ImprovBread

By tonight (Tuesday) I need about six-and-a-half kilos of starter for the week’s mix. I start my build Monday morning. Yesterday morning I found I had 400g of flat, watery looking starter that had been neglected for at least 48 hours. I needed about 150g of this to produce a little over 700g of starter […]

Le Pain Quotidien

This week: Black Olive Bread Sue says it’s good with marmalade … That’s ridiculous, it’s great with marmite.

Cake

Thursday evening, knock at the door. Funny, I thought, didn’t think Mormons stayed out after dark. But it wasn’t the Mormons, it was worse. It was Herman the Friendship Cake. Now, don’t get me wrong, it was a lovely gesture on the part of my neighbour to bring round a cake, the recipe and about […]

Gonna be fire …erhm… last time

It’s getting kinda biblical round here. Last week the mountains were on fire, this week: Plague of frogs next week? While the power went on and off we baked: Oat & Honey!

Eden’s Garden

Congratulations to one of our most faithful customers and good friend Juliet Greenwood (not to mention Phoebe the dog – canine world champion baguette muncher) on the publication of her second book Eden’s Garden, ISBN-13: 978-1906784355. This is Sue’s review: An intriguing mystery story. What stood out for me and made the book so much […]

Boston Brown Bread …

… or Essential Waitrose II. If you complain about the length of time it takes to make sourdough don’t try this – it takes a week to get through the coffee for a single loaf. Of course we have the Royal branch of Waitrose in Menai Bridge where Kate shops when hubby is flying helicopters […]

Focaccia

I’m not a fan of fads such as “artisan bread in-a-minute-and-a-half”. It suggests to me that people don’t really want to engage with bread making or get a feel for working with dough. But what do you do on Saturday night when you’re down to crusts for Sunday breakfast? Strong Bread Flour 342g 100% Water […]

Floats

This battered old cookbook is a good friend used so much the pages are coming loose. I just ordered a backup copy from Amazon for 1p. Lucky friends got a bang-up birthday meal from it this weekend. I did Accra de Morue for starters and Sue did a heavenly Boeuf Creole for the main course […]

Celtic Fudge (2)

After the dress rehearsal, the opening night: The seaweed I used was a mixture of Dillisk brought back from Dublin and kelp from the Chinese supermarket in Upper Bangor. Now I’m retired I don’t start til 6.00 a.m. Yeah, I’m trying out a new camera (it’s just the photographer taking the same old shots) 5 […]

Celtic Fudge

Gert phones to say that he is unexpectedly doing an Irish week at Oren, his restaurant in Caernarfon. Can I come up with with five Irish-related loaves for Wednesday. He’s thinking Guinness but I did Nil’s fantastic Guinness Volkornbrot for him last week. I’m thinking buttermilk plus, I’ve been meaning to do a bread with […]