Bread

We used to have the most amazing bakery in our village run by a lovely Polish family. We were spoiled with a wonderful selection of artisan bread as well as tasty sweet treats.

Then they closed and not wanting to return to buying the regular supermarket sliced loaf, I decided to try baking my own.

I adore baking but I had mostly been baking cakes and previous attempts at baking bread had not gone well. They had resulted in a loaf that would be more useful as a weapon than something you could enjoy with a bowl of soup!

Luckily our baker had recommended this Book by French baker Richard Bertinet.
The technique he uses is quite different from the traditional kneading method. His recipes use a higher hydration (about 70%) so the dough is fairly wet and the way he works the dough traps air inside giving the bread a light and airy quality.

Fougasse

It took me a while to get the hang of it and my first attempt at Sourdough was so disappointing (I forgot to flour the loaf and it got stuck while trying to put it in the oven. Lets just say it didn't look right and was a bit burnt but was scoffed nonetheless.)

Just like anything worth while it takes time and practice to get it right but it is so worth the effort.