Twisted Carrot Farm launches beginner sourdough workshop series in Richmond

Twisted Carrot Farm is betting that sourdough beginners want hands-on help, not another video rabbit hole. The farm’s 101 class is built to take people through the whole process in about two hours, with sessions set for May 1, May 8 and May 15 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 6110 Lakeside Ave. in Henrico.

Sarah Hoffman framed the workshop as a start-to-finish primer for people who have wanted to try sourdough but never quite known where to begin. That approach is part of a broader shift in baking education, where the instruction is moving beyond traditional bakery counters and into farms, markets and other community spaces that can host a class, a purchase and a conversation in the same visit.

At Twisted Carrot Farm, that model fits the business. The woman-owned operation says it launched in spring 2021 and runs on less than an acre in Hanover County. Its offerings stretch well beyond bread, with ferments, preserves, baked goods, herbal remedies and other small-batch products tied to a farm-to-table mission and low-waste kitchen practices.

The sourdough series also fits the site itself. Twisted Carrot Farm says its indoor collaborative market at Lakeside Farmers’ Market hosts more than 30 vendors, and the farm says it facilitates, organizes and promotes workshops there. That makes the sourdough class less like a one-off demonstration and more like part of a repeatable learning pipeline, the kind that can draw the same beginner back for a second class or a shopping trip.

For home bakers, the appeal is obvious. Sourdough asks for patience, a living starter and a better feel for fermentation than many first-time bakers already have. Packaging those first steps into a two-hour class lowers the barrier to entry and gives people a way to learn in real time, with a teacher nearby instead of a search bar.

That is why the workshop series matters beyond one farm in Richmond. It shows how sourdough has become less of an expert-only project and more of a weekday skill people want to master with help. Twisted Carrot Farm is reading that demand clearly, and filling multiple beginner sessions in one month suggests the market for guided bread-making is still growing.