Markets

Casablanca Souk

Whether they are the little flea markets that sell tat or unwanted memorabilia or the colourful, fragrant spice markets in Morocco, they all hold a fascination for me..

A market traders life must be the same worldwide; the pressure to find the goods and the hope of selling out on the day; the search for items that will sell easily and the balance of cost of acquisition against selling price. In no other place is this balance in such open view as the markets of Morocco. Yet everywhere, if you take a moment to stand and watch, wherever you are you will see the price of this search in the stall holders face, the lines around his eyes from the sun and the worry are a testament to the strain of buying and selling. The disappointment of no sale and the welcome joy of a good price leave equal traces on the face of the market trader, as the wind and rain leave patterns in the dunes of the Moroccan beaches.  

Cape Verde's Markets were very crowded...

I always have an urge to head for a market whenever I get to a town or city, I love the sensory attack that accompanies these places, whether indoor or out. The riot of colours shimmering in the air, the sounds and cries, the smells of meat, fish, vegetables, spices - even clothes and books - and recently, on a long cruise I had the chance to head for the stalls in a variety of places. Tenerife, Cape Verde, Agadir, Casablanca and El Ferrol all provided a feast for my hunger of markets and not one of them let me down. Yet even in the UK I migrate to stalls like a traveller makes for the warmest Inn. I look for the book stand, the green grocer, the baker - oh yes the baker - at this one stall alone does the olfactory sense shift into overdrive and I drool physically at the smells and mentally at the ideas, the shapes, the artisan skill and the ingredients, I imagine the bustle of the early morning bakery, the flour dusting the very air and the heat from the ovens as the bread is shaped, patted and baked. 

Oranges By The Cart Load

The Spice stalls in Casablanca were all I hoped they would be, colours ablaze and glowing in the damp sunshine, oranges by the cartload, chillies and peppers, lemons, limes and the muted hues of the mounded spices themselves; the ochre of turmeric, the deep red of ground chilli, whole nutmegs and cinnamon sticks in shades of chestnut and burnt umber, the rich pastel shades of the lentils glistening in the low December sun. 

Pastel Shades of Spices

UK fish stalls are fun places, fishmongers having a humour all of their own, but the colours are muted. Mackerel, cod, plaice and salmon are subdued in shade and lack the vivid reds and blues of mullet, snapper and wrasse from the Mediterranean or the frightful appearance of the monkfish and scabbard fish from the Canaries. The spangling sardines from Portugal, the Tuna from St. Vincent and the coin-scaled mullet from Spain are on neat display in rows of bright eyed freshness in most markets. I say most, because a couple of the Tuna that were brought along for inspection for our onboard chef in St Vincent were not as fresh as our local fishermen purported, judging by the limp flaccid flesh and the red eyes of the specimens - they were a day or two old at best. But most of the fish on display are caught that day, brought stiff and fresh straight from the boats. 

Scabbard Fish

Vivid Reds...

 And that's another great thing about markets; you get to inspect the goods, discuss them and haggle if you're brave enough. In the UK haggling isn't really the done thing, we don't argue, discuss or debate the goods on offer, we accept them and buy them - or we don't. That's it. 

All over the world deep, meaningful conversations take place around the efficacy, quality and price of the items. Markets are places to haggle, argue and act insulted, to quibble over cents, pennies and proportions. You spend time comparing and handling, learning to trust the stall holder, relationships are forged or trashed, cemented or destroyed as you spend your time buying your essential items. I was sitting at the indoor market in Bath recently watching the cheese counter as fists were bumped, hands shaken and friendships obviously made through trade were on display. There was a respect, an honest mutual liking and of course money and cheese changed hands as I sat and supped my afternoon tea. 

Colours....

Don't be afraid of markets, respect them certainly, but watch, if you can, over a cup of coffee, tea or a beer and you'll see the exchanges, the colours, hear the sounds and smell the aromas. You'll see friendships, respect and disdain all in one stall, you'll observe peculiarities, oddities and strangeness, but most of all what you're looking at is human nature in its most basic, intrinsic honesty, you're watching life. 

English Market in Cork City

Bread! Tasty, Healthy - and cheap too!

Beautiful, tasty, healthy - and cheap too!

I have, for some time now been an advocate of making my own bread. Ever since I decided to overcome my fear of the 'alchemy' of turning four ingredients, including water, into something, not only edible, but delicious too, I have loved the process of converting flour, yeast, salt and water into a loaf. In a recent blog, the BBC decided to see not only how tasty and efficaceous a loaf can be, but also how cheap.

