The time has come for me to get rid of most of my proving baskets. They’ve been sitting around since I retired a few years ago with only a couple of them in regular use. I’m particularly fond of them, especially the Vanerie de Villaines baskets which are serious pieces of work and come at […]

Sue provided the goodies for her reading group garden party at the start of last week – chocolate cake, gluten free, of course, when two or three are gathered together, plus individual nectarine pavlovas – lucky scoffers … A few days later there were various scraps still lurking in the fridge – egg yolks from […]

Actually it’s more like Panwozzo VI (see Panwozzo? to learn about it’s meaning and origins). It’s not difficult, I just have trouble getting it right. You make your pizza dough (c. 200g each) and give it a day or two in the fridge. Shape each pizza into an elongated shape like a pita bread. This […]

This was our neighbourhood bottle bank in Arcachon during our recent holiday. This is Saint Thomas Illyricus. This is where Catholic guilt kicks in. They’ve parked him right opposite so he can count your empties as they crash into the bottle bank …

A Classic Sourdough glows red in the sunset …

I can’t help it. At Christmas, if everyone else is baking Panettone, I’m baking Brioche de Noel. If they’re baking Stollen, I’m baking Christopsomo. I’m just perverse like that. So when it comes to Easter, it’s Jamaican Easter Buns, not Hot Cross Buns. Jamaican Easter Buns (full bread formula here) are rather more robust than […]

Kev’s fault again. He rolled round with this tub of relish spotted in Tesco with the news that there was a world-wide shortage of jalapenos. Had the bright idea of trying it in a Jalapeno/Cheddar bread that I hadn’t made for years. (Formula here – Cheddar & Jalapeños) Followed the above formula substituting the same […]

Yes, Spring has arrived in Bethesda. The sun is shining and the fresh breeze is whipping the dust off the quarry in great clouds. Could film Laurence of Arabia up there at the moment … First proper outdoor photo of the year? Pain de Campagne. Wonder how many thousands of them I’ve baked over the […]

I am in the luxurious position of having retired from baking for sale three years ago and owning a Pico since then. So I can mess about without worrying about the effect my mistakes and idiosyncrasies might have on customers. Whenever I mix pizza dough for myself and my partner I do twice as much […]

It was my birthday on Monday (a mere 78 if you want to know) and Sue dragged me off to big London for a gastronomic few days, the highlight of which was lunch at Moro on the day. Arrived Saturday evening in the pissing rain, the train only two hours late. Took a cab to […]