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Why do you think baking is popular again?
It’s been a very interesting 17 years for bread. I think people are
interested in authentic things. Food has been industrialised and
degraded and there’s an interest in returning to origins. Tradition is of
great interest.
Any baking tips?
You don’t need much equipment. Just a bowl, flour and a worktop.
You can make good bread with commercial dried yeast. You have
to activate it with warm water. You can add a small amount of sugar
to see the yeast. Generally as a rule we don’t add sugar. There are
sugars in the flour that the yeast feeds on. Look for an authentic
organic miller for you flour, as the flour won’t have been sprayed. It
can have pesticide residues in it. Wheat is one of the most heavily
sprayed crops.
The importance of kneading…
Give it time. You don’t need to knead excessively. Often mixing the
dough and leaving it for 20 minutes before you add the yeast and
the salt is a good way of making the dough more manageable. But
it’s very easy to mess up! Patisserie is chemistry, and bread baking
with yeast is biology. You’re dealing with a living thing. That requires
you to use your judgement and develop your experience. Use your
senses. It’s challenging to use a recipe. You have to develop a feel for
when your dough is at the right point. Kneading it is when it becomes
smooth and elastic. It will clean the bowl. What started out as a
shaggy mess will become smooth and elastic. That is the point where
it’s mixed enough. Then you can prove it.
With sourdough breads, aim to handle it as little as possible. It’s not a
he man thing, pounding away. They don’t like that. Try to handle the
dough less.
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