I’ve baked sourdough regularly for a couple of years, now.

There’s been a starter bubbling away in the fridge for the whole time.

It’s remarkable in its resilience … sometimes, weeks  of neglect have passed, but a handful of flour and a splash of water cause it to spring back into life easily enough.

I’ve tried several recipes, and some of them have been quite tricky – difficult and temperamental doughs that are quite wet, and hard to handle, that produce loaves with a distinct sour tang and a wide, open crumb with the big holes so coveted by sourdough bakers. Great bread, but hard work.

There needs to be something more straightforward, more accessible and just easier to make, and this is it.

This loaf has a mild taste, with just a hint of sour, and a good texture and a light, airy crumb, with a crisp and crunchy crust.

The recipe calls for 250g of starter. Use the method here to establish a starter for the first time, then just make sure to feed and water it every now and again. Be warned – it takes a week or two to get a decent starter going, so plan ahead. Read more….

I try not to write anything about absolutely brand new restaurants, because opening a restaurant is hard, demanding, and things often go wrong, especially in the very early days.

Fantastic dining experiences don’t just spring into being – getting a plate of food from kitchen to table is a very long and expensive journey, and it’s only fair to give a new place the time and space to get the logistics right.

So, Zucco in Meanwood. Open three days, and yet I’m sat here writing something about it.

The simple reason for that is that there’s plenty to say, and it’s all good. Very good indeed.

We chanced on it yesterday following a review I picked up on twitter, and decided to give the “Mum’s away, do you fancy fish & chips, kids?” routine a slight deviation into Italian cuisine – safe territory for most under tens, I find, but with the odd opportunity to cajole them into trying something new.

The dining room looks new and rustic at the same time, a careful clash of polish and smartly sourced and reclaimed materials, used well. There’s a lot of beautiful old timber in there, and that along with the plywood tabletops, simple tiling and industrial bare filament bulbs set a confident note – this is a relaxed place for enjoying food. It isn’t a performance, it isn’t out to impress – instead, it seeks to welcome and serve. It’s a good message for any restaurant. More…

I’ve got a busy job.

It involves a lot of meetings, a lot of running around doing things, sorting things out, making – and sometimes stopping – things from happening.

Lately, work has stretched at the seams, slowly drifting into cracks it never reached before … those hours early in the very early morning when the lights flicker on for me as I stride alone, wearily, down the office, breaking the peace and waking a frozen PC, with nothing but coffee and silence for company. It’s attacked other parts of the day, too … that time in the middle formerly called ‘lunch’ is a recent casualty.

Lunch, or whatever you call that meal (often ‘dinner’ round here) has all but gone these days, reduced to simply eating something while working, instead of anything that could be described as a meal. Soup, a sandwich, or if I’m organised, the remains of last night’s dinner, most often  at my desk, occasionally hunched in a corridor between meetings, barely ever in the actual restaurant. Sometimes, there’s nothing at all.

This isn’t good. Not good at all.

There’ are clear benefits to taking a proper break at lunchtime, and the nutritional angle is the least of the rewards. There’s much to be said for removing yourself from the workplace for a while in the middle of the day, simply going somewhere different and just not working.

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I first discovered Creative Breads, located at the back of Shipley Health Store on Westgate, last September.

I remember the day well. It was the first weekend of the Saltaire festival. We had returned from our holiday in France to find their flyer in our postbox and, keen to try something new, along with showing support for a new, local business, off we went to buy our lunch on a warm September morning.

And what a lunch it was.

We came away with a pork and herb sausage roll, a sausage sandwich, a three cheese toasties and a Portuguese egg roll. That I remember all four things, eight months later, shows what an impression they made. A tradition was born that day; if we are at home in Shipley on a Saturday we get our lunch from Creative Breads. That’s the rule. And it’s no exaggeration to say that in the subsequent months nothing has disappointed. And there’s not much we haven’t tried.

So there was no hesitation about booking a table when we heard about their new venture; a pop-up restaurant. Dining for twelve people, six courses, no choice and no advance warning of the menu. We had absolute faith. Knowing the delicate touch and fantastic flavour combinations of the two talented chefs, Jez and Lisa, we were prepared to be impressed.

And impressed we were.

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