David Cameron doesn't know the price of a value loaf from Tesco because he bakes his own bread. Is his way cheaper, asks Denise Winterman.

Asked the cost of a "value sliced white bread loaf at Tesco this morning", Prime Minister David Cameron said he didn't know because he makes his own bread in his £100 breadmaker using flour costing about £4.40 for a 1.5kg bag.

But is the prime minister on to something? If you have a breadmaker and all the basic ingredients at home, can you make a white loaf for 47p or less?

Seeing as it's a Tesco value loaf in question, let's assume all your ingredients have come from Tesco and are the cheapest available.

The workings out

• Tesco Strong White Bread Flour £0.53 a kg - 30p
• Tesco Fast Action Dried Yeast £11.61 a kg - 6p
• Tesco Table Salt £0.39 a kg - 0.4p
• Tesco Organic Rapeseed Oil £0.30p a 100ml - 6p

Figures calculated to the nearest penny - apart from salt.

Tom Herbert is a fifth generation baker who won Young Baker of the Year and is one half of Channel Four's Fabulous Baker Boys. He says his recipe for a classic white loaf is the most downloaded off his website. It also weighs roughly 800g, the same as the sliced white in question.

According to the recipe you need 560g of strong white flour, 10g of salt (Herbert specifies sea salt but you only have Tesco's cheaper table salt), 5g of dried yeast, 20ml of rapeseed oil and 300ml of warm water.

So does it come in at under 47p? Yes, 42.4p in fact, with the prices of the ingredients (apart from salt) calculated to the nearest penny.

The taste, smell and quality of the homemade loaf will be "incomparable" to the shop-bought one, says Herbert.

"You'll also feel great having made something with your own hands and your home will smell lovely."

I couldn't agree more - and I would just love to see more people making their own loaves. I have written some previous pieces if you'd like a go:

Here

Here

and Here

I sincerely hope you'll have a go. It is fun and worth the little bit of effort and time that are required - I promise.

Enriched Doughs the Easy Way...

Completed cinnamon rolls...

Enriched doughs are normal bread doughs but with the additional ingredients of melted butter and sugar. These doughs are used to make bakes such as Belgian buns, Chelsea buns, pastries, danishes and cinnamon rolls...

Making these doughs the easy way is to use a bread machine on its dough setting to mix the ingredients and give them their initial proving. It takes the time element required to mix and kneed the dough away and, as most people have a machine but seldom use the dough setting, it might help make more use of a semi redundant machine and your time. 

By using a bread machine you can bypass much of the work, especially the kneading, by pouring the ingredients in a specific order into the machines pan.  This order ensures that the mix is not jeopardised by having the yeast and salt too close together and also ensures that the dough is well kneaded and given its initial rising in a safe and warm environment

Covered for the second proving..

You can then decide what to make,  a decision which don't I have used it to make a perfect cinnamon buns with a additional cinnamon and sugar added to the rolled out pastry here on the list of ingredients

Ingredients

150 mls semi skimmed milk
3 medium eggs beaten
75 grams butter, melted
450 grams strong white bread flour
2 tsp salt
50  grams caster sugar
1 sachet of fast yeast or 7 - 10 gms
100 grams of sultanas or raisins
50 grams of fine soft brown sugar
cinnamon powder to sprinkle over
Icing sugar and water to make glacé icing or use fondant icing

Ok, the ingredients go into the bread pan in this order:

The milk, the whisked eggs, the melted butter, allowed to cool slightly, then half the flour.

Now add the sugar, the salt and the rest of the flour. Top of with the yeast and start the machine.

When the dough program has finished, remove the proved dough and knock it back before rolling it out on a lightly (bread) floured surface. roll it out gradually until it's about 1 cm thick and forms a nice rectangular shape - you are going to roll it swiss roll stylee later - and sprinkle it all over with the sultanas, sugar and cinnamon - you can be as frugal or as extravagant as you wish with this part.

Roll the dough up and cut the roll into sections - about 10 large buns to about 15 or 16 small ones.

Place on a tray and cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise until they are light and fluffy and sticking together.

Place into a pre-heated oven (190 - 200 degrees) and bake for about 20-25 minutes until they are well baked and a lovely golden brown colour.

Mix your icing sugar with just enough water to allow it to be barely drizzled over all the buns, thickly. Or warm up the fondant icing and pipe over the buns.

Enjoy. 

