Terry’s Blog

According to Richard and Judy psychologists and statisticians have identified the 23rd January as the most depressing day of the year (in the UK at least). Illness, absenteeism, depression, and such like are higher on this day each year than any other - the fun of Christmas is over but the debts are still with us, we face the truth that our New Year’s resolutions aren’t going to happen, the new diet has failed and we realise the subscription for the new gym is a complete waste of money. (I won’t grace this bit of nonsense with a reference).

So today I have started experimenting with a whole new way of making bread. The bread making machine I was bought for Christmas (what DO you give the man who has everything?) has so far been dissappointing. The bread is ok but not as good as my handmade bread. The timer is nice so we can come down to fresh baked bread in the mornings I guess, but that is about it. I have bought a book on how to adapt recipes for bread machines and I will experiment to see if I can get better bread from it. However, the book has a chapter on sourdough breads with all sorts of information on how you use ‘poolish’, ‘chef’ and ‘biga’ to start the dough off and create those scummy continental breads like ciabatta, pain de compagne and so on. For this I will be using the bread making machine for mixing dough and for the first rise but will finish by hand, as is my wont, and bake it in a conventional oven. Watch this space for revelations and possibly photos. How sad is that!

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