Bread Baking Equipment for UK Beginners There is something quietly brilliant about pulling a loaf of bread from your own oven. The smell alone is worth it. But before you get to that moment, you need to know what equipment…
Freezing Homemade Bread: The Right Way The first time I froze a homemade loaf, I did everything wrong. I wrapped it loosely in a single layer of cling film, shoved it to the back of the freezer behind a bag…
Why Does My Bread Taste Bland? You have spent the afternoon making bread from scratch. The dough came together beautifully, the loaf rose in the tin, your kitchen smelled extraordinary whilst it baked, and then you cut into it and…
Baking Bread in a Dutch Oven: A Guide for Home Bakers For many home bakers in the UK, the idea of making a really good crusty loaf can feel slightly out of reach. You mix a dough, give it time,…
How to Score Bread Before Baking Pick up almost any loaf from a decent bakery – whether it is a sourdough from a craft baker in Edinburgh’s Stockbridge neighbourhood, a bâtard from a French-inspired boulangerie in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, or…
How to Tell When Bread Dough Has Proved Enough The Question That Trips Up Almost Every New Baker The first loaf I ever baked properly – properly, mind you, not the dense, gummy disaster I produced the week before –…
Kneading Bread Dough by Hand: Technique and Timing There is a moment, somewhere between the shaggy, sticky mess of a freshly mixed dough and the smooth, elastic ball that springs back when you press it, where something quietly remarkable happens.…
How Salt Affects Bread Dough The first time I baked a loaf without salt, I did not realise my mistake until I cut into it. The crust had a strange, papery quality, the crumb was oddly open and sticky, and…
UK Bread Flour Guide: Strong, Plain and Wholemeal Explained Walk into any British supermarket and you will find an entire shelf dedicated to flour. Marriages, Allinson, Doves Farm, Shipton Mill — the bags stack up in white, brown and cream,…
Understanding Yeast: Fresh, Dried and Fast-Action Compared If there is one ingredient that confuses new bread bakers more than any other, it is yeast. Walk into a Sainsbury’s or Waitrose and you will find at least two or three different…