Let’s imagine it’s Sunday morning. You’re in bed. The curtains are still drawn where you left them last night but a little chink is letting in just enough light to make you stir. Cocooned in a warm envelope of covers, your eyes and nose peek out over the top and, as you begin to wake, […]
The first recipe I ever posted on this blog was a simple malted loaf. Back then it felt like such an achievement – a whole afternoon of weighing, mixing and kneading, praying that it would rise, that the oven was the right temperature and that I’d end up with something edible after all that effort.
David Lebovitz once said that the best thing about being a pastry chef is that your kitchen colleagues have to be nice to you 364 days a year. Why? Because on the 365th they want you to bake them a birthday cake. While I’m no pastry chef and have never worked in a commercial kitchen, […]
Peanut butter and jam. A classic combination of salty and sweet, crunchy and smooth, fruit and nut. A mixture which shouldn’t really work, but somehow really does.
Last night my parents threw a family party to celebrate our recent engagement.
As someone who loves nothing more than spending time in the kitchen, it often amazes me how little time people are prepared to put into what they eat. I’m fully aware that everyone is leading increasingly hectic lives and that sometimes a bowl of cereal on the sofa is all that can be managed, but […]
Summer is coming to an end. While the last few days have seen warmer temperatures and clear blue skies, there’s an autumnal note in the air. Darkness draws in earlier each evening and there’s a coldness first thing in the morning, a reminder of frosts to come in the not too distant future. Holidays in […]
Where do you stand when it comes to freezers? Are they a baker’s best friend, a modern monstrosity or simply a necessary evil? If you like to bake as much as I do, you’ll be familiar with the issue of leftovers. While our household has as large an appetite for sweet treats as the next […]
There are few things more British than a cucumber sandwich. Simple and delicate (and delicious when made properly – think paper-thin cucumber, salty butter, soft white bread), this recipe of aristocratic origin is made all the better for being absolutely unnecessary. Traditionally served at tea-time (our way of justifying the indulgence of an additional mid-afternoon […]
Aga toast is probably the best toast in the world. Other than that, and the occasional slow-cooked one-pot wonder, I’m not an enormous fan of agas. Aside from the fact that I’d boil to death were we to install one in our tiny London kitchen (that is, if it’s great weight didn’t cause it to […]