I recently received a question about keeping sourdough starters. The writer had the sad experience that his starter went mouldy and died. What, he asked, could he do to prevent this from happening given that he uses his starter once every couple of weeks. I have written about making and using starters and this made
Is bread vegan? If it is plain old bread, yes it is given that it is made of flour, water, salt and yeast. Sweet bread, on the other hand is typically enriched with milk, eggs, and butter. Not vegan. Not at all. What do you do if you are vegan? If you refuse to eat
In the tiny village of Ojochal, Costa Rica, the roads are all made of dirt and you require a four wheel drive to access some of the more remote houses. Somehow, thought, it has become a centre of culinary delights with two really good restaurants and, among other things, an excellent bakery – Panaderis del
I frequently make no-knead, crusty artisan bread. In fact, it’s so popular I bake it at least once a week and, but for the lack of more (extraordinarily expensive) cast iron casserole dishes, I would bake more at a time. The other day, I was proofing two 100% wheat sourdough loaves in bannetons. It was taking
Soaking things in water before cooking and baking with them is an oddly important tradition for many people in many parts of the world. Certainly, in Germany, where my mother is from, you would never get seeds or grains in bread that had not been soaked first. It is not an automatic thing to do
It’s fantastic that more and more people are becoming hip to rye bread. Rye is tasty, good for you, provides a welcome alternative to wheat bread, and compliments certain food (smoked meat and fish, strong cheese) really well. The great thing is that baking with rye is really easy. There are a few characteristics of
Those who know me know I am a huge fan of lard. Lard is 40% saturated fat to butter’s 50%. So if you eat butter you really should also be eating lard with a certain amount of gay abandon, unless you have a religious reason not to, of course, or if you are a
Further to the post about sourdough starters being ready where there are photos and some marvellous commentary, here’s the very short movie that actually shows sourdough starter being spooned from the bowl and dribbled into the water. Don’t coax it to float. Grab a spoonful of the refreshed sourdough starter and dribble it in the
A scholarly article about malt and its uses in baking bread by Paul Merry from Panary. Thank you Paul! Students often ask me about malt. The home baker and anybody interested in the world of bread is aware of malt products, seeing flours at the supermarket that have added malt, enjoying the maltiness of granary
Since publishing All You Knead Is Bread and The Book of Buns, I have been busy in the food writing world! November 2014 saw the publication of Mexico – The Cookbook for which I was the contributing editor, perfecting my Mexican cookery skills along the way. May 2015 sees the publication of Homemade Sourdough. So,