. No bread is an island: September 2023

Walking around Taunton the other day, I was stopped by a woman who said, "Excuse me, are you Paul Youd? " She turned out to be a student I'd known about 20 years ago - and she told me that I'd inspired her to get into teaching breadmaking! She'd taken the City and Guilds Teaching Adults course and had been teaching bread making classes for about 10 years. Needless to say I was thrilled to hear this.

Then, this morning, I heard that world famous violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter was considering retiring. But she said that, tucked away in her head are something like 60 symphonies, plus countless other classical works - and she'd like to pass on all that musical knowledge in retirement.

This struck a chord with me! I taught breadmaking from 1993 until 2020, and I've got countless bread recipes and methods tucked away in my head. Which I'd like to pass on - by means of this post, and also the numerous other recipes that are on this blog. And if I could inspire someone to begin teaching breadmaking - that would be awesome!

Given the present-day cost of living crisis, I've given up using the oven to bake my bread - instead I bake my bread in a large, dry frying pan, which I cover, creating a sort of Dutch oven. I also keep back a portion of dough in the fridge, which I then add to my next batch, so it's sort of sourdough-ish. On occasion, if I'm organised and have the time, I won't use any dried yeast, but generally I use half a teaspoon of dried yeast to hurry the process along.

Starting from scratch:

For the first batch of bread, use 750g of flour; 525g water; 1 teaspoon dried yeast, half a teaspoon sugar and a small splash of olive oil. Mix into a dough as specified, then weigh off 850g of dough for the bread you’re about to make, and place the residue in a sealed container (I use an ice cream tub - but, remove the ice cream first! 😉)

This will stay happily in your fridge until you want to make another batch of bread.

From then on:

Ingredients:
500g breadmaking flour - I use Doves organic wholemeal flour
1/2 teaspoon salt ( instead of the usual 1 tsp - this is a tasty flour which doesn't need all that much salt)

1/2 teaspoon of dried yeast (+half a tsp sugar), or a heaped teaspoon of fresh - leave this out if you're going for the sourdough version

350ml lukewarm water

1 dessertspoon olive oil (I generally just add a small splash - not keen on oily spoons!)

Method:

Stir the yeast (and sugar if using) into the liquid and leave for 5 minutes.

Measure the dry ingredients and place them in a large mixing bowl

Add the yeast liquid plus a modicum of olive oil

Mix together with either your hands or a table knife - if you're using your hand, I recommend you hold the bowl with one hand and mix with the other. That way you'll have a clean hand with which to answer the phone if it rings.

Halfway through mixing, incorporate your dough from the fridge. This will look a bit gloopy, and smell rather odd, but it's fine, believe me! And there's no need to wash this out - you're going to put some dough back in it shortly.

Lift the side of the bowl whilst mixing - that way you can utilise a bit of gravity to help you

When it all comes together as a dough, lift it out onto the table and begin to knead. You may have to add a little extra flour or water to ensure you have a firm, manageable dough - a little tacky to the touch.

Knead by flattening the dough, then folding it over. I generally repeat this action around 50 times - I've found this is about the right number which ensures the ingredients are thoroughly mixed - important if you're incorporating some white flour in the mix, which many people do to give a lighter loaf.

When you're happy with your dough, weigh off the 850g of dough you are about to use, and place the rest of it - about 400g - back in the container and place it in the fridge until needed again. There is no need to wash this container.

Now divide your dough in two, then each half into 5 pieces. Shape these into bun shapes, then flatten them out - with with your hand or with a rolling pin. How big you want these to spread out depends on how big your frying pan is. Mine is quite big, and I find that 5 will fit comfortably. You may need to sprinkle your rolls with a little flour to stop them sticking to your hand or the worktop.

As you shape them, place them on a baking sheet covered with a floured piece of baking parchment to allow them to rise and cover with a dry tea towel.

Now you can either leave them to rise by themselves, or, like I do, place the baking sheet on top of your frying pan on a low heat.

Keep an eye on them, and when you can ascertain they are beginning to rise, you can put the first batch in the frying pan - they will continue to rise a little during the first part of the baking process.

Cover the frying pan to create the Dutch oven.

On a low heat, mine take about 6 minutes each side, but you'll need do a bit of trial error to see how long the rolls take in your set-up.

So, after 6 (or so) minutes, turn each roll over carefully, using a spatula.

Bake the second side for a further 6 minutes. Remember, it's always better to over bake your bread than underbake it.

Put the first batch on a cooling rack or tea towel and repeat with the second batch.

When you're satisfied they're all done, take a breadknife, split one of the rolls in two, add your spread of choice (mine is homemade marmalade) and savour the flavour of homemade bread, and revel in your success!

Any comments or questions, I'll gladly answer them!

Why use a frying pan and not the oven? My electric oven takes 10 minutes to warm up, and a loaf takes 40 minutes. The frying pan is on for a total of 24 minutes, roughly, and the cost is a fraction of using the oven.

The sourdough version:

This takes all day, so you can either: Make the dough the night before, place the residue back in the fridge and leave the bulk of the dough overnight. So, cover the dough with your upturned bowl and place a tea-towel over the top.

Or: Start the process in the morning.

The procedure is exactly the same as above, from where the dough is divided into 10 pieces and shared into flat rolls - except these will be left to rise all day.