3 – strand plait

The 3-strand plait is the simplest, and many people, particularly mothers with daughters, know how to plait hair.

There is, however, a baker’s trick to the 3-strand plait as described below. Having laid out your 3 strands in front of you, start halfway down as the picture shows. Start on either side and follow the pattern: outside to inside. ( Here you see I have started on the right side).

Tip: before starting any plaiting, have the strands lightly dusted with your strong flour.

Now carry on from the left, outside to inside, back to the right – and so on…… until the strands are tiny and tight, whereupon you simply weld them together as the picture shows.

Now comes the trick. Your next move is to get fingers carefully spread under the remaining loose strands and flip them over towards you, as shown by the next two pictures.

Now you can resume plaiting and the point of the trick is that you will end up with two very neat ends. Before you start, look closely at the strands to be sure to lead with the correct side, as shown.

4 – and 5 – strand plaits

I am grouping them together because it is a puzzling and fascinating situation that they both have very similar patterns to follow as the sequential steps. Further, it is surprising that both only call for the repetition of 3 repeating moves:

• 4-strand: 2 over 3; 4 over 2; 1 over 3
• 5-strand: 2 over 3; 5 over 2; 1 over 3

With multiple strand plaiting the main thing to understand is that the numbering of each strand from left to right is always reset anew after each move.

My favourite is the 5-strand. When finished its cross-section is triangular, enabling you to roll it over to see which bottom allows the overall look of the whole thing to be the most handsome, with that look of one strand bobbing along the top.

There is no ‘baker’s trick’ available like we do for the 3-strand; you must start by gently welding the strands together at the end further away from you then make the first 2/3 move.

Tips: remember your dusting flour; after completing a step, shuffle the strands back into straight lines and spread them out neatly so that you can easily see the pattern and create space to make your next move.

Good plaiting, Panarians!

Working with them day-to-day or week to week

Whether you’re using a woodfired oven for bread baking or pizza making, there’s often a point when you think ‘I need a bigger oven!’.

Over the years, I’ve spoken to many people about their requirements and the pros and cons of ‘going large,’ so I thought I’d put forward a few approaches and observations.

As you’d imagine over a lifetime of baking all over the world, I’ve worked with a great many ovens – from ovens used daily for generations to freshly installed state-of-the-art ovens.

I have to say, I’m very heartened to see so much new interest created by such products – mainly pizza ovens made by companies such as Ooni and Gozny – often these are ‘gateway ovens’ leading to more developed baking habits and, as the habit grows, talent and an increasing audience tend to grow with it.

If you’re one of the people on this kind of baking journey, I wish you all the best. As with any pursuit worth the endeavour, you’ll have good days and bad days – perfect bakes and bin it and start again times … whatever the day brings, I must say, baking is something to be relished.

When to consider a larger, better oven

Much depends on how often you’re baking:

• Every day
• 5 days a week
• Weekends and holiday

On the whole, most people looking to get a top-quality woodfired oven that can last a lifetime or two will be baking at least once a week.

And, usefully, that’s what we do here at Panary – regular baking once a week and then an additional day every other week when we’re running a course – taking a moment to plug them – the most popular three courses we run are:

• Sourdough
• French
• Basic (Beginners)

OK, back to the subject…

Baking 5-7 days a week

If you’re baking 5 or 7 days a wee, a commercial woodfired oven really starts to come into its own – quite simply if you go for a traditional masonry oven you can’t go far wrong – they’re been honed over the years to be as robust and economical as they can be.

You’ll get into the habit of firing skilfully using minimum fuel.

You’ll want to consider making a range of products suited to the falling heat that occurs daily as the oven slowly cools.

Baking 1-2 days a week

If the baking day is a commercial operation, a larger model must be chosen to meet the quantity required. If it is for a hobby baker, the medium-sized ovens will provide sufficient space for plenty of bread and food for family and friends.

Baking outside through the summer

This is more the realm of the hobby or household baker, enjoying an outside kitchen in the warmer months, and often having fun with pizza, loaves, and roasted dinners when people are around as family or guests.

