The reassurance of the simple loaf

(published october 2001)

There is a streak of opinion in our industry that holds us to be a sub branch of the DSS, providing cheap food for the needy and the poor. To produce a better loaf, a premium baked pie or cake, is a perceived snub to our core market of customers in search of the cheapest sustenance...

Home baking

(published November 2001)

Before the arrival of cheap and affordable domestic ovens, there was a clear division between the types of baked goods that were made at home, and those that were purchased from the local baker. We had our trade goods that formed the core of our production, tin loaves and Vienna breads, fruit and Madeira cakes, finger and penny buns, and women encouraged to stay at home would bake more for reasons of economy than necessity. But now we live in a world where the work of home-maker is not valued, and indeed labouring work of any kind is foolishly scorned as lowly and worthless...

Attack of the 30ft baguettes

(published August 2001)

Saturday in the bakery store should be a grand day. A sense of wonder and amusement and deep desire should be impressed upon every customer who walks through the door. Well, that’s my take on weekend retailing. Theatre, magic, part side-show, part freak show. See the amazing two pound bagel, gasp at the precarious choux bun pyramid, wonder at the fragile five foot bread sticks. Perhaps not everyday bread. But then Saturday is not every day...

What ever happened to our baking traditions?

(published July 2001)

Thought I’d test a recipe for a Christmas cake, and vary it a bit using mead to soak the fruit in. Mead. You remember, that rather sweet honey-based alcohol that became the stuff of our history. I thought its sweetness and honey notes would be good in a fruitcake, but as the recipe was for a consumer magazine it made sense to check where it’s available. Tried the local supermarkets, but no luck. The assistants at the old local wine store, with its dusty old bottles and young staff, were puzzled. “Ever heard of a wine called Mead?” one shouted out the back. I tried to explain that it was more of liquor, but that made matters worse. “Ever heard of a wine called Liquor”...

When the recession comes....buy a new suit and hat

(published July 2001)

Well, I’ve heard your comments, and a few readers will be pleased to know that the photograph above the page will soon be changing soon. Some felt that a picture of a denim clad baker in a wheat field sent the wrong impression, an alarming and somewhat puzzling response....

Computer-enhanced baking

(published June 2001)

Probably the most common question craft bakers (and increasingly plant bakers) ask me is ‘how can I create and develop new breads’. Often the techniques are slightly different, but though teaching courses are a great idea, very few of us have the time free to go to them. Good books can be very helpful, and though there was once a time when we produced excellent baking guides for the working baker, sadly that time has passed

Salt in bread

(published May 2001)

I’ve got a joke. A guy goes to the doctor and says, “If I cut alcohol, salt, sugar, butter and meat out of my diet, will I live a longer life?” The doctor thinks for a moment and says, “Don’t know. But it will certainly seem longer.” Like many of you reading this, I struggle with my diet. That is, I know what I should be eating...

The fresher the better

(published May 2001)

It saddens me a little when I see so many excellent fruits and vegetables come into season, yet many bakers within our community seem unwilling to use them. Preferring instead to rely on the convenience and consistency of tinned or frozen fruit....

The baker's new clothes

(published April 2001)

I have a confession to make. I intensely dislike our white baker’s jacket, blue hairnet and white baker’s trilby. Can’t begin to tell you. Sure, it’s traditional if you think that our industry began sometime after the after the First World War. Perhaps it’s hygienic, though given the state of some bakeries that I’ve visited (alas, not worked in), and some of the foreign objects I’ve seen in loaves, I don’t really fear the humble hair. The whole get-up has a whiff of laboratory technician, and I don’t make that connection easily...

Bakers in Italy

(published December 2000)

The idea was simple enough. Why not take a group of bakers out to another country, let them take over a bakery and each create the production for one night. Every night for five days, one baker would bake breads that reflected the breadth of culinary skill within Britain, a country whose population embrace the foods of other cultures with more gusto than any other in Europe. But a group of bakers whose skill typified the excellence abound in that region. Making whatever breads they chose provided they produce work to be proud of. Displaying excellence through the loaves baked...

