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Newsletter 56 – Hot weather, students’ work, calendar, and working with stoneground flour

7th October 2020 by Paul Merry

Monday, October 5, 2020

Dear Panarians,

After the dislocation of the lockdown period, it has been a pleasant change to have gone back to teaching again. Just small classes, only three students with me in the bakery.

That hot spell of weather in August, probably called a heatwave, was very trying for dough makers. When making large doughs, it was necessary to keep water buckets in the refrigerator overnight to have any hope of finishing the dough at a respectable temperature – in the low twenties, C, when the premises are so hot. The task is very difficult when the flour is so warm.

Newsletter 56 - Hot weather, students' work, calendar, and working with stoneground flour 1
20 litres of cold water, chilled overnight, for autolyse dough-making

Students’ Work

A Panarian named Richard Deverell wrote to me about his sourdough. Richard has been to a few courses, and recently he had his fellow class members spell bound when they found out what his job was. He is the Director of Kew Gardens. Clearly Richard had a fair-sized back garden for surviving the deprivations of the lock down period.

During lock down he wrote about his sourdough:

 “I have found that my bread rises well – first rise, and second proving in the baskets.  However, when I place the proved bed on the baking tray for cooking it sort of collapses – deflates – and thus my loaf is not as airy and risen as I would like.  What am I doing wrong?”  

I offered advice on the leaven as follows, ” If it lives in the fridge I would feed it at least twice before breadmaking, to get it first acclimatised then growing to full strength. The feed that precedes breadmaking should be timed so that at the point at which you want to do the dough making it must be ripe and bubbly. 

Newsletter 56 - Hot weather, students' work, calendar, and working with stoneground flour 2
Richard Deverell looaves

After discussing adequate kneading, and the full ripening of the final leaven, I concluded my advice –  “The subsequent collapse is probably straight-forward over-proof, meaning too long in the basket.”

Richard sent photos of improved sourdough loaves. Here they are:

Newsletter 56 - Hot weather, students' work, calendar, and working with stoneground flour 3
LLoyd Phillip’s sourdough loaf

Another student, Lloyd Phillips, wrote to say that since lockdown had begun and there was the terrible shortage of flour in the shops, he had begun using Stoate’s stoneground white, a flour that he would have previously only used when he came to his PANARY course.

Here is his loaf


Calendar

October

  • Fri 16th — 3 Day Going Professional (3 places)
  • Sat 24th — 1 Day Sourdough Baking (1 places)

November

  • Sat 14th — 1 Day Sweet Doughs Christmas Baking (3 places)
  • Sat 28th — 1 Day Nordic-Germanic (*COURSE FULL*)

December

  • Sat 5th — 1 Day Basic Bread Baking (*COURSE FULL*)
  • Sun 6th — 1 Day Basic British Baking (1 places)

March 2021

  • Fri 12th — 4 day bread baking course, Devon (5 places)

Devon Residential

Now that I no longer hold the residential course in the vineyard in Provence, for students who are looking for a long bread course I can recommend this 4-day course in Devon. Regarding Covid modifications the number of students is maximum 5.

To look at it, go to:

https://www.panary.co.uk/craft-baking-courses/4-day-bread-baking-course-devon/

Good baking Panarians, from Paul

Baker’s Topic

Stoneground flour, in the vast field of flour milling, is a niche product. Although it is putting the clock back, there is an explanation for why it has not simply died out, and that explanation is found in its inherent nutrition. The stone-grinding process retains an admirable amount of vitamins …

Learn more

That’s it, Panarians.

Good baking, Paul

Newsletter 53 – Gift Vouchers, student’s work, understanding sourness……..

18th December 2019 by Paul Merry

December 16th, 2019

Dear Panarians,

Christmas approaches, the year soon ends, and this is the last newsletter for 2019. Its Bakers’ Topic is for sourdough practitioners, giving some basic background information about sourness.

Click here to view the BAKER’S TOPIC – Sourness

Gift Vouchers

It amuses me how often it is said that a gift voucher that enables the recipient to learn a skill or a craft “is the gift that keeps on giving…” It makes a good point, and surely baking for friends and family is a splendid form of giving.

