Bread and Fishes

I have had the most fun couple of weeks messing about with dough. I dare say friends and family are now sick to the back teeth of me talking about the state of my ferment so hell, I may as well bore the ether...

I've been making bread for donkey's years and have got myself into some bad habits and complacency - it's easy to congratulate yourself that your bread is better than shop-bought, but let's face it, that's not difficult. I make in a haphazzard way, no weighing, no measuring, and yes it tastes good, but it's always soft, evenly textured etc. What I've always wanted to achieve was a light crusty baguette or flour dusty ciabatta riddled with leathery holes, bread that has attitude, bread that you want to tear rather than cut.

Bingo! The penny has finally dropped. You have to get more water in there than you'd magine possible, then you have bubbles and holes galore. You need slow fermentation to achieve a more pronounced flavour an a better colour. And you need steam in the oven, coupled with fierce temperature, to produce a cracking good crust. What you need more than anything is Richard Bertinet's book 'Dough' and to watch him handle the stuff (DVD supplied in the book). He's a pleasure to watch, good strong hands, soft French accent, mmmmm....

OK so hub and kids are madly enjoying ciabatta made with avocado oil, fougasse - great served warm with garlic butter to dip in to, epy and , most recently, pain de campagne. The dough making method is one I have used for over 20 years to make brioche. Although it feels all wrong when you start to work with dough this way (more of a dough slapping and hurling than kneading) you mustn't be disconcerted, the results are stupendous.

So why the leek? Well, made a humdinger of a fish soup last night with little more than a couple of good leeks, a kilo of white fish bones donated freely by my fishmonger, onion, fennel trimmings, and a slug of white wine. Just a great stock made more flavoursome by adding chilli, saffron, peppercorns and a half a can of chopped tomatoes. Strained through a conical sieve, I aready had a full flavoured soup, but reduced it with a hefty dollop of creme fraiche then added small fillets of lemon sole. Two minutes later, into warm soup bowls, squeeze of lemon and sprinkling of finely chopped parsley and chervil. What more do you need? Well, some crusty Pain de Campagne...