The Men & The Fields

Here’s an extract from “Men and the Fields”, a description of farming in the East of England county of Suffolk, written by Adrian Bell in 1939 (Little Toller Books – ISBN 978-0-9562545-2-8): “Then there was the baking in this cottage with its brick oven. The father at this time of year used to be given […]

Christopsomo II

This is just to wind up Jeremy while I decide whether or not to give him the recipe. And the ingredients:

Christopsomo

Stollen? No, that was last year, Christopsomo is our Christmas bread this year This is one recipe I’m not giving away free – you’re going to have to wait for the book. It is the family recipe of one of my Greek customers. Her brother used to make it and send it over to her […]

Pear & Liquorice II

I bake all my flat breads on pizza tins. This stand is my life-saver in terms of space. My entire work area is just over six feet of counter top. I have a five shelf tower upstairs which is full of proving doughs on bake days but anything else, including doughs in couches, has to […]

Pear & Liquorice Fougasse

Here’s an interesting one which needs an opinion from Big G. When we were in Nice earlier in the year I bought “Les Meilleures Fougasses” by Benoit Molin. Benoit Molin is a patissier (rather than a baker) and it shows. The book is divided into savoury fougasses and sweet fougasses and the recipes in both […]

Pain de Seigle sur Levain

Interestingly enough, I have been told by at least one French person that it should be “aux levain” but “sur levain” is what the book says. This is for Nils and Jeremy who have given me, or made available for theft, so many rye recipes this year. Nothing much I can tell these boys but […]

Thanksgiving – thank Dog that’s over

Ah, these customers – they make you work hardest when you’re at your tiredest. Just starting a well deserved week’s rest before the Christmas rush but before we finish we have to do a Thanksgiving bake for our American customers. So for specials we do Thanksgiving Bread, New York Rye and Orange & Cumin Flatbread. […]

Conwy Feast 09

The Conwy Feast is the biggest food festival in North Wales and took place a couple of weeks back. We were asked to do “something” – Sue knows one of the organisers who wanted to include a literary element to the festival – a chill-out tent with sofas and stuff and people reading extracts from […]

Box-baked Bread (for Big G)

Here’s a picture of bread I baked in France in 2007. Can’t remember what the bread was or what was in the boxes

Yr Ardd Fadarch Focaccia

During Year 1 of Bethesdabakers Professional the weekly format was a set number of regular breads – Pain de Campagne, Mick’s Classic Sourdough, Wholemeal Wheat, Wholemeal Spelt, Pain de Seigle sur Levain, Multigrain, 5 Seed, Baguette – plus a Special which changed every week. At the start of Year 2 the best thing I did […]