This is the basic pizza dough that I use when I want a good thin crust. And to get an extra-crisp base I bake them on a Welsh Baking Stone, place on a rack in the oven, and just shovel the pizza onto it with a pizza peel.
Personally, I add a little more water than the recipe uses here to make the dough extra soft and easy to shape and toss, but try this wetter approach later when you’ve got the ... Read more
This is a three-day adventure to take you towards all-butter croissant perfection. Much easier and less effort than classic puff pastry, with much less rolling to do. This recipe only makes 6, but I’d like you to start here, getting your technique as sharp as you can, before you set up making dozens to supply your entire neighbourhood as the local viennoiserie star baker. You can do it, I ... Read more
Good morning bakers! It feels like Autumn is officially here, I have the heating on in measured doses, though I’m trying to introduce scarf and hat wearing “inside the house” as a thing. It’s the season when I’m all for comfortable baking: having all the tools at hand to make my baking stress-free.
Maybe that’s what I liked when I discovered BakeryBits years ago - that they sold home ... Read more
Hello bakers! I’m hoping your frazzled lives are calming down in this new-normal Britain, kids are back to school this week, and parents are telling me that some personal ‘quiet time’ has returned. With cooler autumn days ahead, and the joys of winter comfort eating not so far away, I’m also thinking ‘can I eat better, wiser, more responsibly, while regularly munching on grilled melty ... Read more
Dan Lepard, is undoubtedly one of the most influential bakers in the UK. His gentle, informative style gives even the most nervous of bakers confidence. Most people know Dan from eight years of writing a weekly column for The Guardian, but it's not just the newspaper that made Dan's work lead the way for home bakers baking artisan bread. You can pinpoint the resurgence in hand ... Read more
This recipe is designed to fill the 9" USA Pan Pullman pan. Using the quantities below, you have the basis upon which your can alter the recipe to suit you. Getting the quantity just right for a pan with a fitted lid can be a little hit-and-miss depending on the recipe, exact flour used etc. This is a starting point to get pretty close and from here you can adapt it with your choice of flour and ... Read more
Back in 2003 when I was writing my sourdough book "The Handmade Loaf”, I travelled to Sweden to understand rye crispbreads better, making my way to the organic Roslagsbröd bakery. There, huge dimpled rollers were part of a wheel-and-belt old school apparatus – fascinating in its complex Heath Robinson ingenuity – which squished and extruded the sticky grey rye dough into pitted sheets that ... Read more
In this new age where we’re either used to lockdown or feeling less inclined to travel, I find myself thinking more about the journey ingredients take to get from the field to my table. The grain used to make flour is no exception. It used to be said, until not so long ago, that all of us, the world over, could only make fine bread from high-gluten Canadian wheat varieties. And we believed it, ... Read more
In France a “Pain Complet” is almost what we would call a wholemeal loaf. However, the flour used is typically slightly more refined: often roller milled without the wheat germ, resulting in a bread with a rich dark crumb colour, but a rather lighter texture than our regular 100% wholemeal bread, yet maintaining a bold bran flavour. This means that if you want to add other ingredients ... Read more
This recipe has grown out of one I wrote back in 1998 for my first book, “Baking with Passion”, where I was making a honey cake and wanted it to have a fresh bright ginger flavour. The bran-rich nuttiness of the Foricher’s Farine Complet T150 Brun de Plaisir flour suits this cake to a tee and helps to make a mixture that's high in natural fructose and glucose more stable, as the bran soaks ... Read more
Make your pasta as flavour-packed as your sauce
At BakeryBits we are really enjoying this extraordinary artisan pasta, and it’s locally made. Meet the The South Devon Pasta Co, turning heritage grains like Einkorn and Emmer into top-rate dry pasta that tastes delicious, cooks quickly, and uses grain grown by small producers in England, crafted into pasta within 48 hours of milling. No silos of ... Read more
A simple but flavour packed seafood sauce to serve with pasta, easy to make in advance: just add the fish at the last minute. Here I’ve served it with our South Devon Pasta Company's Casarecce pasta as it holds its shape very well. If you want to add capers, anchovies or a dash of white vermouth to enhance the flavour of the fish, then do, so... it’s a recipe that is endlessly tweakable, and a ... Read more
In Italy you’d call these ‘zucchine ripiene al pesto’ but - whatever you call them - they’re delicious and one of those mainstays of Italian home-style cooking. I use the very fine Hand-made Einkorn Capellini from the South Devon Pasta Company, and find the delicacy of it swirls and fills the courgettes without any heaviness. They can be made in advance and baked in just 20-30 minutes when ... Read more
An utterly light-textured but intensely-flavoured sauce, perfect when you have beautiful, ripe tomatoes and want to show them at their best in a pasta dish where they’ll be the star, paired here with our South Devon Pasta Company handmade Einkorn Sedano ... Read more
Pretty much the standard recipe for traditional Ragù alla Bolognese, though there may be a few ingredients here, or not here, that surprise you. No garlic or herbs, though do add them if you like. Milk is added to help tenderise the meat, more useful if you’re using cubed beef rather than minced. You can use half pork and beef for the meat. And everything is cooked separately before combining ... Read more
This is one utterly rich swirl of pasta coated in an intensely garlic Stilton sauce with ribbons of blanched green cabbage stirred through before serving. It’s like a posh mac’n’cheese, and great on its own or as an accompaniment for grilled vegetables or meats. A perfect way to serve our Emmer Bucatini pasta from South Devon Pasta Company, and easy to make, as much of it can be done ahead ... Read more
Madeleines are quick and easy to make sponge cakes, baked in a special tray that gives them their shell shape. Perfect when you can find a quiet 10 minutes with a mug of freshly ground coffee.
The recipe here is based on one by Eric Lanlard, which makes enough to fill the shells of our Madeleine trays. I've used some Fiori di Sicilia instead of the orange blossom water suggested, which gives the ... Read more
Your transition from hobbyist to baking maestro...
The rite of passage that signifies the change from happy home baker to budding artisan bread maestro begins perhaps at the moment you start to unwrap the proofing basket or banneton that you finally decided you had to order from BakeryBits. This is the day you start to craft the shape and crust of your bread more finely, and from that point ... Read more
