21 things you only know if you bake your own bread
By Ella Walker . Published 2020-07-30
BOLD-FoodGrab a plate, a slice of homemade bread and a pat of butter – we’re with you.
If you’re one of the valiant few who get up at dawn to rustle up your own sun-dried tomato focaccia and sesame seed bagels, you should be able to relate to these 21 points…
- Your friends may have pets and kids, but you have your sourdough starter and it needs you. Only people into fermenting their own sauerkraut seem to understand.
- There is no pizza better than the kind whose dough you made with your bare hands – even if you haven’t quite got the knack of doing the pizzeria dough spin yet.
- You feel incredibly proud when a friend comes to you to ask for a bit of your (much-loved) sourdough starter to get them going, but also kind of sad at letting your baby out into the world.
- These muscles come from kneading, not bench-pressing.
- Baking cakes might be a kind of science, but baking bread? That’s an art form.
- There is a silent war between those who use breadmakers, and those who bake bread by hand – pick a side, and stick with it.
- Never are you more smug than when people drop by for brunch and you can pull a fresh baked loaf out of the oven.
- The bottom draw of the freezer is forever filled with the odd ends of loaves for emergency hunger pangs – all they need is a toaster and a pile of scrambled eggs.
- Unfortunately, no matter how hard you try, and no matter how expert you become, no baguette you make ever compares to a baguette bought from an actual French bakery in France. It must be a butter thing.
- Paul Hollywood is your culinary hero, and no, you’re not ashamed.
- It’s all in the proof, it really is.
- Every time you see a loaf of bread, you can’t help but want to turn it over and inspect the crustiness of its base.
- All you really need in life is a hunk of bread and a similar sized hunk of butter.
- Who needs a holy trinity when you have flour, salt, water and yeast?
- A fair amount of your time is spent either laying on the floor by the oven, checking your rise, or searching for the perfect ratio of air holes to loaf size.
- A soft crust is a crushing disappointment.
- Your idea of a great night in involves different kinds of rye flour and a whole lot of fancy seeds.
- The word ‘pumpernickel’ brings you a lot of joy.
- Plain white supermarket bread trapped in their suffocating plastic packaging makes you so sad, you have to rush past the bread aisle when you do your weekly shop.
- People who leave their crusts are not welcome in your home.
- The only thing better than homemade bread? Homemade bread IN homemade bread and butter pudding.
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