Dough

There is a bread for every occasion: a ficelle for breakfast, a baguette for lunch, a pain de mie for croque monsieur, a bigger pain de campagne or sourdough to put on the table or to keep and toast through the whole week.

People are always amazed when I tell them that I work the dough by hand without flouring the work surface. Sometimes when I am giving breadmaking classes, to prove the point that you don’t need any flour, I put some extra water into the dough, to make it really sticky. No one believes that it will really come together without flour, yet it does, si

Ferment – some bakers use the term ‘levain’, which means the same thing – a piece of dough that has been left at least 4–6 hours to ‘ferment’ and which adds character and flavour and lightens the finished bread. A few of the breads use a ‘poolish’, which is just the name for a particular style of ferment.

Just try making some small baguettes first, and when you mould the bread do it as tightly as you can; then, just before you put the bread into the oven, spray it with water to create steam – these details will help you to create the fantastic thick crust that a good baguette should have.

As you work the dough it will start to come together and feel alive and elastic in your hands8. Keep on working it until it comes cleanly away from the work surface9, begins to look silky and feels smooth, firm-butwobbly and responsive – you’ll understand what I mean, when you feel it for yourself. I promise you the fascination with dough starts he

Proving – this is the time when the dough is left again, after it has been moulded, or shaped into loaves, rolls, etc. Again it will expand to around just under double its volume – this will usually take around 1 hour. The reason I say ‘just under’ double is that, until you get a feel for baking it isn’t always easy to guage that moment when the vo

A mixing bowl – big enough to hold a kilo of dough. I use a stainless steel bowl.

The way to work it is to slide your fingers underneath it like a pair of forks1, with your thumbs on top2, swing it upwards and then slap it back down, away from you, onto your work surface (it will almost be too sticky to lift at this point)3. Stretch the front of the dough towards you, then lift it back over itself in an arc (to trap the air)4, s

Leave the dough for around 1 hour, until it is roughly double in volume – don’t worry if this happens a bit quicker or takes a little longer, as the dough