Hand Mixing

May the sun always shine through your papaya. Anyway, couple of Tuesdays ago I get a phone call from Rick – http://www.mairsbakehouse.co.uk/. Do I think he can hand mix 100 large loaves? 60? Rick & Maggie’s Bakehouse is getting on for a mile down a seriously rutted track from the road. A lot of people […]

Easter 2016

Brioche Provencale and Brioche aux Chocolat: Six hours fermentation at room temperature + two refrigerated; overnight prove in the fridge + one at room temperature. Ten minutes at 210C + forty at 180C. And all we get is the little Provencale (preserved fruits) …

Evolution

I set out to convert a yeasted recipe from my last student Jeff to sourdough. But the thing has taken on a life of its own and is evolving into a different bread. Here’s the latest version so you have something to be going on with:

& the rye

… the rye looks quite healthy tooo

Are You Sitting Down?

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. […]

Real Bread

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)

5 O’Clock Lunch

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 […]

Lavash

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 […]

Legs II

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:

Wholemeal Pain a l’Ancienne

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