Nan-e Barbari

This bread recipe comes from The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook by Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez which I’ve had since it was published in 2015. The Hot Bread Kitchen is a New York bakery that trains immigrant women and, if they want to progress, helps them set up their own businesses. I am very fond of the […]

Huevos Rancheros Pizza

Bought my first Mexican cookbook in 1984 in a shopping precinct in Shepherds Bush that don’t exist any more. Around then there were a few approximate Mexican restaurants and a couple of TexMex places in London one of which, off the top of Charing Cross Road, was called “Borderline” or “Break for the Border” – […]

St Patrick 2023

First soda bread for years. Sort of followed Dan Lepard’s Waterford Soda Bread recipe from The Handmade Loaf with a few modifications. So it went: Wholemeal Wheat Flour 300gOats 50g (substituted for fine oatmeal)Butter 20gBaking Soda 1tspSalt ½tspSugar 1tspYoghurt 200g (substituted for buttermilk)Milk 200g I greased a shallow 8 inch cake tin with butter and […]

The White Welly Boys

Friday was Carrie Rimes’ birthday. It was also supposed to be the Grand Opening of Llaethdy Gwyn, Carrie’s new dairy, but a last minute four inches of snow meant that things had to be scaled back a bit. But the band played on. Excellent performance by Vri appearing, for contractual reasons, in heavy disguise as […]

Dewi Sant 2023

As you will be aware, 01 March is St David’s Day, Dydd Dewi Sant, patron saint of Wales. Wales’ national day and we don’t even get a public holiday (although Charlie boy is getting an additional one to have his crown fitted later in the year). This is what we call democracy. This year’s Focaccia […]

Unreal Bread @ 2K

Unreal? This is a 2 Kilo loaf of real bread. But it’s not Real Bread because that term (complete with capital letters) was appropriated by the Real Bread Campaign in, if I remember rightly, 2008 – a year after I set up my microbakery. Never mind your fancy stuff, this is the bread that really […]

Big Heart

Valentine’s 2023 Brioche Card Sparkle in the fridge …

On the Beet

I know I’m going on about this, but as well as tasting so good, this bread is stunning to look at. Can you imagine not being impressed with your own bread? What would be the point of continuing to bake? How could you offer it to other people (for sale or as a gift), not […]

Beet This

Beetbrot – yes, I know we’ve been here several times before but this one is particularly spectacular. I have a very useful little trade with Carrie, Bethesda’s star cheese maker (Cosyn Cymru). She supplies me with cheese and yoghurt that she thinks are not quite saleable and I supply her with the odd loaf of […]

Pork Enchiladas

Rate my plate. Sunday lunch. Pork Enchiladas, Guacamole, Rice, Frijoles Refritos, Quick Pickled Onions. Even though the pork was left over from another meal and the beans had already been cooked, there’s a lot of work here. At 10.00 a.m. I was well into prepping. The phone rang and I ignored it. Getting on for […]