Black Bean Soup Bread

What happens when you substitute 4 day old (and possibly fermenting) black bean soup for the water in your Pain de Campagne? Black Bean Soup Bread. For this weeks main special I’m going to add frijoles refritos, jalapanos and fresh corriander.

Bethesda Town Square

We’re very forward looking in Bethesda – I think. Several years ago there was a plan to regenerate the village. The main A5 comes curving through the village as the High Street, and the shops, which are mainly four storeys high, form pretty much an unbroken wall for its full length. So the radical plan […]

Happy New Year

The Men & The Fields

Here’s an extract from “Men and the Fields”, a description of farming in the East of England county of Suffolk, written by Adrian Bell in 1939 (Little Toller Books – ISBN 978-0-9562545-2-8): “Then there was the baking in this cottage with its brick oven. The father at this time of year used to be given […]

Christopsomo II

This is just to wind up Jeremy while I decide whether or not to give him the recipe. And the ingredients:

Christmas 09

The view from the bakery webcam Christmas morning.

Hot Whisky

As a lover of alcoholic beverages I have to say that I hate gluvine which should be kept, quarantined, within the confines of German Christmas Markets. Hot whisky is yer man to save you from the winter. Put the kettle on to boil. Stud a slice from a lemon with four cloves and drop into […]

Christopsomo

Stollen? No, that was last year, Christopsomo is our Christmas bread this year This is one recipe I’m not giving away free – you’re going to have to wait for the book. It is the family recipe of one of my Greek customers. Her brother used to make it and send it over to her […]

Pear & Liquorice II

I bake all my flat breads on pizza tins. This stand is my life-saver in terms of space. My entire work area is just over six feet of counter top. I have a five shelf tower upstairs which is full of proving doughs on bake days but anything else, including doughs in couches, has to […]

Pear & Liquorice Fougasse

Here’s an interesting one which needs an opinion from Big G. When we were in Nice earlier in the year I bought “Les Meilleures Fougasses” by Benoit Molin. Benoit Molin is a patissier (rather than a baker) and it shows. The book is divided into savoury fougasses and sweet fougasses and the recipes in both […]