Bread-making

Nothing beats the sense of satisfaction when you pull your home-made loaf of bread out of the oven, the worst part is waiting for it to cool a little before tucking in. At the Pot Kiln, the bread is made fresh twice a day for lunch and dinner service. Making fresh bread, however, doesn't have to be time-consuming. Most of the work is done by the yeast, while you can sit back and watch - or more likely get on with your busy life. It can be done on days when you are stuck in-front of the computer, or even in and out running errands.

We use stone-ground flours from the Mapledurham watermill near Pangbourne. They not only represent much better value for money than commercially produced flour, but also we prefer to support a local trade. One of the reasons there are so many cases of food allergies now, is simply due to the modern industrial methods of producing our basic ingredients. Stone-grinding the flour doesn't break up the gluten in the same way that the massive metal rollers used in factories do. Therefore those people with wheat intolerances will be much less affected. It has the added bonus of not producing that bloated feeling after eating a lot of bread either.

This course is taught by one of our chefs whose daily task is making manna. First thing, we will head down to the Watermill and watch the flour being stone-ground at the oldest working mill on the Thames. As you will see, things haven't changed much there in 600 years. Our treasured flour will then return with us to the school to bake wonderful foccacia's, malted brown loaves, soda bread and pizza bases, all made in the traditional method by hand. To finish the day we will take our pizzas over to the Stone Bread Oven at the Pot Kiln for a slice of heaven and a cool beer.

We believe that no feast is complete without a glass of wine, however if you require more than this, wine is available to buy on the day.