stout December 18, 2024 blog I adapted Maurizio Leo’s Hop Miche recipe and will be baking them for this Saturday (21 December) at COGS of Coventry. The special sauce in these smoked rye December 11, 2024 blog This week’s special is smoked sprouted rye grain and it’s straight out of Chad Robertson’s Tartine 3. The loaves contain 50% organic strong white sunflower December 4, 2024 blog Last week’s special for COGS was the Merton Wholemeal. They went down a treat so this week (Saturday 7 December) I’m going to add some sunflower wholemeal November 21, 2024 blog It has been a while since I made the Merton Wholemeal. This is 70% organic stoneground wholemeal wheat flour, and 30% organic white wheat flour, sourdough focaccia November 20, 2024 blog More testing. This time with a fully sourdough olive, thyme and lemon focaccia that includes 20% wholemeal wheat flour. Size of the tin wasn’t quite merton blend November 7, 2024 blog I’ve been experimenting with a loaf that blends three types of flour: strong white wheat flour, high extraction wheat flour and 100% wholewheat freshly baked November 6, 2024 blog The Real Bread Campaign made a trading complaint in 2023 about supermarkets using the phrase “freshly baked” for bread that was re-baked. Recently, glutenin and gliadin November 5, 2024 blog Wheat and other types of cereals contain two key proteins: glutenin and gliadin. When we use the word gluten we are referring to the elastic network and squeeze October 29, 2024 blog Amy Halloran interviewed Jonathan Stevens and Cheryl Maffei of Hungry Ghost Bread fame (in Northampton, Massachusetts) and at one point Stevens alveoli October 28, 2024 blog Those holes in sourdough bread crumb are called alveoli. Ideally, they should be differently sized and spread throughout the crumb. They are an open kitchen October 23, 2024 blog Excited to let you know that I’m opening up my kitchen to anyone interested in a hands-on experience of fermenting and shaping sourdough bread. upcoming baking schedule October 17, 2024 blog Just to let you know I’m travelling again for the next two weeks so I’ll next bake bread for COGS on Saturday 2 November pizza again October 16, 2024 blog Last weekend I made a half tray of pizza (called pizza in teglia in Italian) and took it down to COGS for Rachel to sell. It was a potato, olive and harvesting grain October 15, 2024 blog In a Riverford Farm newsletter back in August this year Guy Singh-Watson wrote about his memories of harvest that was done with a tractor-drawn starters October 13, 2024 blog Nothing but a photo of a couple of starters. In case you are wondering, the rubber bands give an indication of how much the starter has a living thing October 2, 2024 blog I love this piece of writing by Graison Grill called A Body of Work. It’s really the story of how Grill came to be a baker and then started working look like dough again September 30, 2024 blog This from Cheryl Maffei in an interview with Amy Halloran on the Wordloaf substack: Going out to dinner with my dad, when bread would come to the away away September 24, 2024 blog Just a reminder that I’m travelling a bit the next few weeks so won’t be making sourdough for COGS until Saturday 2 November. There is a chance the sourdough library September 23, 2024 blog Here’s a link to BBC4’s The Food Programme about The Sourdough Library: BBC radio story about The Sourdough Library It’s well worth a listen. Here’s social September 18, 2024 blog I’m no fan of social media (for many different reasons) and have resisted putting Merton Bakery on social. But I’d been thinking about it and really emmer variation September 17, 2024 blog Following on from last week’s post about using emmer flour I had a go at building a recipe that includes emmer flour, scalded polenta and walnuts. I spelt September 11, 2024 blog Spelt is another ancient grain, and is a hybrid of emmer and wild goat grass. It’s about 9000 years old. Spelt loaves have a mild nutty taste and emmer September 10, 2024 blog Emmer flour is is an ancient grain (known in Italy as farro). It’s high in protein and fibre and also a good source of resistant starch (which seems harvest festival 2024 September 9, 2024 blog I’m going to be selling a bunch of loaves this weekend at the Harvest Festival at Coventry Cathedral. I’ll be there from a bit after 11am and plan coming up September 5, 2024 blog Two types of handmade sourdough coming up at COGS on Saturday 7 September 2024: Merton Simple with stoneground flour locally milled at Charlecote pushing the proof September 2, 2024 blog I was testing some new flours over the