Steffi came round for dinner Friday night. She shamefacedly admitted she’d killed her starter – she did a sourdough course with me several weeks ago. I couldn’t be angry with her – she had a bottle of finest pear schnapps in one hand and red wine in the other. Plus I didn’t believe her starter […]

Well that five weeks went fast. You remember last year’s report on the state of Arcachon’s bakeries. Here’s the update. First the good news. The boulanger from La Chocolatine who got himself run over and hospitalised is well back at work: I don’t know how he does it. He works from morning til night in […]

Well we’ve been in Arcachon for twelve days already and haven’t been slouching in the baking department. Set a new record: arrived Sunday evening, refreshed starter with flour cunningly stashed in hold baggage (only a couple of hundred grams), baked first loaf Monday evening. I bet you think that’s a Pane Pugliese. Well it’s not. […]

The Mark II model from Crochendy Bethesda Pottery – well, same dome, new base. As well as being beautiful it works great. After a couple of tests I reckon 800g dough is about the maximum it will take (670g loaf weight). New version, with slightly larger dome, on sale in the pottery 40 Bethesda High […]

Simplicity is beauty in bread: Orange & Cumin Flatbread

Wha’d’ya mean what are they supposed to be? Rabbits. Easter Bunnies. Taste good for breakfast. Raisin Challah dough substituting mixed preserved fruits – 50% white/50% wholemeal. Thanks to Luisa Jane Rusconi and Maruska Riva for inspiration.

It was supposed to be a two-strand turban: But I made a bit of an arse of it:

Used the last of the current batch of Carrie Rimes’ cheese on a couple of Green Grape & Brefu Bach Focacce- she finally got one to call her own. Can’t tell you how good it is to have raw materials of this quality on hand. You’d have to go to France to get anything like […]

Back to pizza with the Brefu Bach. One of our favourites: caramelised leek and mushroom + a splash of cream. I think this is my favourite of the brefu bach series so far – the flavour really comes through and enhances the already good combination of leek and mushroom (+ a small amount of cold […]

Got the grapes for focaccia: One side Brefu Bach and green grapes; + on the left a few squirts of pomegranate molasses. Not very pretty but this is just just an experiment. More important, the pomegratate molasses overwhelmed the cheese whereas the full wonderful taste of Brefu Bach came through with just the grape. It […]