Toast but not as we know it.

 About eight or nine years ago I was searching for a short video to show my tutor group about food waste. I have been aware of the vast amount of food that is wasted in the UK for may years and wanted you open a discussion with my students. I stumbled across a video on YouTube which showed Tristram Stuart giving a TED talk entitled "The global food waste scandal" In this lecture, crammed full of interest and passion, Mr Stuart mentioned a new project in which he was involved which was taking left over bread and using it as part of the carbohydrate for brewing beer. The brand was called Toast and was finally set up in 2015. The statement in support of this venture was the delightful "If you want to change the world you have to throw a better party than those destroying it"

It is worth remembering, at this point, that, in 2012 when Mr Stuart was giving the TED talk we were in the early days of the Craft beer revolution which is now providing the British public with the most amazing choice of beers. We are blessed with choice beyond anything we have seen before, from traditional cask ales to American style IPA's. It is in many ways a golden age for the discerning beer drinker.

The Craft beer movement is full of collaborations between breweries and this collegiate approach leads to some amazing beers. Many micro breweries and indeed brewers operate a social enterprises or brew to raise issues around injustice. 

Toast have decided that the advent of Cop26 was the time to make a huge beery point. They have created a coalition of 25 breweries, all of whom have produced a new beer using bread in the mash tun. These beers have been packed up together and sold online with various treats also tucked in to the very clever box. A big chunk of the price goes to charities. I, of course, ordered a box. 

The beautiful wife and I have been taking part in "Dry October" so not having any alcohol until November 1st. My wonderful box of beer arrived a few days ago and has been torturing me ever since! I have, however, been strong and the collection is still intact. 

Having mentioned this on Twitter I was advised by the team at Toast that my first beer should be their own Juicy IPA. So tomorrow after some exercise and dinner I will open one can of beer and enjoy it. I plan blog my reactions to this beer and then do the same for every beer in the box. I do not plan to do one every night as the body must be allowed at least a couple of days a week without booze.  And so, until tomorrow....

A week in Bread

Owing to a slight change in lifestyle, involving shedding a few pounds, I haven’t been eating a lot of bread in the past twelve months. This, in turn, has meant that I haven’t made very much bread either. This all changed in the last week. An idea to regain and practice some of the skills developed many years ago I decided to try some of my old recipes and ideas out over an entire week of the school holidays. Last week I made some of the Malty loaf which is first on the list. The mix I made, created 2 large sandwich tin loaves. This was far more than the beautiful wife and I needed so I put a message out on the village Whatsapp and left it in the Church porch for whoever wanted it (and could get there first).

The chatter created in the village was so great that I decided to do the same whilst trying out a few of my old recipes and trying out some flours. Everyday I would leave some in the Church and a daily round of banter on the app ensued. This was not a random act of kindness, I was just perfecting some recipes and that caused a lot of bread to be made. On the basis that I hate food waste, giving the loaves away seemed like the only option.

Below are the recipes for the five breads I made. 

A few things that are of note through all the recipes:

I tend to go with a 70% hydration for most of my loaves (with the exception of the Focaccia below). This makes a really wet, sticky dough. The way I knead tends to be based on what I have learnt from watching Richard Bertinet on Youtube; I recommend perfecting this method as it is not only effective but also is great fun - it’s often referred to as “showing the dough who’s boss”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbBO4XyL3iM&t=100s

I always use fresh yeast in my breads. I find it produces a much more complex bread as it allows for an extra round of proving. This takes a bit longer but is well worth the wait. If you wish to use dried yeast, use half the amount and take one proof out of the recipe.

Nearly all of a loaf of bread is flour - so it is important that you buy the best you can afford. You will get a fine loaf from supermarket strong flour but the character you get from an independent mill who can tell you on which farm the grain was grown, will be far superior.

As I have a normal oven with no clever steam injectors I pop a roasting dish on the bottom shelf as it is heating up. Just before I want to bake I quickly open the door and pour in about a mugs worth of just boiled water, closing the door quickly. This creates enough steam to ensure the crust is a bit special.

