Location: Ireland
Profession: Home Baker
Social Profiles
About
Born and raised in Southern France (near Marseille), my parents are from Andalusia (Almeria) in Spain. Food has always been at the core of our family life, probably because my parents grew up in rural Spain post-civil war and food was scarce in their early years but they could live off the land.
Food is something we always share and gift at home, from my dad’s veg patch to our home-baked goods.
My earlier memory of baking is when I joined the “Club Cuisine” in secondary school…
I moved to Ireland in 2002 for work. I’m a linguist, and I also used to teach flamenco dance in my free time. Over the years I found myself cooking and baking more, eager to use my hands more, I also found myself moving further and further away from the city.
In the last 7 years I've been particularly interested in bread, self-learning from books and taking courses with chefs and bakers when I could. I also explored gluten free sourdough bread and cakes so I could gift baked goods to my coeliac friends.
We have a sourdough starter at home and use it weekly (my partner bakes sourdough loaves, I bake baguettes), and I mostly use it to get a sweet starter going to make laminated dough and tortas de aceite (my absolute favourite!) amongst other things.
I have all your books as I’ve been following you for quite a while, I believe when I bought a clay cloche from Bakery Bits years ago and first heard about you.
My favourite way to eat bread is toasted, with grated tomatoes, a pinch of sea salt and plenty of olive oil. My breakfast of choice in summer.
I bake for family and friends. I love baking and couldn’t possibly eat everything I bake, and sharing is caring. Our little 1-year old neighbour just discovered bread, and I love that he’s enjoying sourdough regularly and loving it.
My Work
I live on the West coast of Ireland in a little village called Foxford by the River Moy, a 20-minute drive from the Atlantic Ocean.
I am a home baker with a project to start providing bread and baked goods to our local café, then potentially joining them in a shared café/micro-bakery space in 2024 that a heart surgeon (born in the village, living in Dublin) wants to fund to give back to his community. It’s quite an amazing project, it will take up to a year to get rolling, but such a great opportunity to introduce sourdough baking into the community.
This project really came about because I got into the habit of sharing bread and baked goods everywhere I went regularly, from my favourite coffee truck to the organic gardens where I’d pick up my weekly veg, as I had become very friendly with people in the community.
And so when my friends at the coffee truck decided to get their own space, they approached me to supply baked goods. They also introduced me to their surgeon friend, and giving back to the community suddenly took on a different level.
I really want to be the best I can be and learn from scratch to have a strong foundational basis, as well as correct and improve any of my current baking. The timing for the course opening couldn’t have been better.
Passionate about Baking as Lifestyle Medicine
When your first book came out, it really stuck with me as it was the first time I had seen food, and bread, associated with health at such a level. It was like reading a manual for life through food. And I loved that your sweet baking book focused even more on both the gut and the mind.
I am not a scientist, but I love good food and I know it is a key pillar.
I was lucky to grow up in a family that grew their own veg and fruit, always put food first, and was blessed with good health in general. My mum always says that good food will cure anything, of course it doesn’t as such but it is such an important part of the equation.
Good food also brings smiles and I love that people around me get excited about a homemade bake, be it bread or pie, savoury or sweet, especially if it’s made with local seasonal ingredients. Close friends of mine have struggled with mental health issues, and to know that I can make even the tiniest difference really drives me.
I want to go beyond just baking, it has been a part of my life for so long, I want to understand its power and magic and continue to bake more and better.
My Community
I live in a rural community where we have such diversity of food grown and made locally. I have come to meet fantastic producers in the last years, and every time I cook or bake with their produce, I can see their faces, and it feels a bit like home.
We also have an increasing number of growers and millers in Ireland and we’re privileged that we have easy access to heritage grains and flour.
I want to be part of the revolution, and produce bread and other baked goods that use organic local ingredients, that don’t just feed people but nourish them.
I started reading Ultra-Processed People and I’m getting flashbacks to science class when I was younger, when we learnt about food additives. It started an obsession with food labels and over the years, I grew more and more conscious of what I bought, that I couldn’t make or bake myself and this philosophy stuck with me. If we can give people the choice and the means to access wholesome food, it is such a great first step.
How I use BALM Protocol
I will continue reading and learning, and applying this knowledge daily in my bakes. I also want to take pride in what I do, knowing that I have the foundation to support my actions and be the change I want to see.
I know this course will further empower me to give back to the community and continue living by the principles of the six pillars of lifestyle medicine.
