As we are all stuck here in lockdown with an ever-expanding vocabulary that now includes self isolation, social distancing and lockdown as every day phrases, I have revived my obsession with bread baking. Bread is the first thing to sell out in any shop – should you be lucky enough to get out to one. It is also the one thing that my teenage children want to eat on a daily basis and as they are stuck in the house constantly – apart from the now daily, compulsorary games of netball on the driveway – the eating appears to be constant.
Baking bread is something that seems so easy from a distance as it only requires flour, yeast, water and salt for flavour; yet it is so easy to end up with a brick. You can watch all the youtube channels you like but somehow the soft texture centre of the loaf can end up resembling the stuffing they use for sofas and is just
as chewy. Incidentally the Italians call the middle part of a slice of bread, la mollica – from mollare, to give up! A successful loaf requires basic understanding of the science behind the interaction of the basic ingredients. Once this is nailed then successful bread is yours.
I am a 47 year old teacher and qualified as a teacher in my 40s – as midlife crises go it was quite dramatic and actually more painful than my other crisis which was to take up roller derby. Funnily enough, along with English Literature I teach food science! Baking is chemistry and the best recipes I have got have been from food science books and it is always these basic recipes that I share with students.
So, during my time away from the madness of the classroom whilst we stay at home and do our best to keep us and our loved ones well – because actually nothing else really matters above that – I am sharing my love of baking to keep my active brain occupied – Bring on the elasticated trousers.
Lockdown Baking 