White, male, British-born and proud

(published November 2000)

I’m going to let you on a little secret. Many of the bakers who produce the loaves that line the shelves of our supermarkets, who graft during the night to produce some of the finest breads, morning goods and pastry lines, are not white, are not British born. And I’ll tell you, so much the crap that parades as baking excellence is produced by men who are...

Secrets of a bakery consultant

(published October 2000)

I must confess that I flinch at the term ‘consultant’. Possibly its some white male guilt peeking through, embarrassed at not doing what might be called a proper job. I mean, what would my dad say. Poncing around in my denim jacket, making what must seem like vague, glib comments while the real graft happens on the bakery floor...

Scratch and sniff bakers, and the words they use

(published October 2000)

There are only two categories of bakers. The first are scratch bakers, those of us who take flour, water, salt and yeast, and take pleasure from the bread we create. The second are now to be know as sniff bakers, whose profit is from the aroma those part baked frozen loaves impart as they toast in the oven. The issue is now resolved, henceforth everybody line up under one of the two categories...

The bakery and other businesses

(published July 2000)

Here’s a terrifying thought for many of you. Imagine a future where bakers worked together with restaurant owners and chefs, with publicans, with delicatessen managers, or with greengrocers, creating hybrid “bakery &” businesses. Just the thought creates the same fervour as an England vs Germany match. What would happen to our individuality, our guild pride and our past?

The bakery window, and other unpleasant attractions.

(published July 2000)

It must have been a few months ago. I was half asleep, listening to that familiar background murmur for many a baker, the BBC World Service. This time the programme was about the excavations in Pompeii. The archaeologists, acting as moral guardians, had suggested to the Italian officials that one room be kept from the public. Locked. For the private ‘research’ of the scholars and academics...

Literacy in the bakery

(published June 2000)

Literacy is a bigger problem for our trade than we care to admit. I’m not talking about faultless grammar, or extraordinary vocabulary. Simply being able to read and write in a basic form. I regret the times I’ve berated an employee for not following written method, or seen instructions disregarded for the cleaning routine, only to be told in a quieter moment that he can’t read...

The authentic vs the good loaf

(published June 2000)

Now my mother was a good cook. Don’t misunderstand me, but she had her own quirky way of rewriting a recipe. She’d look in the cupboard, see what needed to be used, and simply amend or even rewrite the recipe, perhaps like every good cook. The aim was a taste and a flavour that would keep us satisfied (and quiet)...

Sourdough breads in the commercial bakery

(published February 2000)

Every time I try to get bakers to use a naturally fermented sour starters, I hear the odd whine of how difficult they are to maintain. What cock and bull! Speak to bakers who use sour starters and they will tell you the reverse....

Attracting new staff

(published February 2000)

Sometimes I wonder whether all of the ego and macho posturing gets in the way of good baking. All of us have faced arrogance from some guys on the bakery floor when we’ve tried to implement a new system, especially when it veers away from the established routine. Have you ever thought ‘if only I could sack the lot of them and automate the production...

What does organic mean to the consumer?

(published January 2000)

Tell me about organic bread. Any difference in taste? Well, no. Does it last longer? Not really. Then what’s so special about it? Well, it’s organic. So what does the word ‘organic’ mean? Simply, that the ingredients used are free from any pesticides, and their harvest and milling is considerate towards the land and environment. I suppose this means the other breads you offer have pesticide residue? Hard to say, I’m not a scientist. Are you telling me that my choice is either to pay more for reassurance, or pay less and take a risk? There’s no risk. How would you know, you’re not a scientist? If there is no risk, why offer an organic loaf for sale? Because it appeals to the concerns of some customers. Do you believe in organic baking, or is it just another way to make a quid?

When a young baker leaves to open a high street bakery.

(published January 2000)

I get calls from students and young bakers thinking of opening a small craft bakery on their local high street, and before too long I’m digging through files, giving them the names of small artisanal equipment manufacturers, independent mills, God knows, any contact that might help them make it happen...

The rush to be last

(published February 2000)

Have you noticed there is never a rush to be first with an idea in this business. There are a few that try to be second, trying to emulate the company that has done the ground breaking work. Even more strive to be third, once a sense of a new market is felt. But there is always a sodding great mass of contenders trying to come last, after the market has matured and the downturn has begun...