By way of Introduction

 

Back in 1970 I worked at Sunblest Bakery on Castle Hill in Bredbury, Stockport. It was a summer job before I started 'A' levels. It was also my first experience of night-shifts. 

Three o'clock every morning would find me in the toilets, up to the elbow in ice cold water trying to keep awake. However, I learnt so much during those months. 

I learnt that flour in your overalls gives you the most horrendous rash and scratching doesn't exactly help. I learnt that tins straight out of the oven are exceedingly hot and leave indelible marks on your forearms that stay as scars for many years to come. I also learnt that paper hats are useless in a working environment that is so hot they disintegrate within five minutes and that sharing white wellies with other workers gives you all manner of fungal infections. 

But I also learnt the principles of bread making: types and qualities of flour, how yeast behaves, how to grease tins and how to slice fresh bread fresh out of a pullman tin. 

Some years later, not being any wiser, I started the night shift at Beaumaris Bakery on the island of Anglesey. 

There I learnt a few finer points. I learnt pastry work and how to sculpture Harvest Festival Wheatsheaf breads; skills I fear have left me over the years. I used to be a dab hand at a cornish pasty, but time and the deleterious effect of an expanding waistline have meant I've probably lost the knack there, as well...at least for now. 

Today, I bake for fun as well as necessity. My daughter and her family have 'caught the bug' - helped along by the need to fill a diminished social calendar during Lockdown 2020. We started a Whatsapp group of the two of us - just to get her started and to share ideas. It was supported by an Instagram page @BreadClub20 and that has led to this......

I hope you enjoy it. As Steve Albini says, “For less than the cost of a Big Mac, fries and a Coke, you can buy a loaf of fresh bread and some good cheese or roast beef, which you will enjoy much more.” 

Happy baking.....