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.
When is a pancake not a pancake? When it’s a Staffordshire Oatcake! If you’re unfamiliar with these you might think that oatcakes are always crisp round biscuits, but these oatcakes are soft and tender, and were once long ago much more common, with variations found all over England, Scotland and Wales.
Here I’m using a Welsh bakestone to make them, as a Staffordshire ... Read more
Whether for Easter, a birthday, or just a delicious cake for everyday, this smooth extra light frosting will be a great finish for you best cakes.Method
1. For the cream mixture, gently stir together the cream and the icing sugar until smooth, then leave to one side. Don't whisk it, it should remain liquid.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in the cream ... Read more
Our Tiramisu Chocolate Carrot Cake is a delicious and fun take on the usual Valentine’s Day dessert so loved around the world. I’ve left alcohol out of the recipe, but if you like you could spoon a little marsala and rum over the warm cake when it’s fresh from the oven, so it soaks in.
Makes one 6” or 7” round cake.Method
1. Butter the inside of a 6” or 7" ... Read more
Crisp with a tender crumb all thanks to beautiful Mulino Marino Type 0 Manitoba "Furia" flour from Italy. One of the world’s great millers producing exceptional flour. Read more
BakeryBits is the UK's leading online stockist of couche linen.
Many of you have bought it already and we’re very happy that you like it so much. But there will be some of you who have no idea what it is, how it can improve your bread baking, and why so many bakers consider it essential. So here is a guide to buying and caring for your couche linen cloths.
Check out our full couche ... Read more
Whoopie pies had a moment of fame just when my book Short & Sweet was coming out, so I dedicated several pages to recipes for chocolate and vanilla versions, with maybe five or six other flavour variations as well: enough to stock a cake stall at the next village fete! I wrote this recipe for Patrick at BakeryBits to show just how easy they are to make.
If you're not quite sure what whoopie ... Read more
A crisp easy-to-roll rugged buttery shortcrust made with mix of dark rye and white bread flour, and a hint of real honey. Filled with your very best mincemeat. Then topped with a scotch whisky and walnut sugar crust. Giving you a very impressive Christmas mince pie with a knockout flavour too. And of course you can replace the whisky with rum (that's Faith at our BakeryBits HQ's preference), ... Read more
Using BakeryBits decorative sugars
What are they?
Not all white sugar is the same. You’re probably familiar with different brown and unrefined sugars, the coarse demerara sugar crystals and “coffee” sugar (even larger brown sugar crystals). But did you know that the same is true for white sugar? At BakeryBits we do a range of different white sugars especially made for baking, with ... Read more
Fuel Saving Baking: 9 tips to help reduce fuel costs
We hear you! You have these great skills, you're baking terrific breads, you have a good oven and our amazing flours, everything you need… and now you need to watch your fuel bill. What do you do?
At BakeryBits, we’ve been wondering: what would fuel-smarter baking be like?
So here’s our BakeryBits guide to reducing fuel costs!
1. ... Read more
A flavour-packed sandwich bread which uses a mix of some of BakeryBits top flours. By combining flours milled from different grains you get all the qualities of each flour included in the bread, from the easy-slicing character from roller-milled strong white flour through to great flavour and omega-3 oils from the wholemeal wheat and rye.Makes one large 1kg loaf, to fit our Traditional 3lb Loaf ... Read more
