From working as a photographer in the early 90s he found pastry and breadmaking a much better fit. His first book “Baking With Passion” (1999), won Guild of Food Writers’ Cookbook of the Year. His next, the breakthrough sourdough book “The Handmade Loaf” (2004) was awarded Observer Newspaper’s “20 best cookbooks" in the last two decades. Short & Sweet (2011), won Andre Simon Cookbook of the Year. He writes regularly for newspapers and magazines across the globe.
A baba is a small bread-like dessert "cake" that is soaked in a lightly flavoured sugar syrup, and served cold or at room temperature with big spoonful of slightly sweetened cream and a slosh of rum that gives it its name. As desserts go it’s very simple and unfussy, yet for people like myself who love it we class it as one of the classics of French patisserie. Under the hood this is based ... Read more
Quick to make, dairy-free and utterly rich, dark and delicious, this pound-cake style banana cake uses stoneground wholemeal rye flour and roasted barley malt flour to give a hearty texture and flavour. You can swap the walnuts for pecans if you like, or leave them out. Keeps very well, and freezes perfectly either as a whole cake or sliced. I've baked this in our BakeryBits Traditional 2lb or ... Read more
Though we read news stories of millions forced to flee their homes and the Ukraine for safety, that’s not the whole situation. Right now bakers, cooks, front-of-house people and others are working daily to provide food to their community but also hospitals, army, the poor and anyone in need. I spoke with Anna Makievska, founder of Bakehouse artisan bakery in Kyiv which - as part of the ... Read more
For some bakers this loaf is considered the King of Sourdough as it has a reputation for both an amazing flavour (which it does) and a complexity in getting it right. It has an intense sourdough tang to it, perfect when paired with strong-flavoured foods like pickled herrings or blue cheese. Though my favourite way of eating it is toasted and buttered with Seville marmalade.
Using what’s ... Read more
Slightly more complex than grilled cheese on toast but in its own way equally delicious. There used to be many different sorts of rarebits, you sometimes see them spelled as "rabbits" – an English rarebit would be made with good red wine – and they somewhat grew out of the traditions of 19th century gentleman’s clubs.
Wales was renowned back then for toasted cheese on toast ... Read more
Barley was one of the more common grains used in baking in Wales, less so in England, and its beautiful flavour and colour of the milled grain is almost forgotten. Barley is much more typical in baking when it’s sprouted and malted, and we have a great range of BakeryBits malted barley that gives loaves a great rise and flavour.
There are two ways you can use barley flour in a recipe like ... Read more
Brød & Taylor FAQ
Answers to your questions about… the Brød & Taylor Bread Proofer.
What is the Brød & Taylor Bread Proofer??
It’s a metal heating plate with a folding box that sits above it, holding the warmth or heat in. The lid has a clear Perspex-style window to you can look inside to reassure yourself what state your dough has risen to, though ... Read more
This is essentially a great delicious hummus (though the word hummus strictly means chick pea), reminiscent of the flavoured varieties I’ve eaten in Beirut. Here I’ve used beetroot but I’ve also tasted it with pumpkin, sweet potato, and even one made with sorrel-like leaves known as fresh Lebanese Za’atar (the same name but different to the popular dry seed mixture). The ... Read more
These crisp vegetable cakes are flavoured with dill, lemon and onion are a great substitute if you’re looking for an alternative to crab or fishcakes. The texture is light and delicate, with a crisp outside. Roll them in some breadcrumbs so they shallow-fry without sticking: perhaps even your own home-made breadcrumbs from your baking. Serve these with a dollop of tartar sauce on our soft ... Read more
Fresh carrot juice gives these buns a rich golden colour, extra flavour, and sweetness, and helps to keep them soft for several days. You could use other vegetable juices here, like tomato, beetroot, or a mixture, and a home-juicing machine makes this very easy. Otherwise, you can often buy fresh vegetable juices at the supermarket.
But the heart of these delicious buns is the flours used, and a ... Read more
Ok, here’s the lowdown on getting great bread from Emmer or Einkorn flours, the heritage grains that have an undeserved reputation for being tricky souls that won’t behave themselves.
In truth, we bakers are the problem when it comes to unusual ingredients. We have a tendency to obsessively search out these curious flours, then complain to the moon and back when they don’t behave like ... Read more
Tested: The Ankarsrum® Assistent Mixer, get the best price and find out more about it here.
Summary: beautiful to look at and easy to use (no steep learning curve, no idea why some reviewers say this)
Recipe tested: Dark Malt Focaccia
Notable: straightforward mixing, quiet motor, very easy to add ingredients, cleaning the easiest ever.
Opening the box
The Ankarsrum Assistent arrived ... Read more
A rich, soft, spiced traybake that is absolutely packed with stoneground flour, rolled oats, and shreds of marmalade peel. It’s also not too sweet so perfect for a mid-morning slice of ginger cake. The combination of stoneground rye flour with wholemeal wheat flour, and just a little roller-milled white flour, gives you the perfect balance between a flavour-rich cake as well as a light delicate ... Read more
Be Inspired by South & East Asian Baking
Happy Lunar New Year, bakers! At BakeryBits we wish you every success in what looks to be an auspicious and exciting year. We've got a super-packed newsletter for you this week, fantastic interviews with bakers around the world explaining Lunar New Year from their perspective. Plus a new recipe for a saffron garlic bread dough made using Asian baking ... Read more
A fragrant golden garlic bread with layers of buttery spring onion through the saffron dough, using a traditional East Asian roll shaping technique to create flower-like rolls that your guests pull-apart when you serve it. The technique it uses is for shaping a Chinese flower roll, or 花卷 (pronounced Huājuǎn): a small, steamed bread traditional in Chinese and East Asian ... Read more
The Best Bread to Eat With Marmalade
It's toast-time at BakeryBits and we want you to get adventurous about the flours you use for the bread you bake: so many possibilities...
As bakers we get very focused on what goes in our bread, wanting the best flour (BakeryBits probably has the best selection of great flour online), the finest sea salt (yes BakeryBits sells a range of salt too), but often ... Read more
With its caramel coloured crumb and an open bubbly texture, this malted focaccia is relatively easy to make by hand but super-easy with a machine. Here I mixed this in the Ankarsrum Assistent with the dough hook attachment and scraper, but you can mix it by hand in a Swedish stainless steel mixing bowl. The flour used, Mulino Marino's excellent Organic Type "0" Manitoba Flour gave it an ... Read more
Ankarsrum FAQ
Answers to your questions about… the Ankarsrum mixer
What is the Ankarsrum® Assistent?
It’s one of the oldest kitchen mixers on the market, with a huge following the world over, due to Ankarsrum’s reliability, powerful motor, beautiful design and wide variety of attachments: from easy bread dough to pasta making, make fresh ice-cream, grind meat for your own ... Read more
