Baking

What to Bake and How to Bake It, by Jane Hornby

What to Bake and How to Bake It, by Jane Hornby

I’d describe most cooking as an art of sorts, something that allows the cook a certain freedom of expression in the design and construction of a dish, some latitude to interpret a set of instructions into something new and different. I don’t think that about baking. That’s a science It’s a set thing that does [...]

Books

Flourless chocolate cake

Flourless gluten free chocolate cake

I made this for Christmas Day because, pretend as we do, nobody in this family really likes Christmas pudding. There’s no point persevering with the lie anymore, so we did something different, and it was a vast improvement on the traditional bowl of stodge. This is our new Christmas pudding. The absence of flour makes [...]

Food & drink

Pane di Como, or Italian country bread

Como bread, traditional Italian country bread from Lake Como.

Most of the bread I bake follows a fairly standard pattern. I’ve got a couple of staple recipes, one for an everyday loaf that works well for white or whole grain and any variation in between and a couple of ways with sourdough, too. The everyday loaf is the most versatile, and it can easily [...]

Food & drink

Panmarino, or Italian rosemary bread

Panmarino, or Italian rosemary bread

I made a pain au levain the other week, a French sourdough shaped like a torpedo, and full of glorious air holes, encased in a brittle crust. It was a textbook example of why ‘slow is best’ when it comes to baking bread. The levain, or starter, was set up the night before, giving it a [...]

Food & drink