One For Jeremy

Over on http://www.stirthepots.com Jeremy himself seems to be stirring again after his August slumber (finished the book yet Jeremy?). On the face of it, he’s a pretty regular guy – I mean he’s got a bit of a thing about bikes and I’m sure you’re familiar with Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman but apart from […]

Les Ambassadeurs

Funny old game, init? Several weeks ago we had a day trip to Liverpool – that wonderful Catalan restaurant and deli, Lunya, was restocking my books. Had a wander round TKMaxx looking at cheap flameproof ceramics when I spotted a book called Bread Revolution reduced from £18.00 to a fiver written by the people who […]

Bread Psychology

Last Sunday we had two couples of really good, long-standing friends round for lunch and I did a lot of work on an Axis of Evil Middle Eastern meal mostly drawn from Claudia Roden’s fabuloso “Arabesque”. We saw her in discussion with Michelle Roberts at the Bath Literary Festival a few years ago – boy […]

Introducing … the Bakerlaureate

As you might have seen, the Real Bread Campagne, in an attempt to bring (shock, horror) RESPECTABILITY to the world of modern baking, is working with the School of Artisan Food (the very name makes me feel queasy) to develop new qualifications for Real Bakers. This may or may not be useful for some people […]

Congratulations and Jubilations

I have often wondered what is this support offered by the Real Bread Campagne to bakers. Now with their latest email comes the answer, “I wanted to give a nod to all of the pro bakers amongst you who’ve been wrestling to keep dough under control in the recent heatwave. We salute you!“. It’s obviously […]

Scraps

So by the time I got very bored with Gert’s 60g pizza bases (73) and made 2 x 200g pizzas for lunch, on Saturday morning I still had about 2.8K of dough left in the fridge where it had been since Wednesday evening. The solution: It’s quite a big boy: Had to phone round a […]

The Hollow Crown

It’s always difficult to devise a commemorative bread for a negative occasion. I mean it’s easy to make a Thanksgiving bread or to celebrate Wales winning the Grand Slam but, Thatcher’s death? So this week with our sycophantic press wetting themselves over the birth of another royal sponger I present my world champion giant couronne: […]

It’s a Garage …

It’s a bakery … Do I get some good gigs? So we’re sitting in Bristol Airport on our way to France for five weeks in the usual in( )termina(b)l(e) wait for the flight and I’m trying to get the hang of my new Blackberry tablet when in zooms an email from someone called Vickie who […]

Anyone Want a Bakery?

My bête noire has raised its ugly head again. You will inevitably have heard me moan on about how several years ago I took an idea to the local probation service about establishing a bakery that would act as a project for getting ex-offenders into work. They said we should involve an established voluntary organisation […]

Bread Course

Yeah, I know I’ve been a bit quiet but there’s a lot going on and I might be coming back to life and you’ll wish I’d shut up again. Anyway, anyone up for a two-day sourdough course in Bethesda, Monday/Tuesday 29/30 July? Just two places up for grabs. 01248 600387