I prove the dough in a large earthenware bowl (Mason Cash No9 by choice). I also mix the dough in this bowl. Before putting the dough in to prove I always wash the bowl and leave the hot water in it for a few minutes. Just before the proving time starts I empty the water and ensure the bowl is bone dry. Owing to the fact that the bowl is earthenware it holds a lot of the heat and creates a mini proving oven for the first 30 minutes or so.

The loaves

Malty loaf

500gms Wessex Cobber flour (Made by Wessex Mill but there are other flours with Malted wheat flakes).

500gms Strong bread flour (My favourite is made by Shiptom Mill).

30gms Salt.

30gms Butter.

30gms Fresh yeast.

700gms Blood temperature water.

Add the two flours and crumble in the yeast. Break the butter into small pieces and add this. Pour in the water and begin to mix with one hand, bringing the mix together - it will be very sticky! When it is all almost together add the salt and begin to knead. When you have a soft supple dough put a little flour into a large bowl and pop it in, covered with cling film. 

Place the bowl in a warm (but not hot) place. It is also important that this space is free of drafts. Allow this to prove for 50 minutes to an hour it should surprise you with its size!

Pull the dough out of the bowl and re-shape it. This stage is called Knocking Back (which always sounds too violent for me) and it is about removing the big bubbles of gas from within the loaf to create a much more complex matrix of little bubbles. 

Pop the dough back in the bowl, cover and leave it to prove once more.

After an hour or so tip out the dough and gently knock it back again. 

Split the dough in two and put each half into a large loaf tin. Sprinkle over a little flour and drape over some cling film (you don’t want it to restrict the dough rising again.

Put the oven on to about 250 degrees celsius (or as hot as you feel safe with your oven!) Just before the loaves go in the oven make a cut across the middle with a razor or very sharp scalpel. 

After half an hour pop your loaves into the middle of the oven and bake for about 25 - 35 minutes but make your own judgement on this. For a really artisan look leave the loaves in the oven a little longer than you think is necessary.

Take the loaves out of the oven, they should fall out of the tins. Place them on a cooling rack.

Rosemary and Garlic Focaccia

1kg Strong Bread flour (I used Shipton Mill strong white but a good Tipo 00 would work well).

20gms salt.

50gms Good Olive oil (Plus a little for brushing).

20gms Fresh Yeast.

650gms Blood warm water.

3 or 4 Cloves of garlic.

Small bunch of Rosemary.

Pinch of sea salt.

Add the yeast, olive oil and water to the flour and bring together with one hand. Add the salt. Bring the dough together and knead. (This will require a much more old fashioned method than the “slap and pull” as the dough is a bit drier) 

When you have a soft pliable dough, leave it on your work surface for a few minutes to rest. 

Break the dough into two pieces and spread them into foil trays (you could use a roasting tin). Flatten the dough out so that it covers all of the tray. 

Cover with a piece of cling film and leave in a warm place for 2 to 4 hours. Pop the oven on to 250 celcius 30 minutes before you want to bake.

You should now have a soft pillow of dough. Dig your fingers in at regular spots on the dough.

Place a thin slice of garlic and a few strands of rosemary in these little dimples. 

Using a pastry brush, softly cover the dough with a film of olive oil. 

Bake until the surface is a reddish brown.

Remove from the oven and brush over a bit more olive oil finishing with a pinch of salt.

Raisin and Walnut bread

500gms Wholemeal Strong flour (Shipton Mill)

500gms Strong white flour (Shipton Mill)

30gms Salt.

30gms Butter.

30gms Fresh yeast.

100gms Raisins

150gms Walnuts broken into small pieces.

Add the two flours and crumble in the yeast. Break the butter into small pieces and add this. Pour in the water and begin to mix with one hand, bringing the mix together - it will be very sticky! When it is all almost together add the salt and begin to knead. When you have a soft supple dough put a little flour into a large bowl and pop it in, covered with cling film. 

Place the bowl in a warm (but not hot) place. It is also important that this space is free of drafts. Allow this to prove for 50 minutes to an hour it should surprise you with its size!

Pull the dough out of the bowl and re-shape it adding the raisins and walnut pieces. This stage is called Knocking Back (which always sounds too violent for me) and it is about removing the big bubbles of gas from within the loaf to create a much more complex matrix of little bubbles. 

Pop the dough back in the bowl, cover and leave it to prove once more.

