After the bread round - more baking

Three walks last week, no yoga and didn’t manage to head to the offices, I didn’t even plant those poor daffodils – and the exhaust fell off the car. Good week all in all. However on the plus side, one of the more business minded members of our staff took on the delivery plans and is powering  ahead with new contacts and plans  - and the exhaust very kindly fell off the car when the much more car capable – and level headed - husband was driving it. All that’s left to me is last weeks paperwork and the daffodils.

After the bread round mostly heads on to other things when that same bread round is finished but last Saturday, when all the bread was gone to market and the two bread rounds had left the premises, we turned around, cleaned the bake house and welcomed bread baking enthusiasts and learners for a baking afternoon where they get an idea of how to work with yeast and sourdough, how to make soda bread and scones and generally become confident working with bread. In the baking world, we divide ourselves into gut bakers and techie bakers and I am most definitely a gut baker. I bake like everyone’s grandmother used to do and use retro weighing scales, which look great but deal in hundreds of grams rather than grams or ounces. I use spoons and pinches, blobs of this and handfuls of that and I describe the ready dough in terms of looks and feels. After many years of running our little bakery, I am still at a loss during insider debates that mention hydration phases and moisture and protein content and am prone to say things like “I just bake”.

So when people arrive with very detailed recipes that talk of preparing sponges and fuss about with many ingredients and temperature changes, we go right back to the start. Bread should contain flour, salt and water for sourdough and flour, salt and water and yeast for yeast breads. Know a few things about those ingredients, mix them and knead them and learn to like your dough. Leave it rest and rest again and bake it out. Bread making is simple, very basic and very easily learned to a level where every practice loaf is very eatable and every next one better than the one before. During our baking afternoons you do not bake perfect bread. We bake many and none of them – by defintion of a baking afternoons that only lasts 4 hours -  has had enough time to rise and rest and develop into that perfect loaf. However, you will still like and most certainly eat your non- perfect first loaf and hopefully go home with many of the mysteries debunked and your confidence well up and able to go again and give that loaf another chance. After one of our baking afternoons you should have the knowledge and the tools to make a handful of scones for the unexpected visitor, a quick soda bread for the hungry lads and that yeast loaf or sourdough for the weekend fun baking time.

Astonishingly enough, I love this baking after the baking, I love passing on the interest and the skill and so far no one has come out after the few hours saying “ I can’t do this”. Bread making is fun and easy and we can show you how – every last Saturday of every month. So, get planning – while I wait for it to get bright so I can plant those daffodils.