Sour Flour

Fun class and very knowledgeable teacher!
Cat definitely knows what she is doing. The class is informative, interactive and absolutely something I will recommend to friends and family.
My Favorite Things:
Interactive — you get in and get messy! Not for neat freaks.
Academic — Cat (briefly) goes into the science of bread making. The class did not ask a million questions, but if we had, I have no doubt she would have answered each question with the same bright energy and clear knowledge that she showed throughout the entire class.
You get to eat — I love eating, I love bread and I love making bread I get to eat! At the end of the class, we get to eat what we made. Who doesn’t love that?
Bottom Line — WORTH IT and YOU SHOULD GO!

I just took a class with Sour Flour. Cat, our teacher was great and very friendly. We learned the basics of sourdough bread making, got to bake our own little flat breads, and left with a starter that we learned how to ‘feed’ so that we can keep experimenting and baking at home. The location at la Victoria bakery in the mission was super easy to walk to from the 24^th & Mission Bart stop. I definitely recommend it, glad groupon featured the class.

We had an awesome time learning to make Sourdough starters/​loafs. We also learned a lot about the wild fermentation process and the differences between naturally fermented bread and yeast-​added bread. Super informative, engaging, and hands-​on. Cat was wonderful. Very knowledgeable but down-​to-​earth. She was really helpful in answering questions, describing the process in layman terms, and giving us all some practice so that we felt equipped to try it out on our own at home. The bread was delicious, the process was a blast, and the bakery was awesome. Highly recommend!

EXCELLENT WORKSHOP!
In brief: Cat is the real deal — a down to earth, wild yeast enthusiast who clearly exhibits her passion for baking bread as she shares her knowledge and wisdom with the class. We took home a container with ~110 grams of starter (8+ years of flavor in the making!) as well as our own piece of sourdough flatbread (or whatever was left after snacking on it at the end!).
For more detail:
— A friend found the Groupon for the Starter Workshop Bread-​Making Class which offered two spots for a total of $ 79 — how could we pass it up?! (Options for one or four were also available.)
— We walked into La Victoria just before 3:00pm to find a sign for Sour Flour with a sign-​in sheet and nametags in the back seating area. Cat came out a little after 3, probably to allow people to straggle in, to greet us and take us to the back where we would be working.
— Just like the email said, it was WARM back there, so dressing in layers was great advice, seeing as how it was chilly and drizzly outside. There was a bin for bags/​purses and rack with hangers for jackets, all right near the work area, so they were safe.
— Cat had us wash our hands, and then gather around a large work table so she could teach us some of the history and basic science involved in sourdough preparation, and then we got into working some dough! Questions were welcome and encouraged throughout the entire session.
— The rest of the time was a mix of us working the dough together (first half) or individually (second half), and Cat giving us more information about how to care for, nurture, develop, and use our starter.
— We ended up with our own small rounds of dough, which we formed as flatbread in shapes as we pleased and topped with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and salt before Cat set them in the oven.
— Once they were done, we regrouped out in the back seating area (where we began) and feasted on our flatbread with spinach, arugala, olive oil, and grated cheese! It was great!
I would highly recommend this to anyone who’s curious about making bread and/​or to anyone who just wants to broaden their culinary experience! Cat also sends out a handout to recap what she taught, along with a few other online resources.
ALSO — $$ because you DO spend more than $ 10 per person, but for a workshop like this, it is definitely more like $ when compared to other workshops and classes! It’s a two-​hour session packed with information, demonstrations, hands-​on activity, and tasting. With the Groupon, it’s SUPER affordable!

Cat was a great teacher! She’s very approachable, knowledgeable, and encouraging, and also let us bring home some of her starter. Highly recommended!

I took the sourdough starter class and it was great. Cat was super knowledgeable about sourdough and explained everything about the care and maintenance of the starter. We went home and made the best sourdough pancakes I’ve ever had the next morning.

Cat seems like someone born to teach. She has lots of knowledge to share and makes the class fun and easy. It’s a bonus to be able to take home some of her well tended sourdough starter for your own baking.

I took a class yesterday and it was awesome! Cat approaches bread baking with all the technical info and theory, which makes it interesting! I cant wait to use the starter I got in class to bake bread!

What a great time my husband and I had at Cat’s Pizza making class. It was very hands-​on and informative and now we get to try it at home as we have the sourdough starter. Fun date night, girls night or family activity. Great gift to give that cook in your life. Highly recommend.