The Bread Making Popular Front - The Cake And Bake Show at Manchester

A Wonderful looking loaf (Thanks to Debi Davis)

Whilst attending this show with my wife, Frankie, one thing became quite obvious to me over and above the popularity of the Cookery phenomenon that is the Great British Bake Off and the appeal of "Celebrity", and that is the growth of interest in bread making. There were easily half a dozen or more Flour companies at the show in one form or another together with another half a dozen artisan bakeries selling baked breads directly to the public. There was huge interest and attendance at the Bread Baking Demonstrations with people like Paul Hollywood and Dan Leppard extolling the virtues and the ease of baking your own loaf.

You could buy the kits with all the ingredients in one bag, or you could buy artisan flours, nutty flours, Canadian Extra Strong flours, quick yeast, bicarbonate of Soda, seed additives, crunchy additives and plain or self raising flours.

You could easily obtain eight or nine different loaf tins including a really shiny Hovis Tin I had my eye on all weekend - for £32 - a price I couldn't justify, even after winning second prize on the Traders' Grand National Sweepstake, run by my friend, the incorrigible Barry Davies (Also inspired to bake his own bread this weekend). There were spatulas, stirrers, slicers and peels - and, naturally, there was advice on how to use all of the above. I was really very happy to see so much variety and expertise available and I know of many people who were encouraged to bake their own loaves who perhaps wouldn't have been minded to before hand.

It's the enthusiasm that I enjoyed much more than the commercial aspect of the show. Look at the photograph at the top of this piece, kindly loaned to me by Debi Davis (@debidavis1) who was obviously inspired at the show - and she bought one of those lovely looking tins - and you can see just how bread could be inspirational - what a fantastic looking loaf. That one photograph encapsulates everything about the show for me - Bread, Shiny Tin and Atmosphere. People are really and genuinely interested in baking bread at home for the health aspects as much as anything else.

Including water, there need only be four ingredients in bread, three if you make a sourdough starter, so next time you go to the Supermarket and buy bread in a bag, check how many ingredients are listed, if its more than 4 or 5 then it ain't healthy and it ain't real.

I encourage you to try baking your own - it's easy, it's healthy and it's fun....

GBBO stars Cat Dresser and John Whaite

Cold Snap

Formed around a dripping hose...

First, I made some soup. I'd already made bread, but I thought if we're going for a walk in this we'll need something warm and substantial on our return. My basic vegetable soup recipe is HERE. That done we dressed up so warmly until we looked like unfashionable Michelin Men and tying boot laces became a laborious task. then we sallied forth.

It's been very cold for a week or so now. This time last year we were languishing in dry, unseasonably warm weather, there was a hosepipe ban in the southern counties and it was due to be very dry into April. Little did we know what was to follow or that our summer had pretty much happened.

Early primroses are showing...

My wife and I just had to get out for a walk though, cold or no cold. We had been working away indoors at the NEC and were suffering from Cabin Fever. It was just 1 degree outside, but a bitingly cold north easterly breeze made it feel more like -5 or so.

Bracket fungi ....

My iPhone captured some of the frozen sculptures that could be found with a watching eye and as you can see from the icicle around the blue hose, it was jolly cold. There was still some life working its way through though; early primroses and hazel catkins were abundant, but the Bluebell buds that were very obviously coming through last year, are pretty much conspicuous by their absence today.

hot soup and warm bread in front of a wood fire was a wonderful treat when we got back home and our faces were soon glowing as we drank our tea and relaxed on the sofa.

But it was good to get out, even in the cold.

Homemade soup and bread

Bread Machine Tips

A Bread Machine Challah style loaf

I seem to have become the first port of call for people - friends and family, mostly - who are trying to make their own bread  and who have questions regarding its manufacture, not that I mind, it's quite a compliment actually, but by far the most questions concern the use of bread machines.

Many people are often disappointed with the results achieved by the use of this equipment and I'm sure that most of these resulting loaves could be much better, lighter and tastier with just TWO changes of approach. 

Just chucking the ingredients into the pot and hoping that a reasonable loaf results would be OK but for one tiny little fact - yeast hates salt! That means that these two ingredients should be kept apart for as long as possible during the process. The salt we add to our loaves is not just a flavour enhancer (supremely requisite if you have ever tasted a loaf without salt!) it is also a yeast inhibitor. This means that the salt will kill the yeast - or at the very least stop it working - usually resulting in a solid, un-risen block of flour. So, when putting the ingredients into the loaf pot in the machine, follow this order according to the recipe you are using:

Liquids first (water/oil/yogurt/eggs/milk)

HALF the flour 

salt/sugar/powdered milk etc

The REST of the flour

Yeast on top

That's it - that's the first change of approach. If you always follow this order a major mishap waiting to happen can usually be avoided.

