Advanced baking

Torsten's Sourdough Pumpkin Croissants using a Dough Sheeter Great customers don't grow on trees but this one actually grows them. Torsten Junker of family-run "Junker's Nursery" not at all far from us in Wellington grows the kind of trees literally fit for a king. He's also an accomplished home baker and has been trying out one of our Japan Kneader Dough Sheeters to make, Sourdough Pumpkin ... Read more

A crisp home-baked baguette, with all the character, complex flavour and crunch that you might otherwise have to travel to France to find, is a dream for many bakers. The particular characteristics that French millers give to their premium darker bread flours through the wheat varieties they mill gives the loaves made from it, such as baguettes, a deep rich colour, a delicate beige crumb, and an ... Read more

A pro-baker formula for the Foricher "Traverse" loaf is styled on a traditional Tuscan loaf: it has very little final shaping: cut from the bulk of dough and stretched after the final proof to the shape required.   Method: Mix the flour, 6L water, yeast and starter. Leave to autolyse for at least an hour at room temperature. Mix the remaining 0.5L water with salt until the dough becomes ... Read more

This version of panettone I’ve written for you here follows Massari’s now-classic methods, from his & Zoia’s landmark book on sweet dough making, Cresci: The Art of Leavened Dough, but uses commercial yeast as a base for the mother dough. Massai describes this sort of yeasted method as a very respectable alternative to the one made with natural leaven (known as Lievito Naturale, Pasta ... 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