Spring?

The view from the bakery webcam this morning: Shivering with snow low down on the mountain but that little shimmery yellow/green of the trees says Spring will come. See the slate waste tip 1st left on the photo? That’s the bottom base for Zipworld what they claim is the longest zip wire “in the Northern […]

Sunday 17 March

So, what day is it on Sunday? Where are we going tomorrow? OK, tomorrow we are off to Paddy’s Land for the day, Dun Laoghaire to be exact, to have lunch with our good friend (and illustrator of Bethesdabasics) Wendy. And the loaves on the left are Bethesdabakers’ latest traditional creation, St Patrick’s Treacle Bread. […]

A Little Experiment

“Keep you overheads low and your values high”. Yes, I had a bath again this morning, and, while soaking in the hot water, these words of wisdom came to me. Must do it more often. But high values don’t necessarily mean complicated methods and for my own survival as a microbaker I have tried to […]

Finnish Pulla

So Gert says, can you do me something Scandiwegian next week? Well actually he said Nordic but we’re not purists here. Gert, who is not lacking in imagination, is doing a Nordic St David’s Day menu. Oh no, I say, not Swedish Spiced Laputabrot again. It might be immensely popular but I have never understood […]

A Shock for Mom

“Mick Hartley is a warm and entrepreneurial man from South Wales.” This is going to come as a bit of a surprise particularly to my Mom back in our home city of Birmingham but also to friends who think of me as being a spiky chancer currently living in North Wales. Few weeks back a […]

Gertzkrautenbrot

Isn’t it fantastic when the sun comes out after this dismal winter. This is the fifth day of clear blue skies – even makes your bread looks happy. Anyway, you know how it is with busy people. Gert – I bake bread for his restaurant – told me about two years ago he had a […]

Pizzabrot

It was the birthday again on Sunday and we had a pizza brunch party. Unlike the big “retirement” party last year when the guest list was planned weeks in advance I had no idea who had been invited because I just told people as and when I saw them – no email address list or […]

Negativity 2: Positivity 16

We had a bit of unpleasantness on the blog a couple of days ago. I’ve always answered people’s questions as honestly as possible regardless of whether or not they’ve bought my books. But someone popped up and asked about the problems s/he was having with recipes from two top-selling books by other authors. That strikes […]

It’s Alive!!!

This is for Marcus whose starter has been in the fridge for a month, looks a bit sad and he thinks it’s dead. Of course it’s not. These pictures first appeared on Mr Lepard’s forum (remember that?) in 2009. My wholemeal spelt starter had been at the back of the fridge for at least three […]

The Vision Thing

Hugely busy here with courses and things which I’ll probably get round to telling you about. But how about a bit of mysticism to be going on with. You will be aware the Bethesda is alive with Celticity – it crackles and sparkles in the atmosphere even on the dampest of days. When the mist […]