If you just want to put on your machine and 3 hours later have a nicely baked loaf, then this ONE change will get you there, but if you have time or want to get a little more 'Hands On' then there is one other change to your approach which will help.

Most machines (All, probably) have a "Dough" setting and by using this, the machine will mix your ingredients (still following the order above), knead the dough and give it its first proving.

You then take the dough from the machine, knock it back (just push it back down) and shape it as you want it to be (usually round or a torpedo, bloomer shape) Let it rise again; it is this second rising that can make all the difference to the finished result. You can knock it back and re-shape it almost as many times as you want before cooking it. Once it has risen to about twice its original size put it in the oven and bake it as per my original blog post HERE

I almost always use this latter approach, even when using one of my sourdough mixes, but whichever method you use just following these tips should help bake a better loaf.

Watch out for more tips coming soon.

A loaf made by the second approach

Season's Greetings

I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to read my inexpert ramblings this year; I have been surprised and delighted by the huge response to my posts.

The recipes for Chili Jam, Moroccan Chicken and Herman Cake have been extraordinarily popular as have my Blogs on Mushrooms and Foraging, I promise to expand on these next year and to add to the bread posts which have been some of the most requested.

I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and all you would wish yourselves for 2013.

My sincere thanks.

Mike

Moroccan Chicken Curry

Bubbling away...with the lentils cooking in the foreground

By popular demand I am going to attempt to provide the recipe for my  much desired but difficult to define Moroccan Chicken dish. It's troublesome, due to my proclivity to use whatever ingredients I have to hand and to alter the dish accordingly and so I must necessarily assume that the reader has some culinary competence and will be able to adjust the components as applicable.

As usual with this type of dish, the basic tenet is to build up the flavours by adding enhancing and harmonising constituents, elements that accommodate each other well, whilst at the same time retaining some authenticity in the dish.

So I'll start with the chicken - use what you like!

I use thighs because I think the meat is tastier, you may prefer breast but you could use the whole chicken, it's entirely up to you. This dish is cooked for a while so that the meat will pass beyond "just done" into the "falling off the bone" category, so please feel free to experiment.

Here is a list of the basic essentials, the ingredients that must end up in the dish in some measure.....

A medium onion, peeled and finely chopped or sliced

Garlic, two or three (or four) finely chopped or sliced

Fresh chili, de-seeded, and finely chopped

Dried sultanas, raisins,apricots,dates or something similar

Either fresh tomatoes finely chopped or a tin of chopped tomatoes (add a pinch of sugar with the latter)

Stock (chicken or vegetable)

A teaspoon of ground Cumin

A teaspoon of ground Cinnamon or a Cinnamon stick or two

A teaspoon of ground Ginger

A couple of fresh bay leaves (Dried if you have to)

As much chopped thyme as you wish

A little dollop of honey (not too much)

Preserved lemons - if you can

Salt

Pepper

Chopped fresh Coriander

And of course, the chicken

Ingredients you could add or substitute:

Fresh fruit (grapes, apple, lemons, orange)

fennugreek

Sesame seeds or pistachio nuts

Lentils (I almost always add some of these - pre-cooked)

Fresh green beans or peas (towards the end of cooking- I usually add some to give a colour addition)

Extra chili powder

Tomato puree

Method

Again I am assuming some knowledge here...

I use a large cast iron casserole dish.

Fry off the chicken to brown and seal - remove from the dish

Fry off the onions slowly for 5 minutes or so until translucent but not brown. 

Add the garlic and chili and sweat for another three or four minutes

Pour in the tinned tomatoes or add the fresh with a little stock

now add the spices, bay leaves a little salt, pepper and the dried fruit together with the chopped thyme.

Allow to cook for 5 to 10 minutes on a low heat to reduce slightly and co-mingle. Check the seasoning...

Add the chicken, honey and enough stock to almost cover and simmer for 15 minutes or so....

Give the dish a good stir to mix up all the ingredients and place in a medium oven for an hour or so. You'll need to check it after half an hour just to check it hasn't dried out too much - especially if you have added lentils.

It's ready when the sauce is thick, unctuous and not at all runny. Serve with the chopped coriander sprinkled on top with rice, flatbreads or both and a fresh white wine of your choice....Enjoy.

