For some time now I have been baking my own bread, getting the fresh (free) supermarket yeast and doing a batch of half a dozen loaves. They don’t always come out as I had planned but the experience is good and the more I do it, the more I am producing similar loaves. But the perfect loaf is still a way off I think.
While we were down in Dorset we visited the Town Mill Bakery in Lyme Regis and I spoke to one of the people working there about bread. I can get the mix of flour right, but the seedy taste and chewy crust is still beyond me, and I wondered if they had any tips. She said they used proving baskets to give the loaf the shape, so for Christmas Agnieszka got me a couple to play with. They are made of cane and quite hard, and you line them with flour and allow the bread to rise in them before flopping it out onto a tray and baking it like that. My wife always manages to get me something really useful and wanted for my Christmas box, proof if any were needed that she’s the right one for me.
As for the bread, well it didn’t turn out too bad the first time. The crust could have been a little thicker, but our oven only goes up to 220 degrees, any more and the cupboards would go on fire. So I will keep on practicing and altering the flour mix, adding different seeds (this one is with linseeds which gives it a lovely nutty flavour), baking for longer, experimenting, learning.
1 comment:
That was a very good loaf! Don't depreciate it.
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