I've been trying to think "just why is the bread so good in Victoria?" and that epicentre of a good crust, Melbourne. When I grew up in the eastern suburbs in the 60s and 70s, bread was simply hot and white, and tasted like...

Yotam Ottolenghi took the old- fashioned approach to business - get together with a few work friends, fit the kitchen to produce the best possible food, making sure that the bread, cakes and food are as near as damn it perfect, and then do the rest...

Has there been a bread that has so captured the public so much as the simple flat sheet of Focaccia Genovese. Easily made - either simply brushed with good olive oil, or studded with plump black olives...

Stretch that dough, open the texture up, if we wanted smooth flat crumb, would we need you to make it by hand? High Street bakers must offer a markedly different crust and crumb texture to plant bread....

Actually, I do rather miss those English french sticks, so much a part of my early memories of this land. Thick, dense, tough, chewy, and a bit leathery, filled with a slice of cheddar, raw white onion, hot-house tomato...