After an hour or so tip out the dough and gently knock it back again. 

Split the dough in three and shape each piece into a ball. Place them on a baking sheet and sprinkle over some flour. Drape over some cling film (you don’t want it to restrict the dough rising again.

Put the oven on to about 250 degrees celsius (or as hot as you feel safe with your oven!) Just before the loaves go in the oven make a cut across the middle with a razor or very sharp scalpel. 

After half an hour pop your loaves into the middle of the oven and bake for about 25 - 35 minutes but make your own judgement on this. For a really artisan look leave the loaves in the oven a little longer than you think is necessary.

Take the loaves out of the oven and place them on a cooling rack.

Onion Bread

1Kg White bread flour

700gms Blood warm water

30gms Yeast

30gms Salt

30gms butter

3 medium onions

Pop the four in a bowl and crumble in the yeast. Break the butter into small pieces and add this. Pour in the water and begin to mix with one hand, bringing the mix together - it will be very sticky! When it is all almost together add the salt and begin to knead. When you have a soft supple dough put a little flour into a large bowl and pop it in, covered with cling film. 

Place the bowl in a warm (but not hot) place. It is also important that this space is free of drafts. Allow this to prove for 50 minutes to an hour it should surprise you with its size! During this time, halve and slice the onions and cook then slowly in a pan with a lid on for 40 minutes until soft and just browning.

Pull the dough out of the bowl and re-shape it. This stage is called Knocking Back (which always sounds too violent for me) and it is about removing the big bubbles of gas from within the loaf to create a much more complex matrix of little bubbles. Add the slightly cooled onions to the dough and work them softly in. (Warning this will become a strange mix of sticky and slippery)

Pop the dough back in the bowl, cover and leave it to prove once more.

After an hour or so tip out the dough and gently knock it back again. 

Split the dough in three and shape each into a rugby ball shaped loaf placing them all on a baking sheet. Sprinkle over a little flour and drape over some cling film (you don’t want it to restrict the dough rising again.

Put the oven on to about 250 degrees celsius (or as hot as you feel safe with your oven!) Just before the loaves go in the oven make a cut along the middle with a razor or very sharp scalpel. 

After half an hour pop your loaves into the middle of the oven and bake for about 25 - 35 minutes but make your own judgement on this. For a really artisan look leave the loaves in the oven a little longer than you think is necessary.

Take the loaves out of the oven and place them on a cooling rack.

French Pain d’Epi

1kg French Bread flour (sometimes called French 65)

700gms blood warm water

30gms Fresh Yeast

30gms Butter

30gms Salt

Add the flour to a large bowl and crumble in the yeast. Break the butter into small pieces and add this. Pour in the water and begin to mix with one hand, bringing the mix together - it will be very sticky! When it is all almost together add the salt and begin to knead. When you have a soft supple dough put a little flour into a large bowl and pop it in, covered with cling film. 

Place the bowl in a warm (but not hot) place. It is also important that this space is free of drafts. Allow this to prove for 50 minutes to an hour it should surprise you with its size!

Pull the dough out of the bowl and re-shape it. This stage is called Knocking Back (which always sounds too violent for me) and it is about removing the big bubbles of gas from within the loaf to create a much more complex matrix of little bubbles. 

Pop the dough back in the bowl, cover and leave it to prove once more.

After an hour or so tip out the dough and gentl;y Knock it back again. 

Split the dough in four and pull or roll each into 12’’ (30cm) strip. Place the loaves on a baking sheet. Sprinkle over a little flour and drape over some cling film (you don’t want it to restrict the dough rising again.

Put the oven on to about 250 degrees celsius (or as hot as you feel safe with your oven!) Just before the loaves go in the oven take a pair of scissors and starting at one end make incisions at 45 degrees every 3 or 4 inches. Twist the loaf left then right all the way down till the end - it should resemble an ear of corn.

After half an hour pop your loaves into the middle of the oven and bake for about 20 - 30 minutes but make your own judgement on this. For a really artisan look leave the loaves in the oven a little longer than you think is necessary.

Take the loaves out of the oven and place them on a cooling rack.

A Year in Bread - Back to the bread.

