage others to share their exquisite culture: at CERES Environment Park I coordinated projects that invited ethnic communities to develop beautiful visual arts and music projects as well as stunning large scale community theatre that celebrated multiculturalism and environmental conservation values.  

Now at my cooking school called Village Dreaming, I once again bring communities together to learn various artisanal skills such as bread baking, salami, pasta and gnocchi making, food preserving and fermenting. 

Our property called ORTO, is imbedded in rich conservation values, showcased through our many wildlife corridor plantings, biodiverse wetland, native wildflower plantings and bee gardens. 

I host tours of our property, cooking classes, farm stay guests, & local and international volunteers at our property in Blampied. From my kitchen table I travel the world as stories of place and culture are shared. I started baking bread about 15 years ago, and I can’t stop because it’s way too much fun, too delicious and a lovely yeasty microbial companion.

 

When

Location

Koroit Library, 102 High Street, Koroit, 3282, View Map