PANARY and Paul Merry

I’ve been involved with craft baking and masonry ovens for over forty years, and have been teaching courses for nearly 20 years.

When not teaching, I am a consultant in traditional baking or dealing with my French wood-fired ovens for which I am an agent in Britain.

I find it a real pleasure to teach, and consider myself a lucky person for being able to say that I really like my work and being a baker.

In Australia I had my own bakery with wood-fired oven outside my home city Melbourne, where I enjoyed the life of the village baker in an appreciative community. It took me several years to build the bakery, where I stayed for over ten years as baker before coming to live in Britain.

I consider that the step from being a master of your trade to becoming a teacher and a consultant is a natural and easy progression.

During the years I was in my bakery I enjoyed having apprentices, and to watch them flourish into competent bakers was deeply rewarding.

I have always enjoyed teaching my craft, and now I see it as a worthy duty given that the craft itself faces extinction unless others are persuaded to put the clock back to allow time for fermentation and the proper handling of dough.