I had great plans. This year was to be a year of making bread, Then Covid19 arrived and everything changed. Along with their toilet rolls people bulk bought flour and yeast. I should be pleased about this, after all, I have been suggesting people should learn to make their own bread for ages and telling them about the joy of a home made loaf and the house smelling a little like a French boulangerie. Then they all go ahead and do it! It is only in the last few weeks that I have been able to get my hands on any strong bread flour, and I still have not found any yeast, dried or fresh! (I do have a small stash of dried yeast so all was not lost.
There is, however, a bread that requires no addition of yeast, just flour, water, salt and a strange flour and water mix that has been kept captive for a while, being fed flour and water every so often. I write of Sourdough bread.
Sourdough relies on the naturally occurring yeasts in flour and in the air to create enough carbon dioxide to leaven a loaf. It has become, over the past 15 years, very trendy and a little bit over burdened with snobbery, both direct and inverted. At its best it is delicious, at its worst quite plain.
My first memory of Sourdough was in San Francisco in 1995. I was back packing across the States for a month and, owing to jet lag, woke very early in my youth hostel. I headed of on the short walk to Fisherman's Wharf where the was a coffee stand just opening up. I ordered a coffee and a roll for my breakfast. It was a revelation. This chewy, slightly acidic, thick crusted bread was quite delicious. I will always link sourdough to that beautiful, sunny, August morning in California.
I have tried several times to cultivate my own sourdough, starting with following instructions online to purchasing several starters. I have not been able to get these to work for me in any meaningful way and I have certainly not been able to sustain them. However, in times of crisis we must show some determination! So I started another batch and have just baked my first loaf this morning. The loaf is not perfect, but the first few loaves are not supposed to be, and it was quite delicious with my own marmalade for breakfast.
If you search the internet for recipes to create your own sourdough starter then you will find hundreds of different ways of doing it; from adding grapes to the initial mix to mixing many flours and I'm sure these all work well in context but I went for pure simplicity and it appears to have worked.
Below you will see my recipe but I make no guarantee that it will work for you. It is worth bearing in mind that Corner Cottage is a Victorian farm labourer's cottage and is home to both normal bread making and brewing so there may well be some interesting wild yeasts that have got into my mix that might nor find their way into yours.

Sourdough starter
In a large jar with a seal add 50gms of strong bread flour to 75gms of water. Mix thoroughly and then seal the jar for 24 hours. Add the same volumes of flour and water for 4 more days, stirring thoroughly every time. It should be the consistency of thick double cream. You can adjust the flour and water to achieve this consistency as you go. By day 4 or 5 you should start to see bubbles rising to the surface of the sourdough and a definite sour smell should be coming off! By day 6 you should be ready for your first loaf!
After you have taken your first batch of sourdough starter of the process of feeding the starter begins again.

Sourdough loaf

Sourdough starter with the finished loaf.

250gms Sourdough starter
400gms Strong bread flour
200gms Water
15gms Salt

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and bring together. Kneed in your usual manner for a wet dough. (It's worth checking out Richard Bertinet on line for this. He demonstrates a fantastic way to knead any dough with over 65% hydration, there are some quite good spoofs on this too)
Pop your soft, kneaded dough into a clean bowl with a dusting of flour and cover. Put the bowl in a warm, draft fee environment.
Now comes the wait. Depending on the liveliness of your starter and about 10,000 other variables your dough may take a couple of ours to double in size or even as much as a working day (mine took 7 hours yesterday).

Knock the dough back (how I hate that term) folding it gently in on itself to form a small ball again and then pop it in a loaf tin (or banneton) for a second prove (I left mine overnight for this one!).

At the start of the second prove. Patience is all.

Finally the simplest bit. Bake in a very hot oven for about 25 minutes until dark golden brown and a little bit shiny (yes really). If you are using a banneton turn out the loaf and bake on a pizza stone or hot baking sheet.

And in the morning, ready for the oven

Allow to cool before eating (if you can). It incidentally makes the best toast on earth.

Such great toast

A Year in Bread - Plain White Loaf

This is my first recipe for bread of the year. It is for a very straightforward, 'never fail' loaf.

1 kg Strong White Flour
600 gms water (it doesn't have to be warm)
15 gms salt
15 gms fresh yeast
15 gms butter (cut into tiny pieces)

Put all the flour into a large bowl. Crumble in the yeast (if it is fresh it will crumble). Add in the butter and the water and begin to mix the dough.