My oven is the LePanyol Model 120, a suitable size for a micro-bakery, or a large catering kitchen. In my case, it is used when I teach breadmaking courses and, most importantly, when I make commercial bread to be sold in local shops every Thursday. Among the courses, the most exciting times are when work proceeds with a blisteringly hot oven: a pizza cooking session around hot coals and the amazing sight when a pitta bread puffs up like a football when it has only been in there for a minute.

On commercial baking day, its size enables me to load 16 large one-kilo loaves that have been proved in round baskets. A well-insulated oven loses its heat so slowly that there can be two or three rounds of bread baked before you turn to baking pastries, cakes, etc., that do not require fierce heat.

Since my LePanyol is used only weekly for the big commercial day, it is necessary to put some heat into it on the day before. (There would be no need for this in establishments using their oven daily since full heat top-up occurs with the daily firing). A wheelbarrow amount of larger logs is slowly fired, without any need to tend the fire. Three or four hours later, it is shut down when I go home for the night.
In the morning, the coals come to life, and a wheelbarrow of logs selected for faster burning is used, with the fire stirred and tended for maximum heat. In two hours it is ready to be settled down for a further hour or more, and eventually, all the coals and ash are raked out, followed by a careful sweeping. White sticks and large rye loaves are first in since they are both breads that can take an abnormally fierce heat and are superb when the floor tiles are 250-260 degrees. An hour later (after the big batch of 16 large wheaten sourdough), the heat is hot yet calm for further baking of many types of regular bread – yeasted or sourdough. Later that same afternoon I roast a ham or cook a family dinner.

Happy baking – whatever your passion… and if/when you’re ready to go big – please, check out the LePanyol Range of woodfired ovens.

Lard was the traditional British bread fat. Good quality and tasty lard used to be available everywhere since local butchers made their own lard. The rendering of lard involved cutting the pig fat into small pieces then melting it slowly over a very low heat. Nowadays it is a rare thing to find a butcher rendering pig fat, and it is no surprise that lard has fallen from grace. The factory made stuff is unappealing, being laden with additives and chemicals, and does not taste of pork. Further, lard is associated with heart disease and poor choice of diet.

Lardy cake was a baker’s staple in days when people had to endure the cold of winter – before central heating (and global warming too). Food historians think that London and the home counties was where lardy cake was first made, but soon it had spread everywhere in Britain, particularly into counties where pig rearing was favoured.

From the fully fermented white dough of the day the baker would cut a chunk to set aside for the lardy cakes. Sweetened lard was added to it usually in the method of making puff pastry, but all over Britain there are differences about exactly how the lardy cake would look and be made. In some areas it was more like simple rolled dough without the flakiness of puff pastry. While sugar in the lard was universal, there would be other additives in different regions, such as cinnamon, dried fruit like raisins/sultanas/currants, perhaps peel, and even apple.

Some bakers would put all the lard/sugar on the sheet of dough and proceed to roll and fold as for puff pastry. Other bakers would divide the lard/sugar mix into thirds and apply each third preceding the next fold.

In some areas the bakers would bake the large rectangle having scored it first to make it easy to cut. Other regions had bakers that preferred to cut it first to bake individual ones on tray or in tins.

To make LARDY  CAKE

Beat together 300 gm lard and 200 gm sugar, and place in the refrigerator to harden.

Use already fermented white dough, 1.5 kg, chill it for a few hours

Add the lard/sugar mix into it as for puff pastry, following the steps below.

Roll it out to a rectangle, add the lard/sugar mix (that has hardened in the fridge) in the normal manner for puff pastry. Strew dried fruit , cinnamon, etc., as you perform each fold.

Give it three regular ‘half-turn’ folds, with half-hour fridge rests between them if the room is warm.

After a final rest in the fridge, pin it down to a rectangle, and cut it into 4 cakes, egg glaze, strew all over the tops with sugar. Give some final proof time – perhaps an hour -so that they are starting to swell before you bake them. Bake on a tray or in pans like small farmhouse tins.

Bake in a dull oven, 200 C should do. Beware too much bottom heat, perhaps put thick cardboard under them, place paper on top if browning too briskly.

About 15 -20 minutes at 200 C. [180C if powerful fan oven].

Cool them upside down to allow the sugary lard to drain back through the cake.