Hi From Wales UK

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jeffers on 11 Dec 2012 at 06:56

Hi all, Just found this site. My name is Jeff and I live in a tiny village called Libanus near Brecon in Mid-Wales (at the foot of Pen Y Fan to be precise). I have recently returned to breadmaking after many years (and I only dabbled with it then - thank you Delia Smith). 2 books have really done it for me: the River Cottage bread book and Dough by Richard Bertinet (though I still get dough all over the kitchen with his scoop, swing, slap and fold method of working the dough). I have now moved from 'sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't' to 'it pretty much works every time' and so am looking to spread my bread making horizons with the help of all you experienced bakers out there ;-) All the best, Jeff.

My second pair of white loaves after resuming breadmaking (using the River Cottage book)

Welcome to TFL.  I'm in  England but there're at least 2 few fellow Welsh bakers here, too.

Must say you started with two of very good introductory books for breadmaking.  Looking forward to hearing a lot  about bready journey. :)

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embth on 11 Dec 2012 at 19:56

Greetings from Minnesota....I am sure you will enjoy this website.  There are many talented folks here who generously share tons of helpful information.  I have learned much from exploring TFL.    Happy Holidays!   Embth

Many thanks both for the warm welcome - I'm looking forward to sharing the journey with you all.

Welcome Jeff (and welcome back lumos).  I live just across the border in East Shropshire.  Happy Baking.

Thanks Ruralidle. Here's a quick snap of my latest effort - a 50% seeded wholemeal 50% white loaf.

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jeffers on 14 Dec 2012 at 05:57

Yes that combination was very tasty (my wife couldn't stop eating it - particularly good spread with lavender honey). I don't have a baking stone. I have always had difficulty transferring the proved loaves to the baking tray (deflation) that I pre-heat in the oven so what I do now is flour a teflon baking sheet on which I prove the loaves then open a kitchen drawer onto which goes the red hot baking tray then I slide the baking sheet gently onto the tray and stick the lot in the oven, add water to my steam tray and off to go! Seems to work so far..

I'm pleased that your OH likes your baking.  A big benefit of a baking stone is that it increases the thermal mass of modern-day tin plate ovens and thereby helps with oven spring.  A granite offcut (use the unpolished side) from your local kitchen installation company can do the job, it just takes longer to get that and the oven up to temperature.

Started typing some info about a baking stone and the alternatives,  and realized I'd posted exactly the same thing a while ago here.   Hope it helps. :)   And I must say I absolutely love my cordierite baking stones. It's not very expensive, it's slightly lighter than granite and it's so strong against thermal shock, it's much less likely to  crack than granite stones. 

 

Hello welcome to the site. I live in Wales Utah, a very small town in the center of Utah. I lived in Wales UK for 6 months back in 1980, I lived in Colwyn Bay and Conway, This is a great site with a lot of helpful information and some great recipes. Good luck