Basics and Techniques

Patience in baking is not a virtue; it is a necessity. A good baker can control the dough if they can control the environment where the dough is created. However, sometimes with baking, as with life, things don’t go to plan and you might have to follow the dough instead of leading it. The recipes within this book are a guideline and not a strict doctrine. Bread baking is half science and half wild creation, which is its beauty. If you think a loaf of bread is ready to go in the oven from the techniques you have learnt, but the recipe says hold it back another 10 minutes, throw the little bugger in the oven; trust yourself. The worst that can happen is that you learn a little more from the experience.