People always told me that making bread was meditative. And, in theory, I got it. Mixing four ingredients in a bowl, mindfully kneading the dough and leaving it to rise, in peace, somewhere warm… it really did sound lovely.

But I had always found this not to be the case. In my small home kitchen, making a loaf of bread is monotonous at best and utter chaos at worst. There’s flour everywhere; the dough sticks to my hands more determinedly than superglue; I don’t do enough weight training to comfortably knead a 2lb loaf to the “windowpane” stage so many recipes demand.

Now, in an airy room with rustic plaster and views out onto southern Spain’s Sierra Nevada, my mind is being well and truly changed. “The thing about sourdough,” says Finn, one of our baking teachers for the week, “is that there’s no kneading.” I breathe a sigh of relief. Is this why people love sourdough so much? I wonder. No arm DOMS?

“I went on a week-long baking retreat. Here’s everything I learned about sourdough (and switching off)”