PANARY

Craft baking courses, wood-fired ovens, and consultancy

Newsletter 55 – Covid 19 update, calendar, kugelhopf

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July 7, 2020

Dear Panarians,

I write to announce PANARY is back in business. Your teacher is calling you back to the fold. Although, with all that lock down baking being done throughout the land, I hope you haven’t all become burnt out.

Masked up, attending to the croissants – as students see on 1-day French course

With the easing of lock down restrictions and the social distancing reduced to one metre plus, the classroom bakery at PANARY is ready for you – only 3 at a time. The website has been altered to say that maximum class size is only 3 students. There will be attention to hand hygiene and I am requesting students to bring face covering. With these safety features coupled to a careful approach to distancing, I am confident we can resume breadmaking courses in safety and style. Only four of us will be in the room – it can certainly be called a tutorial atmosphere.

When lockdown occurred, the courses postponed from March to be rescheduled for July have now almost sold out, with just one place left on Sourdough, July 25th.

I recommend to you the calendar for the rest of the year given below.

The Baker’s Topic in this newsletter features a bread from one of these courses: kugelhopf, as taught on the Nordic-Germanic course.

CALENDAR

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

Good baking, Panarians.

With best wishes for your health and safety,

Paul

Newsletter 54 – Covid 19 interruption, the baguette….

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Tuesday April 7th, 2020

Dear Panarians,

This newsletter will find you in your homes, undergoing various forms of “lockdown”.

Covid 19 has caused the postponement of all my courses for April-May-June. By the middle of July, however, I am hoping that our lives will have resumed some normal patterns, and on the strength of that hope I am setting a full programme for the second half of the year. See the new Calendar below.

For the Baker’s Topic here I had the mischievous urge to write about the quirky behaviour of sourdough bacteria, thinking it was a topic that chimed well with the current world absorption with another infamous little microbe. But since a virus is not bacteria I have moved on to a more sensible topic. In each of the next few newsletters I shall compose a topic that deals with an interesting facet, or a recipe, from several of the forthcoming courses that had to be postponed.

Click here to view the BAKER’S TOPIC – the baguette

CALENDAR  – the second half of the year

July 2020

August 2020

September 2020

October 2020

November 2020

December 2020

That’s it. Good baking Panarians.  Paul

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

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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. 

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

Newsletter 52 – 2020 Course dates, students’ work, The Chelsea Bun….

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November 8, 2019

Dear Panarians,

The Bakers’ Topic in this newsletter is Chelsea Buns. These characterful sweet buns were a London confection of the 18th century, and have remained popular. Most bakers make a fairly slap-dash version of them, omitting the layering-in of the cinnamon/butter mix at the start which is done as though you were making puff pastry. This photo shows you the technique, having spread on two-thirds, then performing a pastry-like fold.

Click here to view the BAKER’S TOPIC – The Chelsea Bun
Folding in the fat/sugar mix

COURSE DATES, 2020

See the two Christmas courses to finish this year, then take a look at busy February as shown on the website:

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

FEBRUARY

To read about these courses, and book, go to https://www.panary.co.uk/course-calendar-and-booking/

RESIDENTIAL COURSES

There are three residential courses in the 2020 programme: one in Provence (late April) and two in Devon (March and November).

For descriptions of these courses, and for booking, go to: https://www.panary.co.uk/?event-category=residential

GIFT VOUCHERS

Soon we shall be overwhelmed by the approach of Christmas and pressure to buy gifts. Gifts involving experiences, training, courses for hobbies, etc., are very popular nowadays. Why not give a special person a day at PANARY on a bread-making course?

For GIFT VOUCHERS, visit https://www.panary.co.uk/gift-vouchers/

STUDENTS’ WORK

Sometimes I like to show in a newsletter something that a keen student has sent me as an aftermath to a course, or pursuing with me a particular topic or type of bread. One-day French Course participant Simon Clifford wrote:

A belated thank you for a most enjoyable and informative day. I have attempted the pain de campagne recipe with excellent results , using my white sourdough starter.
Looking forward to attempting the baguettes next weekend.

Below is the picture he sent me of his sourdough loaf.

Simon’s pain de campagne

Paul

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To contact Paul Merry, or speak with him, please ring +44 (0)1747 851102, email using ,  or visit our contact page.