Make or Bake Time

Some people worry about baking, and as I didn’t start off as a baker, I can understand why. The different processes involved in making cakes, the practicalities of working with yeast, the need for accuracy – all these things can be daunting initially. And it’s true that it takes a logical mind to bake well, as well as a tidy work-space. Baking is the one area of the kitchen where I’m quite strict: with other kinds of cooking you can taste and feel your way, but with baking, you need to follow a formula.

However, once you have the rules in place, baking is tremendously rewarding – and it’s not difficult to experiment. My crumbly shortbread always follows a particular ratio of butter, sugar and flour, for example, but I often spike it with buds of dried lavender or an aromatic spice such as fennel seeds. Similarly, my focaccia dough is the basis of a whole host of other breadsticks and loaves that we make for the shop and restaurant. Some are just doused in olive oil and salt, others are studded with rosemary and plump raisins.

Baking is the one area of our kitchen where I’m quite strict: you need to follow a formula

Of all the baking I do, I find breadmaking the most satisfying and comforting activity. There’s something about the smell of the fermentation and the fact of the yeast being a living organism that you can watch working that never ceases to fascinate. It’s the perfect thing to capture the attention of children and I often bake bread with my son Samuel.

Although I prefer breadmaking, I do love eating biscuit dough or cake batter straight out of the bowl – I often find it more inviting than the end result. There’s a serious side to this naughtiness though, as I believe the quality of the raw ingredients is often the key to success with baking. Try to buy the best butter you can afford, and make sure the flour you use (unbleached for preference) is the right type for whatever you are making.

I’m a real stickler for not adding superfluous amounts of sugar to cakes too. I tend to let fruits convey sweetness, by using them in season at the peak of their ripeness, rather than just adding copious amounts of sugar to enhance their flavour. My banana, chocolate and oatmeal tea bread is sweetened in this way with ripe bananas, so it’s good for parents wanting to avoid giving their children too much sugar. My Eccles cakes are not overly sweet either, which makes them perfect for serving with Lancashire cheese. But I do roll the pastry out with a little sugar to give a crunchy coating when baked.

I’m a stickler for not adding superfluous sugar. I tend to let the fruits convey the sweetness

I am also partial to a beautifully light Genoese sponge. In the winter we fill it with a chilled zabaglione and baked prunes or quince; we add berries in spring and summer; and at the intersection of the seasons, we use a pretty rhubarb compote, which is perfect layered in the cake.

But as I say, I wasn’t an accomplished baker from the start. When I opened Clarke’s in 1984, with just one other chef, a washer-upper, manager and a waitress, baking bread was the last thing on my mind. On the first night at 6pm, I recall rushing to a bakery on the Fulham road and bought up all the bread left on the shelves. Then it dawned on me: we were making our own truffles and sorbets; why weren’t we baking our own bread? From that point on, we started making our own, trying walnuts one day, apricots or herbs the next. We now supply breads to several top providores and restaurants in the London area. So you see, it’s never too late to start baking. All you need is a rainy April afternoon – or a few young helpers – to get started. Happy baking!