Someone asked me recently if I got bored with baking. It really stopped me in my tracks because, although I have been “breaded-out” in my time and it is harder work than it used to be, baking has become part of me to such an extent that, if I stopped, I wouldn’t be the same […]

There used to be a pizza restaurant in Bangor called La Bella Vita. It was run by two women and it was pretty reasonable in all senses but the partners eventually fell out and the restaurant didn’t survive too long after one of them departed. Pity because they sold good, honest food – something of […]

Had a really good student, Bella, here at the weekend. She was doing a basic Introduction to Sourdough course, so she did a couple of hours late Friday afternoon and about seven hours on Saturday. The results: Clockwise from bottom left: a beautifully slashed Classic, a 5 Seed with Spelt, a Pain de Campagne and […]

Two amazing pieces of news today. The most astonishing: I saw my doctor today and he said my liver was fine (!!!???) Second, and this has kept me smiling all day, young Adam Newey is opening his shop in Camberwell tomorrow. What a star! 18 months after opening a microbakery in his flat, the Hill […]

As you all know yesterday was 01 March and 01 March is St. David’s Day and St David (Dewi Sant) is the patron saint of Wales and I have lived in Wales for 30 years any day now. Ergo I had to invent a new “traditional” bread for the occasion or my customers might think […]

After all these years of making bread, I never made a muffin. But I’m planning a TexMex birthday brunch for a few people next Sunday and Robb Walsh has a recipe for Huevos Benedictos where the Hollandaise Sauce takes on some chipotle and refried beans come into the equation. So I look for muffin recipes […]

Yes, volumetric measurement. Look at this: 3 tablespoons milk 1½ teaspoons active dried yeast 1⅔ cups unbleached bread flour 3 large eggs 3 tablespoons sugar ¾ teaspoon salt 10 tablespoons butter First off I have to say that I have a very great respect for Paula Wolfert. But this is a brioche recipe from her […]

In a couple of months time I shall have lived in Bethesda for 30 years (long pause while we all think about that.) Here’s one reason why: the view from the front door this morning. One of the hardest things about living in Wales is taking Tom Jones seriously. I can blag my way through […]

First course of the year last week and it was a freebee so hasn’t dented the festive debts. Our good friend Kathy was 50 last year so she got a one day sourdough course. She already bakes but had been having trouble with holes in loaves that looked like a cross-section of the Large Hadron […]