weekend: one an 85% extraction from Yorkshire, the other about a 75% extraction from the local Charlecote making ourselves September 1, 2024 blog As we make bread, we make ourselves. – Tara Jensen discard granola August 26, 2024 blog I go through phases of using sourdough discard (the stuff that tends to get thrown away when you feed your starter). There are loads of recipes out new workshops August 25, 2024 blog I’m happy to announce that I’ll be running two new all day beginners sourdough workshops on Sunday 19 January 2025 and Sunday 9 February 2025. These back with three August 21, 2024 blog I’m excited to be back baking bread to deliver to COGS at Coventry Market this coming Saturday 24 August 2024. As promised, I’m going to bake some sunflower and sesame July 23, 2024 blog After my flour sifting experiments I sold the Merton Blend loaf at COGS for the first time on 20 July. This loaf had 50% high extraction flour, 25% walnut and rye July 22, 2024 blog Baking bread with rye flour is amazing, but it’s also a bit tricky because rye has very little gluten in it. You can certainly bake 100% rye loaves carb lab July 17, 2024 blog An Italian friend of mine often starts our conversations by asking, “Simon, how’s the carb lab going?” Yes, I have a carb laboratory of some kind, hand sifting flour July 17, 2024 blog Stoneground whole-wheat flour refers to wheat berries that are milled by grinding them between stones. The bran, wheatgerm and endosperm that make craft knowledge July 16, 2024 blog This blog is a strange mix of things that I happen across that make me think about the nature of making real bread and why it brings me so much upcoming dates and an apology July 1, 2024 blog Hello Merton bread eaters. I’ve got a bunch of upcoming times away from home which means I won’t be baking for COGS on the following Saturdays over cannellini experiment June 26, 2024 blog Last weekend I soaked and cooked some cannellini beans in the pressure cooker. They are a little delicate and I definitely overcooked them slightly. very old bread June 25, 2024 blog At the start of the month I unexpectedly ended up on a tour of Pompeii at the foot of Vesuvius. I wasn’t quite prepared for the massive tent city when flour meets water June 24, 2024 blog I’ve been reading Nicola Lamb’s book Sift: The Elements of Great Baking (2024) and it contains very concise explanations of different aspects of back baking June 13, 2024 blog I’m excited to be back baking for COGS and will deliver bread there by 10am this Saturday 15 June 2024. Not sure what I’ll bake yet but it will percentages and schedule June 4, 2024 blog Here’s a link to a spreadsheet with two tabs. One that helps you calculate flour quantities and hydration percentages and the other with a simple bonci bread May 27, 2024 blog Bonci is a fairly well-known pizzarium in the district of Cipro in Rome. Their pizza-in-teglia (tray pizza) is mighty good and got very popular with folded May 22, 2024 blog I suspect that the most difficult skill when working with sourdough is how to shape the loaves before their second proving (which is normally a dried starter May 16, 2024 blog I thought I’d have a go at drying out my starter while I am away. Normally I’d take a bit and freeze it (or chance it in the fridge for weeks) but the meaning of the process May 14, 2024 blog Veering into philsophy but here’s L.M. Sacasas from his Substack: we should be suspicious of the presumption that how something gets done is a gone fishing May 9, 2024 blog I am about to head away so I won’t be baking bread for COGS until Saturday 15 June. What?!! But don’t worry, I’ll be checking out some panifici and structure May 7, 2024 blog First go at a botanical and sesame loaf and I was really struck by the lattice like structure of the crumb wet and wetter May 5, 2024 blog Last month I read Sarah Black’s excellent One Dough, Ten Breads: Making Great Bread by Hand (2016). Seems to me that it would be an ideal book for normal delivery May 1, 2024 blog I will be delivering bread as usual to COGS at the Coventry Market this Satuday 4 May from 10am. Get in quick Earlsdon festival April 30, 2024 blog On Monday 6 May I’m baking bread for Rachel Ward’s COGS stall at the Earlsdon Festival. Not sure yet what kinds of bread but definitely some lactobacillus April 29, 2024 blog More from Eric Pallant’s Sourdough Culture: A History of Bread Making From Ancient to Modern Bakers For most people, Lactobacillus, the species of away April 23, 2024 blog Sorry to say I won’t be baking bread for COGS this Saturday 27 April as have spent the week away for work. Business