Suntan!!!

After being here the best part of four week I’ve finally got a light suntan – on my burger buns. Decided to make the perfect burger/frites in the most difficult conditions – crap oven, impossible to get any serious heat into the frying oil. Did pretty well really. Made brioche buns and green olive and […]

Still here …

…. but less tha two weeks left. The only thing you can say about the weather after three weeks is that the rest of France (and Europe) are having it worse. This oven gives a new meaning to “white bread”: Doesn’t matter what flour you use, it comes out white. Had a go at olive […]

Page 43

“Please may I buy a copy of this wonderful book?” emails Martin. I’m totally impervious to praise, you understand. But, if you’ve already put your hand in your pocket and bought Bethesdabasics, here’s a bit of bonus so turn to Page 43 – Tortillas. We had the second half of a chicken in the fridge […]

Technology!

Been here best part of two weeks already and it is the feast of St Honore, patron saint of bakers and it’s pissing it down. I am being SERIOUSLY challenged by technology. Just before we came to France I bought a Blackberry Playpad and a little keyboard and we brought this and a laptop over […]

France 2013 01

Well, here we are back in France yet again, in Arcachon yet again, in the studio at Villa l’Alma yet again. For all of you suffering from starter phobia: I refreshed my starter last Thursday, put some in the fridge for the next bake in the middle of June, put a little in the corner […]

Dutch Banana Bread

Gert, one of my commercial customers, translated a bunch of Dutch sourdough recipes for me some time back which was very kind of him but now, of course, it’s payback time. I’ve already been called on to make him sauerkraut bread; this time it was banana. The politest way of describing the style of the […]

A Kitchen Drawer

There is something about Bethesda Rugby Club that is just beyond description. You could say it was tatty, even scruffy but that tells you nothing. It’s a huge rectangular single storey building that you feel is standing up better in some places than others – part of the ceiling over the pool table collapsed recently […]

Dead Thatcher Bread

It’s a problem ain’t it. It’s easy enough to create a bread for a special occasion: St David’s Day, St Patrick, The first Barack Obama Inauguration, Wales Grand Slam last year. But what do you do when someone like Thatcher dies? Never mind the fact that no one’s going to buy Dead Thatcher Bread, or […]

Potato, Rosemary & Black Onion Seed

Potato, Rosemary and Black Onion Seed has been in the repertoire for at least five years. I’ve tracked it back to Dan Lepard’s “Baking With Passion”. He says that, while the recipe came from Erez Komarovshy who has a bakery in Tel Aviv, the bread is identifiably that of Baker and Spice for whom Dan […]

Summer?

Waddya mean what is it? It’s Pain Nicoise of course. Gert and I are trying to bring a bit summer to our customers in this freezing March. He’s doing a Mediterranean menu so it has to be Pain Nicoise to go with the bouillabaisse. Olives, sundried tomatoes, figs, onions, garlic, herbs, olive oil. I’d buy […]