Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Dear Panarians,

I have been tinkering about lately with bagels since they are going to be demonstrated here at PANARY when the Bread Angels come for their event in early February.  For today’s Baker’s Topic I am looking at features of the bagel crust that lead to such memorable aroma and flavour, nicely set up by the Maillard Reaction in the piping hot oven. The same goes for the pretzel too.

CALENDAR & DATES for this New Year

Visit https://www.panary.co.uk/course-calendar-and-booking/ to view all courses and their programmes, and make bookings

FEBRUARY

• Sat 9th — 1 Day Basic
• Sat 16th — 1 Day Sourdough

MARCH

• Sat 16th — 1 Day Pizza & Italian
• Sat 23rd — 2 Day French – with Sourdough
• Fri 29th — 3 Day Going Professional

APRIL

• Sat 6th — 1 Day Sweet Doughs (Easter)
• Sat 13th — 1 Day Basic British
• Mon 29th — 4 Day “PANARY In Provence”

MAY

• Sat 11th — Open Afternoon – All Welcome
• Sun 12th — 1 Day Wood-fired Oven

PANARY IN PROVENCE

This course in a French vineyard begins on Monday April 29th, and there is only one place remaining before it is declared full.

Click here, to view this course, and book the last place.

PANARY ‘EXPERIENCES’

Panary Experiences are being designed now and will be launched in Spring.

• Shorter
• Much smaller fee – under £100
• Experience a deep and rewarding treatment of the course topic in barely 4 hours
• Experience a deep and rewarding treatment of the course topic in barely 4 hours
• Fees will be layered with a higher fee to include a collection of useful baking equipment

Good baking, Panarians, and I hope you try bagels.

Paul

December 4, 2018

Dear Panarians,

The year end has been reached for 2018 courses, and now we approach Christmas baking for loved ones, and I plan interesting things for next year’s programme.

A tip for making good mince pies: don’t fill them generously full. By the time the pastry has cooked the filling will be boiling, and if too full it will bubble over and leak out, generally staining them and causing the batch to look a bit ragged. Have restraint with the filling, and as you spoon it in you must feel a little mean.

CALENDAR, 2019

January 2019

• Sat 26th — 1 Day Patisserie/Viennoiserie
• Sun 27th — 1 Day French

February 2019

• Sat 9th — 1 Day Basic
• Sat 16th — 1 Day Sourdough

March 2019

• Sat 2nd — 1 Day Pizza & Italian
• Sat 16th — 2 Day French – with Sourdough
• Fri 29th — 3 Day Going Professional

For viewing course descriptions and making bookings, visit https://www.panary.co.uk/course-calendar-and-booking/

New, PANARY Experiences starting in March, 2019

I am designing a new group of courses that are a half-day duration rather than the usual full day.

At these snappy Experiences, guests will get a wonderful view of a baking style, or different types of bread made from one dough, or a snapshot of a particular country’s baking culture

• the PANARY Experience is lasting a mere 3-4 hours
• prices kept below £100
• guests go home with scintillating warm breads taught in the session

Interested to learn more? Please, contact me and I will share more.

GIFT VOUCHERS – the perfect Christmas gift

Among your friends, family, and loved ones there may be a budding baker ready to be drawn out. Or an existing baker thirsty for more knowledge. Nowadays courses and experiences are thoughtful gifts for people who already have all they need.

Purchasing a PANARY Voucher entails only a few clicks – go to https://www.panary.co.uk/gift-vouchers/ 

PANARY in PROVENCE, April 2019, almost booked out!

The gites are almost full, and now we have room for one person to attend the course, starting on April 30th.

To read about this course that occurs in a beautiful vineyard in Provence, and for booking, go to https://www.panary.co.uk/craft-baking-courses/panary-provence/

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Dear Panarians,

When I became a baker, I was alert to references to baking and wheat which showed how culturally and historically deep these subjects are in our civilisation. For example, I have always respected the expression that “bread is the staff of life”, which first appeared early in the 17th century. Imagine the catastrophe of widespread famine that occurred regularly in past times when unusual weather events ruined the wheat and rye crops for a season or two.

Juvenal, the Roman satirist, showed political awareness when he pronounced that in order to keep the populace happy and quiet the rulers must provide sufficient “bread and circuses”.

For the Christian there is the communion wafer to represent the bread that Christ instructed was a symbol of his body; more bizarrely, there was the cutting of a cross on the loaves and buns to dispel the devil.

Recently, when for my book research I was delving into the origins of the Assize of Bread (13th century), I gained an insight into the origin of our currency and the establishment of the English pound, later to be called “pound sterling”. At the time of the Assize the silver penny was often the sole coinage used, and it had been the most popular form of currency for the preceding six centuries. It was introduced during the 8th century by the great King Offa of Mercia. The pound mentioned above was a pound weight of silver, to be divided into 240 silver pennies (and 12 pennies made a shilling, with 20 shillings to the pound).The penny weight of silver had been calculated as 32 grains of wheat, dry, and taken from the middle of the ear. This fascinating link between wheat (and other grains too) and money standards goes right back to Roman times. It stands as yet another example of the deep role that wheat has played in our civilisation.

CALENDAR, forthcoming course

October 2018

• Sat 13th – 1 Day French
• Fri 19th – 1 Day Basic

November 2018

• Sat 3rd – 1 Day Nordic-Germanic
• Sat 10th – 1 Day Sourdough

Courses that feature Christmas cooking

November 2018

• Sat 24th – 1 Day Sweet Doughs (Christmas)

December 2018

• Sat 1st – 1 Day Basic
• Sun 2nd – 1 Day Basic British

To find out more about all these courses, visit the course calendar

NEW – there has been a request for a special one-day PANETTONE course. Date yet to be set.
Contact me to find out more if you wish to join.

PANARY in PROVENCE April 29, 2019 – booking now

5 nights in a beautiful vineyard with superb accommodation gites made from the ancient farm buildings.

Baking French-style breads in domestic ovens as well as a wood-fired oven in the courtyard. Lots of baking, two half-day excursions, and lots of fun. Read more about PANARY in PROVENCE, here.

BUY OUR BREAD

Within days this section of the website will be live, featuring a shop. It is all about our once-a-week commercial baking day every Thursday. Bread can be picked up, or sent to you by parcel post

Good baking, Panarians.

Paul