The start. Mixing the ingredients

I use one hand like a claw to start with until it all starts to come together. At this point add the salt and continue mixing until it form a sticky dough, it should leave the bowl almost completely clean. Your hands will get covered in sticky dough, this may feel a bit weird at first but you will get used to it.
Place the dough on a flat surface and begin to knead. There is no need to flour the surface. This is a very personal process.

Ready for kneading.

For a 60% hydration loaf (the ratio of water to flour) like this I find that a pushing away from you with the heal of the hand whilst holding the edge closest to you work well. Then I pull the dough back slightly rolling it back on itself. I then turn the dough through 90 degrees and start again.
Kneading should take between 5 and 10 minutes depending on how hard and fast the dough is worked. It will feel light and smooth and will return to its original shape if a finger is gently poked into it.
I tend to use an earthenware bowl for bread making (Mason Cash no 9) and I now clean out any of the original mix using very hot water and I allow the bowl to get warm. The bowl should now be dried carefully and the tiniest pinch of flour thrown in. I then place the dough in the bowl and cover it tight with cling film.

Time for patience.

This is then placed in a draft free place at a constant room temperature for an hour.
The dough should have doubled in size and now it must be 'knocked back' (a term I hate).

Fully risen dough.

Simply take the dough out of the bowl and reshape it back to a much smaller ball forcing some of the carbon dioxide out.

Bubbles before "knock back"

Place the dough back in the bowl and cover again for another hour.
After the dough has risen for the second time take it out of the bowl and divide it into two equal parts, shape these into the particular style of loaf desired place these on a floured baking sheet and leave alone for 20 to 30 minutes. Turn the oven on to 250 degrees and place a roasting dish at the bottom of the oven.

Final prove 

When the loaves have risen for the final time dust them with flour and cut them to enable the to rise in the oven without bursting out of the side! Do not use anything blunt for this; A scalpel or razor blade works well for this.

Cut loaves, ready for the oven

Slide the loaves into the oven and add about 150ml of boiling water to the roasting dish. Allow the loaves to bake without disturbing them too much. Take a look once and turn them if you know your oven has a hot spot. The loaves are done when you turn one over, tap it and it sounds hollow. (Be careful doing this they will be hot!
Take them out when "hollow" and the crusts looks right for you, some like it darker than others!
If you can bear it, let them cool a bit before tucking in.

Loaves ready for butter.

A Year in Bread - Beginings

To everyone ho reads this blog may I first wish a very happy New Year, may it bring us all what we want and need without giving us what we really deserve.
As you can probably tell from the title, having written last year about preserving, this year i intend to blog about Bread.
Bread, in all its forms, carries massive significance socially, religiously and politically. It is the staff of life a simple mix of flour, water yeast and salt which can lift our spirits an satiate out hunger. I has also been abused and downgraded in the interests of profit. The last few years have seen a return to a demand for higher quality bread and this is, without doubt positive.
It is perfectly possible to make great bread at home with the minimum of kit and this year I be posting my regular attempts to try new recipes using new flours and techniques. As I type I have very simple white dough proving in order to make a couple of loaves to see us through to the weekend.
It is worth remembering that when we eat together we "break bread" and in almost every culture there is a bread with massive significance.
During the year I am also looking to do research into the the global significance of bread and the components of bread too. Here's to a great 2020!

Always learning.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, a few years ago I decided that I was going to stop trying to create Michelin stared dishes in the kitchen at Corner Cottage and find out much more about the basics of food production. This change of heart was caused by both a genuine interest in the basics of food supply and by the fact that I was clearly never cut out to produce food that was that pretty or required that many processes. Since then I have learnt how to make bread, how to make butter, how to make sausages, how to make bacon, how to make beer and, a few weeks ago, how to make cheese.

I attended a course at High Weald Dairy on the edge of Ashdown forest, a very highly rated organic dairy run by real enthusiasts. The quality of the course was fantastic with Mark, Sarah and Chris ensuring we had all the information, assistance and encouragement we needed. I came home with a selection of flavoured cream cheeses for immediate eating and a kilo of hard cheese to mature at home. I also bought one or two of their cheeses too and they really are quite superb. We were talked through a range of their products after an excellent lunch. I can only highly recommend this course. I am now saving up for some more kit to begin making my own!