as usual on Saturday 4 May, colouring of the crust April 22, 2024 blog Here’s Sarah Black from her book One Dough, Ten Breads: Making Great Bread by Hand on the colour of the crust: As the baking continues, the starch spring festival April 17, 2024 blog This Saturday 20 April 2024 from about 11am I’ll be selling Merton bread at the Spring Festival in the bombed out Coventry Cathedral. I’m thinking ear April 16, 2024 blog Have you ever wondered why that bit of the crust on a real loaf of bread is called the ear photos from harvest April 9, 2024 blog I’ve been meaning for ages to post these few photos from last September’s Harvest Festival at Coventry Cathedral. They were taken by Marcin Sz. This 6000 years April 8, 2024 blog From Eric Pallant’s fabulous book Sourdough Culture A History of Bread Making from Ancient to Modern Bakers: A bread made with sourdough bears more combo cooker and steam March 28, 2024 blog Many many years ago I stumbled across Chad Robertson’s first book Tartine. It was eye opening in many ways and in 2013 I spent time in San Francisco rye scald March 27, 2024 blog Variations on a theme. Last week I scalded semolina flour and it turned out fabulously. This week it’s the turn of some organic wholemeal rye flour friday not saturday March 19, 2024 blog I’ll be delivering loaves to Rachel at COGS of Coventry first thing on FRIDAY morning this week (22 March) and NOT on Saturday. Fair warning. It’s Merton semolina scald March 18, 2024 blog One of my favourite loaves contains almond and oat porridge. The porridge gives the crumb incredible softness and moisture and the almonds a bit of Merton rye 15 March 14, 2024 blog Another week another new loaf. This is the Merton rye 15. It’s just 15% wholemeal organic rye flour but that’s enough to give a rich nutty flavour Watch the dough March 14, 2024 blog From Addie Roberts’ book Secrets of Open Crumb: Watch the dough not the clock This is the best advice ever for making sourdough. Look for signs Merton semolina and sesame March 6, 2024 blog Rachel at COGS tracked down some wholewheat semolina flour for me so I’ve made the Merton semolina and sesame. It’s 80% strong white bread flour and Merton rice and rye February 21, 2024 blog Introducing Merton rice and rye. I’ve been trying to incorporate cooked brown rice into a loaf for some time now but this week I feel ready to share communal oven February 14, 2024 blog I love this story from Villa San Sebastiano in Abruzzo (east of Rome) where Lucia Tellone has restarted the town’s communal oven. That bread looks on sourdough workshops February 12, 2024 blog A few weeks ago I taught a sourdough workshop for beginners at the Hope Community Centre in Coventry. It was organised by COGS of Coventry’s Rachel subscribe February 10, 2024 blog If you want to get a weekly email ‘digest’ with links to new content on mertonbakery.com you can sign-up below more on costs February 7, 2024 blog Back in September I wrote a post about why Merton bread costs what it costs. A few things have changed since then so I thought I’d do a brief sunflower experiments February 6, 2024 blog I’ve long loved the taste of sunflower seeds in bread so I thought I’d try and develop a wholemeal and sunflower seed loaf. For my experiment I used Merton wholemeal extra February 1, 2024 blog And another new loaf this week: Merton wholemeal extra. It’s 40% organic strong white flour, 60% organic stoneground wholewheat flour, with an extra Merton rye and wheat germ January 25, 2024 blog Another new loaf this week: Merton rye and wheat germ. It’s 15% organic stoneground rye flour, 85% organic strong white flour, 8% organic wheat germ Merton cheese and pepper January 12, 2024 blog New year new loaf for Saturday 13 January 2024 at COGS. This is a take on the classic Roman dish cacio e pepe (literally “cheese and pepper”). It festa December 23, 2023 blog I baked some raisin, chocolate chip and walnut loaves yesterday and this morning and they are/were available by order only from Rachel at COGS. The sourdough in pencil December 20, 2023 blog From Molly Reeder’s Substack called Waxing and Weaving, here is one of her pencil drawings of a slice of sourdough. Reproduced without permission botanical December 13, 2023 blog I mentioned last week that I’d had a go baking with Vanessa Kimbell’s Botanical Blend No.2 Meadow Blend from Hodmedod’s. I’ve since made a couple experiments December 5, 2023 blog I ordered 3kg of Vanessa Kimbell’s Botanical Blend No.2 Meadow Blend and was very curious to bake with it. The flour looks and smells amazing. At honey honey December 1, 2023 blog