One of most curious things about the Covid lockdown is the way it has got so many people - men as well as women - baking bread. Early on, shoppers were stripping supermarket shelves of flour and if you’ve tried to buy a sachet of instant yeast recently then you’ll know how hard that is to come by.

But breadmaking, despite being one of the oldest cookery skills around, is still a puzzle for many and sourdough simply a step too far. Step up Georgie Revill who has taken it upon herself to demystify it.

Banging the drum for local Manx produce is nothing new for Georgie.

She has been holding cookery sessions, centred around local ingredients, at her home in Bride for the last eight years.

Her purpose-built kitchen venue, The Cook Shack, is currently closed due to the virus.

Her daughter, Lydia, is quarantined in there following a nightmare eight-week trip home from Fiji where she was stranded when it all kicked off.

Georgie is unsure when, or even if, she will reopen it.

The logistics of social distancing go against the whole ethos of her classes which are, she says: ’all about partying and enjoying each other’s company.’

But right now Georgie is still finding plenty to do: at the height of the lockdown she was delivering food to vulnerable neighbours.

She also set up a table outside her house and filled it with all sorts of goodies which people could pick up and then pay for online.

’So many amazing things are coming out of this,’ she says. One of them has been the sourdough fest currently burning up social media pages: it’s a rare day now when you check your posts and there isn’t a photo of a mouth-watering, freshly-baked loaf posted somewhere.

To make it easy for even more people to join in, Georgie has just set up a Facebook page, Manx Bread Matters, where more than 100 people are already sharing the results of their kneading, proving and baking.

She says: ’I really wanted to support the Mill. All my friends across are saying that they can’t even get hold of flour.

’We have been so fortunate. It’s a great feeling to be able to support and, if we all support, we help local jobs too.’

If you’ve ever tried making a sourdough starter (to use instead of yeast) you’ll know that conventional wisdom says you have to discard a bit each day before ’feeding’ it with more flour and water.

Georgie’s method is different.

She says: ’I don’t throw any away and it works so well. It’s like looking after another person - and the excitement when it all starts to bubble!

’I’ve had amazing messages on Facebook and that’s better than any financial reward. It’s so lovely because it’s just giving inspiration to other people - people are needing inspiration right now.

’We’ve got to keep this going in some way.’

Her own inspiration comes from all around her cottage in Bride which is surrounded by wheat fields stretching down to the Ayres.

She says: ’We see the combines working in the fields and we see the wheat going down to Laxey Mill.

’It’s not been grown alongside some motorway and then sent to a huge agricultural co-operative.

’We have to get across how pristine and how pollution-free our local produce is - that’s huge and is worth so much.’

â?¢ You can take a sourdough starter journey with Georgie and then learn how to bake a loaf with it by following the series of day-by-day videos she has put up on The Cook Shack page on Facebook.

To see some of the results others have been getting and for tips, go onto the Manx Bread Matters page.

Breadmaking demystified

It doesn’t have to be sourdough: you can make a very nice loaf using a sachet of instant yeast instead.

The reason so many people have turned to sourdough has been due to the fact that yeast is currently very hard to come by in the shops.

It also seems to suit the slower pace of life many of us have been living during lockdown.

For an easy, everyday loaf using instant yeast here are some general tips:

â?¢ You can use all white flour or granary or wholemeal or a mix.

If you’re using wholemeal be aware that it takes longer to rise and you’ll probably get a better result with half white and half wholemeal.

â?¢ The important thing about flour is always to use one that is labelled ’strong’ for breadmaking.

Laxey flour is exceptionally good and has no additives, unlike flour from the UK.

â?¢ You don’t have to do all the kneading yourself: you can get a perfectly good result using a food mixer with a dough hook.

â?¢ The other important thing, once it has been kneaded, is giving your dough a chance to rise: put it in a lightly-oiled bowl somewhere warm and leave it until at least double the size.

Then tip it out onto a floured surface and give it a quick kneading to knock out the air or you’ll get big holes in your loaf when you bake it.

Then put it in a lightly-oiled loaf tin, cover with lightly-oiled cling film and leave it to rise again until it has a nicely rounded dome above the tin.

â?¢ Bake it according to your recipe instructions in a preheated oven until the crust is nicely browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Turn out onto a wire rack and cover with a tea towel until it cools before cutting into it.

Meanwhile, Georgie has also been making Manx sourdough crackers with rosemary, which are available for £3 a packet.

Perfect with some goat’s cheese, available in various styles from Isle of Man Goat Farm.