Pita bread has to be one of the easiest and quickest yeasted breads to make. In terms of quality, the bar is set so low by commercially made pita that you can hardly fail to be satisfied with the results: the difference between a shop-bought and a home-made pita can be pretty dramatic. Furthermore, there read more…
Finally my phoneline has been installed and my broadband is up and running. Not only that, but spring has made a late appearance and I’ve spent considerably less time this last week trying to thaw out my extremities. I made a batch of rolls with Doves Farm‘s Malthouse flour one evening and really noticed the read more…
I spent a pleasant Easter weekend painting walls, but I still found time to make a batch of Easter biscuits (my only concession to the Paschal festival). I used a recipe from my old kitchen stalwart, the Reader’s Digest Book of the Cookery Year, converted from imperial units: 110g softened butter 110g caster sugar, plus read more…
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…
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…
Yesterday I was in the mood to bake but I didn’t have enough flour left for a decent-sized loaf. I decided to make a couple of fougasse, a French flatbread that is often, though not necessarily, decorated with incisions that make it resemble a giant pretzel. At least, that’s what my youngest daughter thinks. The read more…
Bridge rolls are usually associated with social gatherings of one sort or another: one theory as to the origin of the name is that they were made for consumption at bridge parties, where these small, soft rolls would provide sustenance without getting in the way of serious card-playing. This sounds eminently plausible, if you remember read more…
I have a soft spot for milk loaves. There are fashions in the bread world as there are in every other field of endeavour, and freeform loaves with wild, open textures are still very much where it’s at right now. There is, though, much to be said for the refinement of a good pain de read more…
The British obsession with curry is hard to explain, although there’s no doubt that it’s very real. In part it must have something to do with our colonial past, of which India was famously ‘the jewel in the crown’. Although the present-day role of the curry in British culture is a post-war phenomenon, employees of read more…
Aberdeen butteries, also known as rowies, are rather like rustic croissants: flaky like their continental relatives but not as delicate or rich, and round or oval in shape. They’re made using more or less the same technique of rolling out yeasted dough, dotting the sheet with hard fat (traditionally a mixture of butter and lard) read more…