I’ve been experimenting for the last couple of weeks with a brown rice porridge loaf but I just can’t quite get them to look right. They taste chickpea water November 23, 2023 blog I cooked a whole heap of chickpeas the other day in the pressure cooker. This means that I end up with a lot of chickpea water and rather than throw wheat roots November 23, 2023 blog I stumbled across a small collection of drawings of wheat roots by Anne-Marie Culhane in the book Sheaf from 2022. Here’s one: Reproduced without back November 17, 2023 blog Hi all. I’m back and was up early this morning fermenting bread ready to bake tomorrow morning. The bread (some Merton Simple, some Merton be right back October 13, 2023 blog I’m away for work so sadly I won’t be baking bread for you all until Saturday 18 November. See you then caught October 1, 2023 blog Regular readers of this site will know I experiment and tinker a lot with the bread I am making. Partly this is out of curiosity, but mostly it’s simple saturdays September 28, 2023 blog I’ve got a pretty heavy couple of work weeks coming up so for this Saturday (30 September) and next (7 October) I’ll only be baking Merton simple costing a loaf September 24, 2023 blog I often get asked about the economics of sourdough bread baking, and it’s not uncommon to hear people baulk at the price of a handmade loaf of purple bread September 21, 2023 blog I made some oat porridge and almond bread for some friends the other day, except I didn’t have any almonds. I substituted in some pecans (and a few bread 23 september September 21, 2023 blog This week at COGS (Saturday 23 September) there will Merton simple (£4.00) and Merton honey and rye (£4.00) available. For the honey rye loaves I’m nothing special September 17, 2023 blog I spent the afternoon selling sourdough bread at the Harvest Festival yesterday. It was such a pleasure to meet and chat with customers. Some had harvest festival September 14, 2023 blog This Saturday 16 September I won’t be baking for COGS as I have a wee stall at the Coventry Harvest Festival at Coventry Cathedral from 12pm to 5pm. kimbell equation September 8, 2023 blog I love this: Flour, water & salt + Culture, warmth & time = Sourdough From Vanessa Kimbell’s The Sourdough School bread 9 september September 6, 2023 blog This week at COGS (Saturday 9 September) there will Merton simple (£3.50) and Merton honey and rye (£4.00) available. Get in quick wholewheat sesame September 1, 2023 blog If you are coming down to COGS tomorrow (Saturday 2 September) to buy some Merton sourdough I’m selling a wholewheat and sesame loaf for the first boy with bread August 30, 2023 blog I was travelling recently and visited a small library in Trieste in the north of Italy. This photo was on the wall no bread 19 and 26 august August 14, 2023 blog I’ve got some ‘work work’ commitments coming up over the coming weekends so won’t be able to bake bread to deliver to COGs of Coventry on 19 and 26 oat porridge and almond August 6, 2023 blog I’ve been experimenting with an almond and oat porridge loaf based on the Tartine recipe from their book Tartine 3. The recipe involves making some wild yeast July 31, 2023 blog If a loaf of bread were a country the size of the Pitcairn Islands, then its population of wild yeast should be at least that of half the world, honey rye July 27, 2023 blog I’ve been playing with a honey rye loaf based on a recipe posted by @SnooStrawberries2560 on the sourdough sub-reddit. My version is 15% organic rye round July 23, 2023 blog When I started baking sourdough bread I always made a 1kg round or boule because, well, that was what the recipes asked me to do. These rounds also no bread 8 and 15 july July 5, 2023 blog I’ve got some ‘work work’ commitments coming up over the coming weekends so won’t be able to bake bread to deliver to COGs of Coventry on 8 and 15 sesame June 18, 2023 blog I’ve been experimenting a lot these last weeks to create a sesame loaf. I was adding wheat germ to the dough before rolling the loaves in sesame cooler May 20, 2023 blog If you’ve been looking around this site you’ll know that I work in a small domestic kitchen. This places all sorts of limits on how much bread I can a strange moment May 13, 2023 blog I started baking regular yeast-based breads not so long after emigrating from Aotearoa New Zealand to the UK in 2006 (via a beautiful thirteen year close up May 12, 2023 blog Merton simple May 10, 2023 blog Just flour (80% white, 15% wholewheat and 5% rye), salt and water. These loaves are hydrated at 76% (although I vary this a bit depending on season,