A lot of people think that making sourdough is difficult. To be honest, the hardest part is making yourself refresh your starter before you go to bed after the odd glass of red wine. You think,”Nah, don’t really need to bake tomorrow. Can always leave it for another day …” And then in the morning, […]

Last week I was in Bordeaux to commemorate what would have been our 50th anniversary of living together (10 months now since Sue died). Often when we were in the city we would stroll along the pathway beside the mighty Garonne managing to avoid the breakneck speed of bikes, cargo bikes, scooters, skateboards, roller blades, […]

Looks like it’s turning into pizza week. Same dough as last time, so its been in the fridge three days. Kev bought me a pack of spicy pepperoni, Peter Reinhart is on the bookshelf, so it must mean Pepperoni Deluxe. Still struggling with the right pan for an individual deep pan pizza (pizza is meant […]

Thought I’d have another go at Pizza Boscaiola partly because I found it a bit fiddly the first time round but also because I had a surfeit of mushrooms. Whereas in most pizzas the base is spread with tomato sauce this uses a mushroom sauce and yet more mushrooms as a topping. It requires a […]

Most mistakes in baking are recoverable (unless you’re more interested in a perfect image over good bread. Personally, I hate to see rows of identical loaves.) My chum Rick thinks that the flour from the Maud Foster mill is so good that for years he has been driving all the way from from Carmarthen to […]

This weekend I did a foolhardy thing. Sheila from round the corner and I were meeting up with friends, Chris and Hazel, who had left the area (nay, the country) about a quarter of a century ago, together with Chris’s daughter, Bron. This was part of Chris’s 80th birthday tour. We were supposed to be […]

Sunday Lunch. Stacked Enchiladas. Three tortillas with a hastily improvised filling. An enchilada sauce – tin of tomatoes, onion, coriander, jalapeños, tomato purée slung in the blender and zapped. A layer of sauce on each tortilla topped with Waitrose serrano (pretty tasteless), chopped onion, grated cheese, soured cream. Baked at 180C for 15 minutes. Crowned […]

Pato a la Sevillana – Duck with Sherry and Green Olives Seville Style. Good caff this …

So this time I made up 800g dough again, used 200g for my pizza lunch, but this time used the full remaining 600g for a Black Olive & Caramelized Onion Focaccia. Very slightly larger tin so much deeper dough than last time. Quartered and now sleeping in the freezer (not for long …)