I have never blogged before and starting today is a little daunting to say the least, but it is a stormy day outside and I had this sudden brain wave earlier in the week to start a baking blog ….so here goes.

I started baking seriously about 6 years ago when we bought our lovely house in Suffolk.  Somehow the house and our friend Ciaran inspired me to try making bread for the first time.  Sadly the result (a flat and rather hard disc) was never captured for posterity, but my ascent to the delights of baking had to start somewhere. More accurately it had to re-start somewhere.  When I was a boy (too many years ago) I baked. My signature bake was what I now know to be a Genoise layer cake with chantilly cream, strawberries and chocolate wafers, and at Christmas I always made the 100’s (yes 100’s) of mince pies for the large extended family festivities.  Then university happened and baking happened stopped being a big part of my culinary life (especially on a student budget in the 80’s).

Roll forward near 40 years and here I am thoroughly enjoying the art of baking.  Curiosity, my lovely husband Trevor and, yes, the Great British Bake Off have driven me on to try lots of different things – breads of all sorts (especially sourdough), our friends Chris and James wedding cake, the family Christmas cake (and yes the mince pies have returned),  hand raised meat pies and those tricky little delights, macarons. However life and work changes over the last few years has meant the baking has slowed down and wth that my ventures into new unknown lands.

So why the blog?  My plan is to try something new every weekend.  That basically means anything which is a bit of a challenge (I have always loved a challenge). If you are reading this please make some suggestions!  Everything will be considered (if not always taken on).    I promise not to just show the perfect outcomes (it usually takes 2 or 3 goes to get something new right)- so it should be quite an amusing and educational ride for us all!

Stephen