A huge thank you to my thoughtful husband who arranged for me to attend a one day baking class at ‘Bread in Fife‘ as a birthday treat. He knows how much I love to bake, but also knows my weak areas and is only too happy to help me develop my skills if it means I will return home with bags of handmade loaves which he can then eat.

So off for a road trip on my own I went (a rare treat in itself) to the beautiful village of Freuchie, in Fife, only half an hour from my home. It was a cold icy morning but a warm welcome and a fresh cup of coffee from Mr Bread in Fife himself, Colin Lindsay, was a lovely start to the day. Another family who had travelled over from Edinburgh joined us and straight away we got started on what was to be a fast and fun day of mixing, kneading, proving, baking and of course eating.

The class was very relaxed and informal, instructions clearly laid out and explained so even a novice like myself could follow the basics. We gathered around our bench in the country kitchen and each worked on a dough of choice. For me I started with the simple white loaf, which although it was indeed simple, was also the largest and heaviest amount of dough and required a certain degree of elbow grease. All very therapeutic. The others worked on a variety of pitta breads with delicate little onion seeds and arabian flatbreads, which were snapped up immediately when it came to lunch. They were soft, light and absolutely melt in the mouth delicious served with some homemade houmous.

We swapped around the recipes at various stages and had a chance to feel the textures and try our hand at different kneading techniques. The group enjoyed the challenge of working with a sticky wholemeal bread dough and appreciated our hosts top tip for getting dough off your hands. Simply dip in a bowl of course flour and rub your hands together and have instant free exfoliated spa treatment.

Over the course of the day we also made little malt rolls with walnuts, rye rolls with lemon and omega 3 seed mix, milk loaf and traditional Scottish oatcakes. The simplicity of the oatcakes recipe in particular was a revelation to me and I can’t wait to try again. The recipes of all the breads we made can be found at Bread in Fife’s website. I highly recommend a visit, there are new Gluten free baking classes which I am sure will be popular.

Many thanks to Colin and my fellow classmates for making the day so much fun.

We also had the privilege of rummaging around the extensive recipe book collection, and I was pleased to discover the ‘Knead to Know‘ bread book I have heard about from the ‘Real Bread Campaign‘. This book endeavors to show people how to go about making ‘real’ bread, ie. any kind of bread made without the use of processing aids or any other artificial additives. It is intended to inform wannabe microbakers, small, independent high street bakers, community supported bakers and social enterprises. There is no doubt that the movement of making authentic homemade bread is growing all the time and it is very encouraging to see all the amazing enterprises springing up around it. For example, more than 10,000 children in at least 150 schools learning to make Real Bread thanks to teaching materials such as ‘Lessons in Loaf’ and ‘Bake Your Lawn‘. There are also projects developing under ‘Together we Rise‘, a movement focused on helping people who have a tougher time than most of us to benefit from the therapeutic, social and employment opportunities that Real Bread making offers.

As the Real Bread campaign remind us, ‘Not all bread is created equal’ and having spent a day brushing up on my baking techniques with all manner of tips and nuggets of information, I tend to agree!

Are there any bread businesses booming near you?

What is your favourite bread recipe? And still, the ultimate test…can it beat Northern Irish bread?