Butternut Squash Day

The severe prevailing gales of the past three days has forced my loaf to lean to the East. And not just the loaf: Except the flour is leaning West. Could be something to do with Halloween. And it’s not a loaf, it’s a cake – a French savoury cake. Two or three weeks back, in […]

800g + 3%

A lot of people think that making sourdough is difficult. To be honest, the hardest part is making yourself refresh your starter before you go to bed after the odd glass of red wine. You think,”Nah, don’t really need to bake tomorrow. Can always leave it for another day …” And then in the morning, […]

Grands Moulins de Paris

Last week I was in Bordeaux to commemorate what would have been our 50th anniversary of living together (10 months now since Sue died). Often when we were in the city we would stroll along the pathway beside the mighty Garonne managing to avoid the breakneck speed of bikes, cargo bikes, scooters, skateboards, roller blades, […]

(Would have been) 50 Years

50 years ago today (Tuesday 13 October 2026), a Man With a Van took me and all my worldly belongings packed into a couple of tea chests (remember them? – they used to be compulsory) from Manchester to London via a number of markets on roughly the east side of the country. At the time, […]

Pepperoni Deluxe

Looks like it’s turning into pizza week. Same dough as last time, so its been in the fridge three days. Kev bought me a pack of spicy pepperoni, Peter Reinhart is on the bookshelf, so it must mean Pepperoni Deluxe. Still struggling with the right pan for an individual deep pan pizza (pizza is meant […]

Pizza Boscaiola

Thought I’d have another go at Pizza Boscaiola partly because I found it a bit fiddly the first time round but also because I had a surfeit of mushrooms. Whereas in most pizzas the base is spread with tomato sauce this uses a mushroom sauce and yet more mushrooms as a topping. It requires a […]

Skewiff

Most mistakes in baking are recoverable (unless you’re more interested in a perfect image over good bread. Personally, I hate to see rows of identical loaves.) My chum Rick thinks that the flour from the Maud Foster mill is so good that for years he has been driving all the way from from Carmarthen to […]

Scraps (#?)

This weekend I did a foolhardy thing. Sheila from round the corner and I were meeting up with friends, Chris and Hazel, who had left the area (nay, the country) about a quarter of a century ago, together with Chris’s daughter, Bron. This was part of Chris’s 80th birthday tour. We were supposed to be […]

The Best Wheat Tortillas

Sunday Lunch. Stacked Enchiladas. Three tortillas with a hastily improvised filling. An enchilada sauce – tin of tomatoes, onion, coriander, jalapeños, tomato purée slung in the blender and zapped. A layer of sauce on each tortilla topped with Waitrose serrano (pretty tasteless), chopped onion, grated cheese, soured cream. Baked at 180C for 15 minutes. Crowned […]

The Other Leg …

Pato a la Sevillana – Duck with Sherry and Green Olives Seville Style. Good caff this …