My wife and I were looking for something different to do while vacationing in San Francisco. We came across Sour Flour and their sourdough class. We loved it. With what we learned in the class, the starter that Cat sent us home with, and the follow up instructions, we have just made our first two loaves. They turned out awesome. It’s just like the fancy expensive artisan bread we buy in the store. It won’t take long to get our money back in savings on bread!!! I highly recommend Sour Flour.

Another «date» day for us — what a great workshop and enthusiastic instructor!
Cat knows and loves her bread. Class was interesting and fun, the flatbread we made was yummy, and we took home starters that the kids named Jeremy and Meredith (gave Meredith to MIL). Lots of fun!
Hard to find street parking (I circled a couple of times) but go early to get a spot, explore the neighborhood, and grab some pastries from La Victoria Bakery (the workshop is in the back of the bakery).

Cat is an enthusiastic instructor who guides you through the basics of sour dough starter, dough making and shaping by clear directions coupled with hands-​on participation. You leave with a starter of your own and a baked flat bread that you made during class. Everyone who wants to make their own sour dough bread at home will be launched by this class.

After taking the Sourdough Starter class a few months ago, I reached out to Cat to set up a pizza making workshop for my sister’s bachelorette party. Cat was super responsive and a pleasure to work with.
Last weekend we took the pizza workshop and had a blast! It was so great to have a private session for the 8 of us and Cat was a fantastic instructor. She was fun, patient, and very interactive. All of the girls had an amazing time and the bride-​to-​be was especially impressed with the workshop. I would definitely recommend Sour Flour for anyone looking for a fantastic private cooking event. Thank you Cat for a great time!

I took the sourdough starter class on my birthday this past Sunday at La Victoria Bakery with my cousin. The instructor was Dan and he was great! I highly recommend this if you’re interested in bread. You learn a lot and it’s really hands on. The note about it being warm is very, very true. It was notably hot this past weekend, so it was a scorcher in there. You end the class with your own hand-​shaped flatbread and another sourdough sample with olive oil.
You get to make and take your own starter home too! Looking forward to baking some really soon…

As a self-​taught bread maker, the sourdough starter class was just what I needed. It was hands-​on instruction and everyone in the class made bread from the bakery’s starter. We learned how to proportion and mix the ingredients. While the bread rose between kneadings, our instructor gave us alot of information on caring for starter and techniques on how to handle the dough. She also talked about variation recipes like pancakes and pizza crust. The class lasted about two hour and ended with a group lunch using the breads that we all made.
Everyone in the class was given a batch of starter. I’ve used mine to make bread and pancakes very successfully.
It was a lot of fun, very instructive and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to learn how to make sourdough bread.

Fun and informative class
But WAY TOO HOT for a 3 hour class. We learned how to make a bread starter and all participated in making ONE batch of bread. But it was tasty!

In all honestly, I don’t cook much. But, my roomie does so when it came time to find that special person who has everything something for their bday? I went with a cooking class!
Come cooking class day, everyone introduces themselves and their level of cooking and baking. Everyone’s pretty much a pro, except me. But, that’s cool. Cat makes the class fun, getting everyone in there, mushing and stretching and kneading, etc, etc.
Overall, I think it was definitely a great experience. I didn’t realize all the work that goes into a great sourdough bread and all the logistics behind it. Will I ever use my starter? Probably not. Would I take another class? Definitely.

Fun class! Little too advanced for me when they went into theory. Kitchen gets really hot, so wear something comfortable like a wifebeater. Two hours later, basically paid $ 80 to make and eat some bread. You do get to keep the starter flour if you wanted to make more bread. Mmmmm… I think I’ll pick up some Pillsbury Grands instead.
For the love of date nights??? (
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Either way, here’s my sourdough shark bread! What!!! (
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These classes are awesome. I used a Groupon and I was a big fan of the class and thought it was a good value, but I must admit, at $ 85/​class I don’t think I’ll be returning. $ 85/​per person per class is very, very pricey, and I can’t justify spending so much on a few hours doing something one could do at home for a few dollars while watching some youtube videos. Cat is very knowledgable and pleasant, but she does seem to have a tendency to get off topic fairly often. Sometimes basic questions were answered with complex and tangential answers. Other than that, it was a great experience and I’ve already recommended it to a few friends. It won’t be something I do regularly at the current price point, though.

Haven’t been back, but just wanted to say, I took the sour starter class with cat just about a year ago and since I’ve made so much sourdough and had rave reviews. I even made 12 loaves at one time for my friends wedding! I’ve taken my starter with me to 7000ft and baked sourdough there too! Thanks for getting me hooked!