For Ted

For Ted, my Brother-in-Law, whose funeral we went to on Friday: I met one of my Nieces at the bar after and she said “Your Sue here?” which I heard as “You still here?” which as I remarked is a nice thing to say at a funeral. We died laughing …

In Knots

Passover was coincidental. Steffi next door has had her tonsils liberated and was in need of soft bread plus I wanted to try a single braid challah. Well it was going to be two loaves but I promise you I was totally unable to repeat a figure of eight knot and the dough was getting […]

Marcus’ Masterpiece

Was passing through Chester on Tuesday where us country folk pop into the huge Waitrose to marvel at all the goods on display for the city sophisticates. What do I spy on the cut-price shelves? And what does Dark Wheat Beer remind me of? Marcus Row’s Red Onion and Dark Wheat Beer Bread – a […]

Converting Yeast to Sourdough

Just had an email from Jeff, a recent student, saying that his breadmaking had really come on since doing the course. Feedback like that always cheers me up greatly but this time I also felt a pang of guilt. Why? because I said I’d covert his favourite recipe to sourdough and several weeks later it […]

Dear Mr Ottolenghi …

… and other food writers who in the course of their recipes say, “serve with a slice/chunk/loaf of sourdough.” Two sourdough loaves; on the left chocolate brioche, on the right Pain de Campagne. So, dear food writer, how do I know which one to choose?

Casey Jones

I got this arrangement with my friend Jeremy in New York. Every ten years he sends me a new Casey Jones hat. I have to say I look in worse condition than the original hat. Thank you Jeremy. Hope you can make this year’s Bethesdabakin’ – still waiting for news from the London Committee.

Guardian Supermarket “Sourdough” Review

You might have seen in last week’s Guardian there was a review of that stuff that the supermarkets label as sourdough: click So I banged off a letter on 31 March and much to my amazement it popped up today: The online version is here and has a link to the 2007 article written by […]

Gert’s Last Bake

Boohoo! I tell you, the guy is so busy being wined and dined during his last days in the UK, he forgot to collect his bread. Mind you, he was very prompt arriving at 9.30 a.m. next day. He was being a bit defensive with me calling the breads “weird Dutch sourdough” pointing out that […]

Gert Vos

This is my birthday present from our friend Gert. Note the orange tamarillos and the glaze of the little pot. The significance is that oren means orange in Dutch and Welsh, and Oren is the name that Gert gave to his restaurant in Caernarfon. Gert is a very singular Dutch chef. I first came across […]

Monkey Bread

Like I said, go out and buy The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Monkey Bread – must practice my braiding. Plus Conchas. Challah buns with chocolate hats. Who needs Hot Cross Buns?