Bread, Bread and More Bread

I spent last week in Cumbria, in the North of England, on a most excellent bread making course. It was run by Andrew Whitley, who used to own the Village Bakery in Melmerby, and is the author of one of the best bread books ever (at least in my opinion), Bread Matters. Over those five days, we got instruction on how to create our own sourdough, air kneading (good for your arms), how to survive in the Soviet Union on nothing but rye bread, potatoes and the odd bit of veg, the politics of owning a bakery, water mills, organic food & farming, shaping bread, different types of flour, gluten structure, and a whole load more. I won't bore you with all the details, but here are a couple of photos of the breads I made:


Russian Borodinsky bread. A rye sourdough bread, with molasses, malt, and most importantly, dried coriander (both ground and some seeds). According to the experts, well, my other half, very authentic.


Pain de levain aux oignons et lardon: ie wheat leaven bread with fried onions and bacon. Well tasty, excellent with cold meats.

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