Location: United Kingdom
Profession: Home Baker
About
I've always liked making my own bread, been frustrated at my lack of knowledge and ability, bought lots of books and attended at least one course. Most of what I've learnt so far has been picked up from reading and from trying things out and experiencing from the many failures!
Fresh from the oven! It's lovely with butter and homemade marmalade and great with real cheese and wine. I bake for the two of us at home. My routine is to bake a loaf a day - it's easier to keep the starter going that way, I find - then freeze them. I give loaves away to neighbours and friends.
My Work
7 miles south of Lancaster. I bake for pleasure. Whilst I would love there to be a local artisan bakery where I might have some input, I think the chances of that happening, given my skill levels are remote. I am currently good at one particular recipe, but really want to expand the repertoire of bread that I bake in a way that enables me to be successful - i.e. through better understanding. I have found that the many methods and different advice which comes from various sources sometimes contradictory and, like anything you read, only part of the story. Hence my looking forward to the experience of bread making ad finding answers to the many why's.
Passionate about Baking as Lifestyle Medicine
Personal interest. We have always grown and cooked our own food. I'm not a vegetarian, but my wife is. I love the taste and process of cooking, being experimental and everything that goes with eating healthily. It's probably a reaction to the terrible diet I had as a kid!
My Community
Being a professional musician by training and a ceramist as a hobby, I am interested in everything to do with sensation and colour/texture. In food and drink that's taste/smell/texture and there's nothing better than being able to experience that. Lifestyle medicine is important to health and wellbeing, although I feel that being creative, in whatever way works for you, is a fundamentally important aspect of life in that it gives you energy and also influences the way other people feel. I see baking as a part of that.
How I use BALM Protocol
To make better, more varied loaves and perhaps to participate in further courses.