Herman The German - Part Two

As previously promised HERE I would like to give one or two alternative paths to take with the Herman Friendship cake mix that you may have been given or may have started yourself. Ideas that will help you make the most of your gift if you have friends or perhaps bring you friends when you pass these ideas on….

Firstly, one of the things you can do is to split the mix of bubbling dough in two and turn one half into a bread sourdough. However, first I should, perhaps explain the concept of sourdough itself.

Although it’s likely that your “Herman” mix was initially started with a packet of yeast – definitely so if you made it yourself – it will have accumulated ‘natural’ yeasts over the days/weeks/months of its existence. These natural yeasts are all around us and real sourdoughs are started without cultured yeast at all but just by mixing the flour and water, with perhaps a touch of sugar, in a normal environment, probably your kitchen. These natural yeasts then permeate your mix, react with it and begin the fermentation process. The “sour” part of the name probably comes from the musty smells that emanate from this natural fermentation but it does give bread radically different properties, taste and texture.

But it is a wonderful bread to bake.

So, split some of Herman into another bowl and feed with Strong Bread Flour and water only – no sugar and then cover in the normal way. This mix will need feeding every other day – again with just bread flour and water.

When you’re ready to bake bread – actually 12 hours before ideally – pour a ladle full of your bread Herman, making sure that it is bubbling well, into a mixing bowl. Add half the strong bread flour you would normally use. For example, if you were baking a 500 gram loaf of bread add 250 grams of the flour and all the liquid you would normally use – so 300 – 325 mils of water – mix well, cover and leave overnight if you can. This is called the ‘sponge’.

The next stage is to mix in the remainder of the flour and a teaspoonful of salt and kneed for 10 minutes or so. If using a dough hook in a mixing bowl – 5 minutes will do. Leave it to prove for eight hours or so, it will take this long to see a rise. Knock back the mix and mould into a bread shaped ‘round’ on a baking tray and cover for another few hours -overnight works well for me. The bread should rise nicely over this time, I usually turn the oven on as soon as I wake up. Just before you bake it in the usual way, slash the top with a sharp knife in an artisan fashion and slip it into a hot oven….In fact check out this previous recipe from a my blog and follow it from the kneading stage. Also this YouTube clip will give you a good idea.

Sourdough bread is an excellent loaf for your repertoire. It’s a stronger flavour, but once you’ve baked one you will find yourself longing for the next one. I think the best ‘test’ for this loaf is that once you have tried it, you’ll want to share it. What better recommendation?

Next time I’ll try to give a few recipes for cake recipes that differ from those generally given with your Herman instructions.

Forty Minute Bread

Following on from my bread making blog, it isn’t always possible to have a spare few hours to allow bread to prove and prove again….but it isn’t necessary if you need something quick and tasty to compliment a soup or, say, cheese and Guinness!

That’s what Soda bread is for. Called damper bread in Australia, bannock bread in Scotland and soda or wheaten bread in Ireland, it is widely used as a quick alternative to yeast bread and can be delicious if eaten warm with some butter running off the top….

It’s basically a giant scone – the rising agent is bicarbonate of soda – there is no yeast involved, nor is it necessary to stretch the gluten of strong bread flour as plain flour is used. In fact, as little handling of the dough as possible is the best approach.

Yet a tasty, if somewhat denser bread is achieved – and in well under an hour…..here’s how…

Set your oven at around 200 degrees.

Put 500 grams of plain flour into a large mixing bowl and add 4 teaspoons of baking powder and a teaspoon of salt.

Pour in about 300 mils of buttermilk (this can be obtained from supermarkets but I usually add a couple of spoonfuls of plain yoghurt to milk) and mix without kneading too heavily – you just want to bring it together.

Shape it into a round and cut a cross into the top almost all the way through the loaf, then place onto a floured baking tray and bake for around 25 minutes or until it sounds hollow when you tap its bottom.

It’s even easier than bread.

There are also tasty variations – my favourite being the alternative to Soda Bread with Guinness and cheese – Guinness and cheese soda bread! Just substitute the buttermilk with Guinness and when you’ve shaped the dough into a round, plaster the top with grated mature cheddar – or any cheese that takes your fancy – it’s good to experiment. Then cut the cross and bake as before.

Or use wholemeal flour and a spoonful of black treacle for a dark, luscious and unctuous bread.

Then there’s walnut and cheese soda bread…..and so on until your imagination wilts…

Cheese Soda Bread and home made soup...

