A celebration of bread & baking
It has been beastly hot this week, and while not as hot as it will become, it was enough to make me think seriously about my normal baking routine. I wanted to slow things down so that I could still have an overnight rest in the fridge, but without extending either the bulk rise or [ ]
Last week’s bake was my standard wholemeal loaf, which is actually 50% wholemeal and 50% strong white flour. I’ve been using the same basic recipe for ages, and recently started adding a good chunk of fennel seeds for the flavour and aroma they bring. I add 3–4% fennel seeds, usually after the autolyse. Very good [ ]
Oh dear. Here we are again on the brink of Fornacalia and, to my shame and despite this website s name, I have not prepared anything special. I was going to do my 100% rye sourdough, with a nod to some Norse deities, but a microbe attacked my throat and nose on Friday so I didn t [ ]
This is a firm favourite and quite impossible to find anywhere in the city. I ve been making it forever, based on the original in Hamelman s Bread adapted for a natural leaven and seven rather than six seeds. 50% wholemeal leaven at 75% 50% strong white flour 20% mixed seeds, soaked (see below). I use oats, [ ]
Having recently managed to move this site to a new host, the least I could do is bring it back to a kind of life. I ve been baking solidly all through its existence, but got out of the habit of posting because I really have nothing new to say. I bake bread. I share it. [ ]
In really hot weather, starters work their magic quickly. Lower hydration helps keep the dough structured, and baking from a cold start keeps things marginally cooler.
A friend kindly gave me a copy of The Perfect Loaf, by Maurizio Leo, and very fortunately there was just about enough room in my suitcase to bring it home with me. The explanatory section at the start is very informative, even if most of it was pretty familiar already, and I did pick up [ ]
A couple of weeks ago, I read a fascinating post on The Fresh Loaf, in which Kendalman described his interesting approach to stretch and fold and offered an alternative explanation of what is going on, because he believes the conventional view is mistaken. As near as I can tell, he says that there are two [ ]
More than a podcast episode, my visit to Ostia Antica last year with Farrell Monaco (@tavolamed) was bound to see me attempting a panis quadratus of my own. What better time to make the effort than during Fornacalia?
A little while ago I started to be more methodical about restoring some of the posts on my main website that had become disconnected as a result of various changes in the site s back room. A few of those are bread posts that predate this site. Some of those I have already brought in here, [ ]