Along with the cheese I brought home a few litres of the whey left over from our efforts. It is a waste product and is also quite environmentally dangerous if it is not disposed of carefully (by feeding it to pigs, for example) On advice I used this instead of water in my normal white loaf mix and it produced excellent bread. It had a hint of sourness about it without being a sour dough!

Bread made with whey

In other news, as some of you may know I am finally practicing what I have preached for so long. I am now teaching cooking to a large cross section of the young people at thew school where I work. This makes for many interesting moments and juxtapositions of ideas. How many people, in there normal working day, go from explaining the Public sector Borrowing Requirement to trying to convince an 11 yr old that a courgette is not an aubergine!

But it takes so long!

The ingredients ready to go - I love this moment

When I tell people that I make my own bread they often seem a little confused. "How do you find the time?" they ask. The truth is I live a very busy life but making bread does not take a lot of time at all. The active time to make the bread I made today was about 30 minutes. The problem comes when you take into account that those thirty minutes were spread over a three hour period.
Today's loaves were seeded bloomers. I simply added 120gms of a mixture of linseeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds to my standard white bread recipe and let the yeast do the rest!

Dough brought together and kneaded.

Upon tasting I think my next batch will have either some rye or some wholemeal flower in them. Writing new recipes is, after all a work in progress. Anyone who is reading this by accident or because my slightly weird evangelical zeal for food made from scratch, needs to make their own bread. Your house will smell like a dream and your loved ones will never let you buy a cheap plastic wrapped loaf again!

Ready for the oven.

These two loaves came in at about £1.20 each. They would be about 40p less if one removed the seeds from the recipe. (It is worth noting that additional flavours and textures: seeds, nuts, dried fruit, etc. add a great deal to the costs). Get baking people!

Out of the oven and cooling.

Bread demonstration at the Baptist Church.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of demonstating basic bread making to an audience at the Baptist Church in Haddenham. Having made up a focaccia, a plain white loaf, a walnut loaf and a sweet, Christmas spiced loaf the night before I showed various kneading techniques and proving methods. I also made butter live to have with the bread. I shall post the recipes and some photos later. My thanks go to the team at the church.
Yesterday was also the Beautiful Wife's birthday and we have a small tradition that the ladygets exactly what she wznts for her breakfast on her birthday. So yesterday we started the day with Eggs Benadict! I know its basically a heart attack on a plate but what a great way to start the day!

Bread recipe - a little late!

Sorry about this I promised a bread recipe a while ago and so here it is! After all making bread is all about patience I suppose.

1KG Strong bread flour
15gms Fresh yeast
15gms Salt
15gms Butter (optional but I like it)
600gms (yes I do mean gms)

In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, water, broken up butter and crumbled yeast. Work this with your fingers until this all comes together - this will feel really messy but the bowl should come clean by the end.
Then the kneading - Don't flour your surface! Everyone needs to find their own way with this but the idea is to stretch and bring back the dough so that it forms a soft pliable ball. I push the dough away in one stroke then draw it back towards me in juddering rolls. After about 1 minute add the salt and keep on kneading. You should knead for about ten minutes, there is little risk of over-kneading by hand so go long rather than hurrying. Its ok for you and the dough to take a rest in the middle!
Clean the bowl with very hot water and make sure it is perfectly dry. sprinkle a little flour (I mean a little) into the bowl and pop in you dough in a nice ball. Cover with cling film and leave in a draft free place at about room temperature (the warm bowl will give it a head start) till it doubles in size (about an hour). I hate the term "knock back" it sounds too violent. Simply fold the risen dough back on itself and knead quite gently. Pop it back in its bowl with a little four and leave, covered for another hour or so.
Pop the oven on to about 230 degrees. Pop a roasting dish of water in the bottom of the oven.
Lift out the dough and cut in two. Shape these into rugby ball like loaf shapes, place on a baking sheet or baking tray and sprinkle some flour over the top (it won't become part of the bread so be generous) leave gently covered for about 30 minutes.
With a very, very sharp knife or scalpel make three slashes in each loaf. Pop in the oven. After about 10 minutes turn down to 210 and remove the water. Bake until they are as brown as you like! Allow to cool on a rack and enjoy.

