From the editor

When I started writing All You Need to Know About Baking Beautiful Breads,

a practical guide for beginner breadmakers, I knew very little about the art that goes into artisan bread.

The most-baked recipes in my kitchen at the time were:

• moist vanilla cupcakes (the trick is to bake until a skewer comes out clean, but the tops are still very pale);

• scones (the beautifully moist lemonade-cream version);

• chewy chocolate chip cookie recipes (after about 20 different recipe experiments).

Unfortunately, I saved so many cookie recipes I now can’t remember which was the best one, but like the cupcakes, there was an element of under-cooking required to get a good ‘chew.’

When I spoke to yuzu grower Neville Chun, I knew he was also a part-time baker of organic sourdough. Neville’s loaves are works of art – check out page 66 and the thisNZlife website for his advice on baking beautiful sourdough.

The big stumbling block for me baking bread is my awful oven. My first one was a hand-me-down from my aunt who redid her kitchen while I was building my house. The 30-year-old cooktop she gave me is still going strong (well, two elements are), but the oven lasted about a year before I smelt wires burning and it was unceremoniously heaved out the door. I then used a tiny benchtop oven borrowed from my nana for a long time. It cooked cupcakes, scones, and even roasted whole chicken to perfection.

When I could finally afford a new oven, I was somewhat shocked by the prices. My budget meant the cheapest oven was the only option, and it has definitely proven the motto ‘you get what you pay for.’ It might say it’s at 180°C after half an hour of waiting, but it’s lying through its badly-sealed door.

That’s a problem when making bread, but there is a way around it. Fortunately, Neville imports Dutch ovens for oven-challenged people like me, so I can finally try creating a homemade sourdough. Nadene Hall, Editor