Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Love Bread

Last night I went to Arbutus Bakery in Mayfield to learn the tips and tricks from the master himself. Declan Ryan opened the door to his award winning bakery and shared his passion for bread with us.
He is in love with bread today as he was when he started out. His respect for his team comes through every time he talks about them. Currently he is working with 5 bakers, one of them an apprentice who he teaches to become a superior baker.


His repertoire on stories about bread and their bakers is endless and he loves to share. Last night we made the best Soda bread ever (brown 'cause this is the only real one'). We then went on to make brown yeast bread...it is amazing what science is behind every single step of the process (I normally just knead the dough until my arms are hurting and then I leave it to rest). His dough was very very (and I mean WET) and I thought that can't work but....et voila...it came out better than my best breads ever were.


I can't wait until next Wednesday when we will learn all about Sourdough. Watch this space for updates....

Happy Baking

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

All still here, Elke! I asked Mr Ryan how it had gone when I was buying bread this morning, and I think he was very pleased. It's certainly a skill he should pass on to as many people as possible.

PS We have a little competition going on the blog that may interest your readers...

Elke said...

Hi Julian,

Thanks for letting me know about the competition. Have of course given my bit of 'expertise'...keep fingers crossed :-)have also published on my blog about the wine tasting.

What a pity that I have the breadmaking course next Wednesday (not really a pity - I just wish I could be at 2 places at the same time)...let me know how it went

Elke