Remember - "Real men (and women) bake bread"

Yeasterday!

No, despite my record the spelling is correct.

Beer kit ready to go

Yesterday I spent an afternoon dealing with the two great uses for yeast.
After my midday swim I began my latest beer kit and also made some bread.
At present I am making beer using kits which can be purchased for between £15 and £24. It is a remarkably simple way to produce 30 to 40 pints of perfectly drinkable beer at a fraction of the cost to buy.

"Pitching" the yeast

Many specialist, micro and craft breweries have grown out of the home brew sector and some, like St Peter's produce kits for people to make their beer at home.
This is the simple, entry level to home brewing and during October I plan to make my first "all grain" brew! I buy my ingredients and kits at Hops and Vines in Witney and the team there have never been anything except encouraging and helpful.
The other part of Yeasterday was the Focaccia which took me several goes to spell correctly (even now I have doubts) This is a great loaf for a lazy lunch with some cheese and dried and cured meats - We're back to trying to work out salami again!

Foca...focca...focac...Italian Bread

Bread making at Homemade in Haddenham

Bread has huge cultural significance. When we eat with others we "break bread", when we talk of "companions" we are talking of those whom we take bread (think french). Most religions have a significant bread somewhere in the core of religious practice. Unleavened bread at Passover in Judaism, the bread and wine at the centre of Christianity to name but two
. I am passionate that this "staff of life" should never be taken for granted. Whenever I can, I bake my own bread. Indeed, as I write, I am enjoying some soup with toast make from my own bread.
Should we really allow something so central to our humanity to be made with the cheapest ingredients, accelerated with unknown additives and wrapped in plastic to sweat on a shelf?

The Cook in mid flow!

A throwaway comment to a friend in a supermarket meant that I found myself demonstrating bread making at Homemade in Haddenham last Saturday. This event highlights the best that is made in "The largest village in England" and is run by the Haddenham in Transition crew whose aim is to drive Haddenham towards a more sustainable future.
It is only when you stand up in from of people and try to explain your passion to people that you realise quite how passionate you are about something.
On Friday night I made three different kneads and this gave me 6 loaves to show off. Then on the day I had prepared some bread at various stages in order to give the appearance of making bread live in the 30 minute slot available to me. With help from the Beautiful Wife who ran to and from the oven we managed to produce perfectly edible bread. I teach for a living, so talking in front of people is not a problem; But when I finished I felt a very strange mix of fatigue, elation, exhaustion and relief. It was also great to know that there are so many others out there fighting for a better loaf!

So about this bread making thing...

This should really carry a warning. Making your own bread can become addictive. I have been asked to give my standard bread recipe out on this blog so here goes.

500 gms strong bread flour (the better the flour, the better the bread)
350 gms of water (yes I do mean gms)
10 gms salt (the better the salt....)
10 gms fresh yeast (ask at your local independent baker)

Crumble the yeast into the flour, pour in the water and get your hands in there. Mix with a hand (held like a claw) for a few seconds and then add the salt. Bring the whole together to form a dough (the bowl should come cleanish).
Now for the kneading. Everyone develops their own style; mine is based on a method used by Richard Bertinet (who is a bit of a bread god). I push the dough down on the surface (no extra flour needed) and pull the dough towards me. I then fold this back over the dough, pick it up from the bottom and do the same process again with an occasional turn. It is very obvious when the dough is ready - I know it sounds mad, but it just starts to feel alive.
Her come's the trick. I use a heavy earthenware bown bowl which I now fill with clean hot water. After a few minutes I empty this water (I use it for washing up) and dry the bown completely. A little flour is sprinkled into the bowl and the dough placed on top of this. I cover the bowl with cling film, "Spaghetti Western tight."*
This is then placed in a warm area to rise for and hour or longer - it needs to be twice the size that it started.
After the rise, I tip the dough out and shape it as I require. I then sprinkle it with flour and gently lay the clingfilm over the top. I leave this for another hour.
The oven is popped on hot (220 ish) and a roasting dish of water is placed in the bottom. A couple of slashes with a scalpel are made in the top of the bread and it is placed in the oven.
This is where the judgement is required - Take the bread out when it is ready (slightly darker than you think) and allow to cool on a rack.

