Hands-On Sourdough Class in Monrovia Jan 26 with Take-Home Starter and Loaf

A hands-on sourdough baking class at Sauté Culinary Academy in Monrovia on Jan 26, 2026 gave local bakers practical training in building and maintaining a sourdough starter, plus shaping and scoring skills to take into the home kitchen. The evening session began at 6:00 pm and focused on repeatable, professional techniques that help turn home bakes into consistent loaves.

Instructors led participants through starter creation and maintenance, explaining the daily rhythms and feeding practices needed to keep a culture active and usable. The curriculum emphasized shaping and scoring, giving bakers time at the workbench to form boules or bâtards and practice blade work for controlled oven spring. The class was explicitly hands-on; attendees mixed, handled dough, and left with a jar of starter ready for ongoing care as well as a baked loaf to study for crumb, crust, and oven spring.

The practical value was immediate. Newer bakers gained a living starter rather than a recipe alone, removing the barrier of establishing fermentation from scratch. More experienced home bakers refreshed technique and practiced tactile skills that are hard to learn from videos alone, such as achieving even tension in shaping and consistent scoring depth to control how a loaf opens in the oven. Bringing a finished loaf home also provides a physical benchmark for crumb structure and crust to compare against later bakes.

This class reinforced community connections in Monrovia’s baking scene by offering in-person instruction at a time when many neighborhood groups return to hands-on learning. Sauté Culinary Academy positioned the session for people who want direct guidance on maintenance routines and troubleshooting a living starter, rather than a purely demonstration-style workshop.

For bakers tracking technique, the class covered the critical touchpoints that influence a sourdough bake: starter health and timing, dough handling during bulk fermentation, and final shaping and scoring that determine oven spring. Having a take-home starter means participants can practice those stages at home while referencing the loaf they baked in class.

The event’s format, small-group, practical, and anchored by a tangible takeaway, helps bakers convert theory into repeatable results. For Monrovia residents who want similar instruction, check Sauté Culinary Academy for future class dates and consider bringing a digital kitchen scale, proofing basket, and a floured couche to speed the transition from classroom loaf to reliable home bake.