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 […]

2014 was the year of the barbie – last year’s Christmas present was put to good use throughout the year including Christmas Day itself: It was a fabulous day and the turkey was a slow smoked rib of beef. But this year’s present – after some heavy hints – was an Emile Henry pizza stone […]

Just after Christmas two wiseguys bearing gifts arrived from the yeast. Jay brought a loaf of bread (much needed – bakers never have bread for themselves) and six litres of cider (also much needed because, as the bible says, man cannot live by bread alone). Rick brought me three bags of flour. Flour? What do […]

Look at that, all wrapped and ready (by Sue) before lunch. I mixed on Wednesday lunchtime, fermented at room temperature till about six, scaled, shaped and put in the boxes, proved overnight in the fridge. 5.oo a.m. they came out of the fridge and the first batch went  in the oven an hour and a […]

Quarter to nine,  everything’s out of the oven. Can actually have breakfast and a bath.

It must be Christmas.

A wheat intolerant guest coincided with a middle eastern meal yesterday which could only mean Kalinté, Moroccan flatbread made with chickpea flour from Paula Wolfert’s book of Moroccan Food. You make a batter of an egg, a couple, of tablespoons of olive oil, a litre of lukewarm water, 350g of gram flour and a couple […]

Been meaning to try this for ages. Mixed two campagne doughs to produce 1K loaves. Held back the salt in one dough for  30 minutes. Apart from that both doughs had three short kneads after mixing and went in the fridge overnight. First surprise. Next morning the autolysed dough had very noticeably risen more than […]