* Whenever, in Spaghetti Westerns, the director wished to give a sense that native Americans ("INJUNS") were about there was a sound of drums. This is what the cling film should sound like when you tap it.

I have been asked about which books on bread making I like and here they are -

Dough, by Richard Bertinet, ISBN 978 1 85626 762 5
The Fabulous Baker Brothers, by Henry and Tom Herbert, ISBN 978 0 7553 6365 0
Bread, by Paul Hollywood, ISBN 978 1 4088 4069 6

All of these books will teach you how to make a basic loaf (and more besides) and once you have that sorted the world is your bakery.

Bread

Baking bread is one of my greatest pleasures. I came to it quite recently and many of my first attempts were quite disastrous but with perseverance and lots of background reading things have improved. It is perfectly possible to produce an artisan bloomer, organic and ethical, delicious and wholesome for under £1.
Bread plays such an important part in our culture - "we break bread" when we eat together why would you trust something like that to a plastic bag?
Here are a couple of picks from the weekend -

Give us this day...

It has been a long time since I wrote and for that I apologise - life has been so very hectic during the last month.
One of the things which I have most enjoyed over the last 5 months is making my own bread. I must encourage everybody to do the same. I too put up all the usual excuses - "I don't have the time" "it works out very expensive" "will it be any good?" and so on. However, once you begin to make your own and play around with a few basic recipes I promise you it becomes addictive (in a good way, of course).
In terms of the time it takes: You have to be around for an hour and a half or so, but only 15 minutes of that is actually spent doing anything. This is perfect for a weekend afternoon or even an evening during the week.
A 1.5 Kilo bag of good strong bread flour will cost less than £2 (this will make 3 medium sized loaves) add to that 80p for other ingredients and your homemade loaf comes in at about 70p. If you can buy an organic, artisan loaf for that little - please tell me where!
The quality of your loaf is up to you - if you are prepared to spend a little time working out what best works for you then the quality will often be better than what is available to buy.
It is also nice to know exactly what went into your daily bread.
Well that's the technical stuff, so what about the emotional stuff? Bread is culturally vital (and I use the word "vital" in its true sense). It is the "Staff of life", most food cultures in the world have a basic starch (potato, maize, rice, pasta) but nearly all of them also have a bread. It is a basic human desire to make and eat bread with family and friends. As for the making of bread I simply ask if there is a more soothing, tactile, life affirming action than the kneading of an organic, GM free loaf?
I have been so excited by the making of bread that for the Easter period I even made Hot Cross Buns. Why do supermarkets insist on selling these all year round? They are supposed to be a seasonal treat - If you fancy them in August then get rid of the cross and call them "Tea cakes" (minor rant over).
If you want to buy a book with simple and "work every time" recipes then you wont go far wrong with the Breads and Bakes book in the series produced under "The best kept Secrets of the Women's Institute", it is written by Carrie O'Regan and Jill Brand. Incidentally the WI book on Jams, Pickles and Chutneys by Midge Thomas is also very good indeed.
And so to my basic White Bread recipe. This one only needs a single rise and does not require knocking back.

White Bread
1lb Strong White Bread Flour
10floz Hand warm water
1oz Butter
1tsp (heaped) Easy blend (or Quick) yeast (I use Doves farm)
1tsp Salt

Sift the flour into a bowl. add the yeast, butter and salt. Rub the butter in as you would a pastry. Add two thirds of the watter and mix in with a knife. Slowly add the rest of the water and get your hands in there! When the dough has come together, pop it on a floured surface and kneed for 10 full minutes. Your dough should feel springy and soft. Shape your dough into a ball or put it in a suitable oiled loaf tin with oiled cling film over it (a tea towel will also do this job) and allow it to rise in a quiet warm spot till it has doubled in size. This is the magic bit and should take about 40 minutes. Dust the top with flour. Pop it in to a hot oven for about 35 minutes until it is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Allow it to cool on a wire rack.

Once you have done this loaf, the world is your mollusc. Try different flours, adding seeds, bran, olives, onions, sun dried tomatoes, nuts.......