Bread Making

Why more people don’t make their own bread, I really don’t know. Can there ever be a better smell to pervade the house than that of fresh bread cooking? Even Estate Agents advocate baking bread and percolating coffee to enhance the ambience of a family home. Walking in through our back door when bread is baking – even though I know that the oven is on and the dough is in – is still as wonderful as it was the first time I ever made bread.

It seemed to me initially, that bread making was akin to alchemy – the purview of magicians, a world of wizardry – and that skills beyond my capability were necessary for the production of such a staff of life. I used to stand at bakers’ windows enviously eying the doughy delights of the bakers’ bounty (ok enough alliteration!) but I always chose the white bloomer, never being sufficiently brave to experiment with artisan wholemeal, six seed, granary or rye. It was only when the different types of grain had been explained to me that I began to try alternative loaves and an interest in baking my own was born.

Like many, I started with a Bread Machine, but unlike most I stayed with it because of a book my wife bought me which explained, not only the basic mechanics of the equipment but also the elementary alchemy behind the operation. This book also clarified the order in which the ingredients should be placed into the bucket and why. However, before the book was gifted I dabbled with the complete bread mixes that can be purchased at any supermarket and for a while had some great results, this kept me happy for a few months, especially as there were many different types of bread that could be made.



A bread-machine loaf

But I still thought I was missing out on something, a part of the overall magic was not yet present it was like going to Art College and doing painting by numbers - I neede to do more. That was when Frankie bought me the book – The Complete Bread Machine Cookbook by Sonia Allison – and I started to buy my own ingredients.



Of course, only three ingredients are needed for bread making – four if you include water - which brings me very neatly to another reason why I wanted to make my own loaves. The question occurred to me why bought bread contains so many ingredients and why the sell by date can be anything up to two weeks in the future. I understand the correlation between the two – that the ancillary additions increase the life of the loaf – what I don’t understand is our appetite for an unhealthy substitute for a hearty food, or our desire for a longer shelf life when bread is a relatively cheap commodity in the first place. Our propensity in this country to change the basic elements of our diet because it’s not cheap enough, pretty enough, long-lasting enough or sufficiently easy to cook is quite alarming.

I notice that a bagged loaf can be purchased in a supermarket chain for 40 pence and that it comes with a 10 day use by date, but healthier bread can be bought for £1 with a 5 day use by date. I think I’d rather pay an additional 60 pence for good health but perhaps I am simplifying the issue over much.

Be that as it may, I calculate that I can make a 500g loaf for as little as 36p should I wish to, so the price issue is pretty much eradicated. It takes a little of my time and I have the cost of the oven to factor in but they are mitigated by the enjoyment and the lovely smell in our cottage.

As for the use by date - well, we eat the bread as fresh as we can for up to 48 hours but by then it’s pretty much toast – literally. After that it’s bird food, and that’s it. Then I make another loaf. Simples.

So how to make your own loaf:

Take 500grams of Strong White bread flour and using you fingers mix in one packet (7g) of fast action dried yeast and one level teaspoon of fine salt. Make a well in the middle of the mix and gradually stir in, with a fork, between 300 and 400 mils of warm water. Using your hands blend the lot together and turn out onto a clean surface – you don’t need extra flour – just a clean work top. Touching the dough as little as possible with your fingers, stretch it with the heel of your hand, turn, pull back together and stretch again. It quickly becomes less sticky, and even if it’s too wet initially, it will smooth out into a soft malleable ball – just keep it moving. Remember you’re trying to stretch the gluten. After 10 minutes or so it should be quite stretchy and bouncy. Oil a bowl and put the rounded ball of dough into it, cover with a cloth and put it in a warmish spot. Leave it for an hour or two.

When it has doubled in size, pull the dough from the bowl and gently, with your finger tips, push it into the worktop for a minute and then bring it back into a rounded ball, curving it under itself with the sides of your hands. Flour a baking tray – I actually use a tray with baking parchment on top and flour that. Place your dough on top and put your cloth back on top while your oven heats up to its hottest temperature. When it has done so – turn it down to 190 and put the tray with the dough into the middle of the oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.



A plaited loaf and some rolls for the freezer - all from the 500gram dough mix

That’s less than 300 words to bake your own bread. You need about 2 1/2 hours or so of your time, but you’re only actually doing something for 15 minutes of that time. I actually don’t need any more than 6 words to teach you how to make bread – Look It Up On You Tube – that will give you all you need to produce a delicious edible loaf – it may even inspire you further. Perhaps to experiment with different flours or to make rolls, pizza, nan bread or chapattis – the sky is the limit.

Give it a go.