After some experimenting, I have got the measure of my new flat’s oven and, perhaps more importantly, have taken the necessary steps to compensate for how cold it is. I’ve made a couple of successful sourdough loaves over the last week, which I suppose goes to show what can be achieved under inauspicious circumstances.The starter read more…
I have moved again, this time into a flat of my own. Unfortunately, the flat is in a centuries-old timber-framed building with large, draughty sash windows and no central heating – in short, it’s freezing cold. The average kitchen temperature in the last few days has been between 8 and 10°c! Obviously, one of the read more…
A recent arson attack on Freedom Books – the Anglophone world’s oldest anarchist bookshop, tucked away in an alley next to London’s Whitechapel Gallery – reminded me of the political significance of bread. Stay with me. The bookshop was founded by a group including the Russian anarchist Prince Peter Kropotkin in 1886. Amongst Kropotkin’s works read more…
Artisan bakers are now so cool that they occasionally warrant the attention of the web’s style-pundits. At least, Vermont’s Vergennes Laundry do, with recent features on interiors websites Remodelista and The Selby. The confluence of food photography with that of interiors is fairly natural, although some of Todd Selby’s shots are verging on twee (check read more…
This evening I tried to make the Welsh fruitbread bara brith for the first time. All was going reasonably well, though I underestimated the amount of yeast I would need to compensate for the fat and sugar in the dough and it didn’t rise well. Nonetheless, after half an hour in the oven it was read more…
When it comes to food preparation, the bread knife has historically been something of an afterthought in the annals of great blade design. It’s probably fair to say that the basic edge formula – serrated and ground on one side of the blade only – doesn’t actually leave much room for improvement. In fact, while read more…
For the Christian feast day of Epiphany it is a tradition in many countries to bake a festive ‘king cake’, which marks the visit of the three kings to the infant Jesus. Part of this tradition involves baking a token into the cake, with the recipient having particular privileges bestowed upon them for the coming read more…
Some time ago I was chatting to an acquaintance about breadmaking. It emerged during our conversation that she suffered from the symptoms of Coeliac disease when she ate shop-bought bread, but did not experience these symptoms when she ate her husband’s home-baked sourdough. I hasten to add that she had not been diagnosed with Coeliac, read more…
With access to an oven being sporadic at the moment, I haven’t had much opportunity to bake. I did manage to throw together a simple brown loaf whilst I was visiting my ex-partner and daughters yesterday – not quite enough to assuage the symptoms of withdrawal, but enough for this week’s lunchtime sandwiches. I’m hoping read more…
I’ve been pretty quiet over the Christmas period and, aside from a half-hearted attempt at making stollen that I’ve decided not to share with the world (maybe next year…) I’ve done very little baking. Actually, I find this time of year rather disorientating, so I’m quite looking forward to getting back into a routine and read more…
