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 wheat flour-based sauce has been shown in trials to give a more pleasing flavour – what food tech people call mouth-feel – for savoury food, compared to sauces thickened with cornflour or other starches that are better suited to sweet dished. So that old-fashioned pan gravy my mother would make for Sunday roasts was the way to go, and still my favourite.
By browning the butter ... Read more
Packed with flavour and a gentle flaky texture (not the super-high rise made with white flour) this is a very buttery rich pastry with a great wheaten flavour and a gentle honey sweetness. Perfect for savoury and sweet pies, pasties and sausage rolls. Freezes very well, just thaw in the refrigerator before rolling.
makes enough to line and top 2 large pies, to fit our Pie Plate 9" (20.2cm)Method
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A classic, simple pie that is easy to adapt. Though it’s a roast chicken pie you can replace the chicken with cooked firm fish, or a vegetarian alternative like cooked Jerusalem artichokes and carrots, you can get very inventive here and still get a great pie.
You’ll need one of our 20cm (9 inch) Chicago Metallic pie plates, plus our Stainless Steel Flour Dredger (for dusting the ... Read more
Very useful for pies, savoury Danish, our Cream sauce for pies and pastries is good on any pastry or dough that needs a layer of a creamy filling that won’t add too much fat or oil. I use it when I’m making cheese and leek croissants out of day-old baked plain croissants: split them in half lengthways, spread some of this sauce over the cut surface on both halves, then top with grated ... Read more
There are times when want the heartiest, chewy, jaw-aching crust on my bread with a slightly waxy, vaguely dense crumb (open-texture optional), but other times…well, I like bread a little more insubstantial.
In a world once filled with cotton-wool bread, in days gone by (ok, the 1990s), I used to long for the sturdy muscle of a great sourdough, laced with rye and wholewheat and felt sad ... Read more
These are great everyday soft rolls that taste perfectly plain and straight-up, nothing brioche-like about them, even with the small amounts of different ingredients added in. The extra ingredients beyond flour, water and yeast all help to somewhat imitate the “improvers” bigger bakeries add to get the same soft light result, but easier to get hold of for the kitchen or small bakery. ... Read more
Get one of our very sturdy finger roll tins, known as a USA Pans, Finger roll, Hot Dog, Bun tin, and make these great bread rolls extra-soft and light with just a smidgeon of cooked potato, cream, milk and butter.
Makes ten large finger rolls.Method
Have the cooked mashed potato ready and leave to one side. Put the water in a mixing bowl and whisk in the yeast until dissolved. Then beat in the ... Read more
A very simple, utterly delicious Dark Mocha Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting has a great coffee flavour and an intense chocolate flavour. I've baked this in our Chicago Metallic Unglazed Professional Sponge Cake Tin (20cm/8-inch diameter), especially good as it's 5cm (2 inches) deep so it can bake a generous thick layer of cake easily.Method
Line the base of a deep Chicago Metallic ... Read more
Get the flour you want with a Mockmill
Bespoke milling is the hottest must-do in artisan baking today, and a Mockmill - a home tabletop electric grain mill - allows you to mill exactly what you want when you want it, giving you the ultimate control over the final grains – what millers call the grist, as in the saying “grist for the mill” – that will become your flour.
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Every month I’ll get a message from someone crying out in desperation “HELP, my sourdough starter isn’t working”. Or that’s not bubbly, and occasionally the worry that it might have died altogether. On the latter it’s fairly unlikely that you have every killed it, these yeast and bacteria that make your starter are pretty hardy and just need a few comforts in life to keep them happy.
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