That’s what I tell myself. You know all too well that you won’t remember the changes you made to a bread formula next time you come to use it so WRITE IT DOWN! My sister Anne is coming to Bethesda with her husband Andrew this weekend for his birthday celebration. Quite understandably he decided years […]

Two little Borodinski’s should have been baked yesterday. Eleven o’clock last night, after four and a half hours with no discernible movement, I left them out over night. Seven thirty this morning I was amazed they hadn’t collapsed. Fifteen minutes at 240C, thirty five minutes at 180C, twenty minutes de-tinned in a cooling oven door […]

Why is it that if you want a decent pizza you have to make it yourself? Maybe it’s different in big London but then I’m told the the streets are paved with gold down there too.  Round here they seem to think that a wood-burning oven = good pizza but they turn out a topping […]

In the Sunday morning light amongst the baking debris sits a lone Pain de Campagne. So what? you may say. We’ve seen hundreds of your campagnes before. But behind this picture lies a sorry story of dough abuse. Two events were coinciding. Bob from Ruthin had booked a sourdough course with me Friday afternoon/Saturday to […]

This is a rather fine Cheese, Roast Garlic and Black Pepper Bread using one of Carrie Rimes fabulous ewes cheeses – http://www.cosyn.cymru/en/home/ But should I: 1. buy an oven with more space between the racks; 2. buy bigger tins; 3. reduce the amount of dough; or 4. hang Christmas decorations from the overhangs?

What can you do when your neighbour asks if you could possibly help him out by taking 1.5k of freshly picked blackcurrants of his hands? Creme de Cassis!!! This comes from Jane Grigson’s Fruit Book – much better than the expensive stuff you buy over the counter. We used it for kir, kir royale when […]

Advanced Shaping Techniques #34

… well it was either that or hat jokes – put a turban in your cloche sort of thing. Back to road testing Crochendy Bethesda Pottery’s cloche. A Challah turban (two thirds white, 0ne third wholemeal) seemed an appropriate shape but this one (940g) was just a little to big: So when the lid was […]