To purchase a PANARY Gift Voucher, visit – https://www.panary.co.uk/gift-vouchers/

Student’s work

Rob Stander came to learn at PANARY earlier this year as he was gearing up to open his cafe in Plymouth. He brought his chef who was joining him for the new venture, and we did two intensive days together. Now they are up and running in their Early Bird Cafe, Plymouth.

Rob explains:  my sourdoughs are made using a dark rye starter leaven into a production leaven, and then I alternate one day a ‘white’ sourdough and the next a wholemeal dough. 

  • Newsletter 53 - Gift Vouchers, student's work, understanding sourness........ 4
Early Bird Cafe sourdough

More from Rob: “However, in the wholemeal I do add a measurement of rye and spelt to give it a great flavour”. After venting the steam he lets it “crisp up so that I have a medium dark caramel look to top of loaf! As you can see it has a nice lace type texture, but not too lacy! My customers absolutely love our sourdough and have stopped using a major sourdough Baker in town in favour of mine!!!… so really happy about what I learnt in the beginning with you!”

That’s it Panarians. Have a happy Christmas, and I wish you all good baking for 2020,

Paul

Results of The Survey, Newsletter 22

25th October 2016 by Paul Merry

Dear Panarians,

ripe sponges

I am keen to tell you about the results of the The Survey that was sent out on September 20th.

I wish to send a hearty thanks to several hundred of you who filled it in and shared your thoughts with me. I was heartened by the warmth of so many of the contributions placed into the Comments section, and at such times I know that my enthusiasm for the craft of baking is appreciated by many who have joined PANARY’s baking community.

The three main questions were overwhelmingly endorsed:

Qn 1, would you like to see excerpts of my book, work-in-progress? 90% said YES

Qn. 2, interested in purchasing baker’s equipment through the website? 84% for YES

Qn. 3, fancy a regular (weekly?) email featuring bakers’ tips? 93% for YAY

As a result, these are the things I am going to attend to immediately:

  • Regular newsletters, fortnightly, with tips as well as PANARY news, and periodic excerpts from the book.
  • Availability of my equipment list for any who request it as an interim measure before I can mount Equipment Sales as a section on the website. If you wish to make a purchase, we arrange payment through bank transfer or cheque.

Your Comments

You have provided many issues and topics for me to consider deeply. Some of them concern the quality of the experience you get when attending a PANARY course, some were to do with the future direction PANARY should take in providing its core service of teaching breadmaking and nurturing students’ emerging skills. For all of it I am grateful, and can truthfully say that I intend to implement many suggestions.

MY RESPONSES to your Comments

There will be new one-day courses created, e.g.,
flatbreads;

  • different types of sponges and their recommended use;
  • mixed grain breads, capturing styles more Germanic and Nordic
    sweet doughs
  • patisserie/viennoiserie/ e.g. Danish

The website section on Course Descriptions will feature a simple indication of courses being sub-divided into

  • Beginners
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced

A new system of follow-up emails after you have attended a course will

  • encourage your questions about implementing techniques you learned on the course
  • Provide more guidance on how to choose the next most appropriate course and when
  • offer discounts on further courses that will follow a sliding scale such as 5% off a second course; 10% off third; 15% off fourth

Continue Reading

PANARY Joins Twitter!

15th April 2016 by Paul Merry

@panaryuk on TwitterDear Panarians,

Just a quick note to let you know that you can now find PANARY on Twitter!

I have included details for how to find me below:

  • Twitter username: @panaryuk
  • Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/@panaryuk

I’m intending to be quite active on Twitter and will use it to share lots of interesting news, baking tips, photos from courses, q&a’s and more.Continue Reading

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PANARY - Teaching Breadmaking Since 1997
Teaching Breadmaking Since 1997
Every PANARY course is taught by Paul Merry, a master craftsman who favours a very practical approach to learning, regardless of any student’s prior experience..

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panary adj [L.panis bread + - ARY] Of or pertaining to bread; p. fermentation