Coshocton sourdough workshop draws more than 50 home bakers

More than 50 people showed up in Coshocton County for Art & Science of Sourdough: Let’s Get Breaducated, a beginner workshop hosted by Emily Marrison and taught by Corinna Gromley, the Family and Consumer Sciences Educator in Carroll County. The turnout gave the class a clear message: sourdough is still drawing real crowds, not just casual clicks.

Ohio State University Extension framed the session as a beginner’s sourdough journey, with Gromley walking participants through a variety of yeast breads and baking methods. The workshop also included tastings of several yeast bread types, turning the class into a hands-on introduction instead of a lecture about bread theory. That format fit the practical, food-focused mission of OSU Extension’s Family and Consumer Sciences program, which offers research-based fact sheets and reliable information on food and food safety.

The appeal of sourdough reaches beyond one county classroom. Bread has been a major food since prehistoric times, and sourdough itself relies on natural fermentation from wild yeasts and bacteria. Smithsonian has noted that ancient Egyptians were making leavened bread thousands of years ago, and in 2019 it reported on bread made with 4,500-year-old Egyptian yeast. The Coshocton workshop sat squarely in that older tradition, even as it answered a very current appetite for from-scratch baking.

That is what made the crowd matter. A room with more than 50 home bakers in Coshocton did not look like a niche hobby meetup. It looked like a local audience still wants the kind of in-person instruction that turns curiosity about sourdough into a usable kitchen skill, one loaf and one tasting at a time.