I just ordered a book by Paul Hollywood. It’s only costing me £1.90 (and my reputation) but I thought you might be a bit surprised. In my defence let me say that I’m only doing it in the interests of research. Last weekend I ran an Intro to Sourdough course for a guy called Jeff. […]

Read More Are You Sitting Down?

This is my idea of bread: Two kilos, 40+ hours fermentation/prove, 87% hydration, 100% wholemeal. The rest is confetti. Next I’m going to sprout me some grain. (Logs courtesy of Jay & Gill)

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Weak excuses for a drink: Beautiful if freezing sunny day yesterday. Our good neighbour Steffi toiling away in her garden. Do you fancy a Mojito about 1.00p.m.? We’ve got too much mint. So I’m prepping lunch for about 2.00p.m. We gather at 1.00p.m. as arranged and sip a leisurely 2oz cocktail. Anyone fancy another? I […]

Read More 5 O’Clock Lunch

This is sort of a response to the diabetes thing – how to cut down on the volume of bread without cutting down on bread. Gives me an excuse to look again at flatbreads and crackers: When I’ve needed lavash previously I’ve just toasted split pita breads – never seen them custom made before. But […]

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A lot of people seemed to think that Legsie was better looking than yesterdays loaf. So here for you is Bethesdabakers pest control officer in her best winter coat:

Read More Legs II

What a trial having to eat whole meal bread!! Haven’t done this for a while. Me (in reflection), the noble Legs and Wholemeal Pain a l’Ancienne. Hard living with diabetes. Method here

Read More Wholemeal Pain a l’Ancienne

That’s what Nurse Bethan said yesterday and Hilary, the pharmacist who makes bread herself said, “Moderation in all things. You don’t do moderation though do you Mick?”. The thought of having an immoderate image cheered me up a bit. You see, they’ve captured me for a second time. Back in 1992 I walked into the […]

Read More Eat Less Bread

Same formula, same kneads but one hour fermentation and four in the tin. Rose very slowly. (Good example of why guides such as the fingertip test should be used with caution. Poked it after three hours and the indentation hardly moved – in theory it was on the verge of collapse only it wasn’t!). Crumbly, […]

Read More April Bearded II

No, it’s not about ladies in freak shows. When Rick and Maggie came up for the day after Christmas they brought a couple of local flours from South Wales milled at Felin Ganol one of which is April Bearded. As you would expect these are very soft flours plus they were so coarsely milled I […]

Read More April Bearded