I love sourdough bread. It’s as simple as that. I love it so much that I miss it when I don’t have it. I think I could live on bread and cheese. Maybe butter too. Lashings of it; on a thick piece of toast or just a freshly sliced piece of bread.
Years ago, I visited good friends who returned to Singapore, and during those three hot humid weeks I had so many food experiences; the best Hainanese chicken rice I have ever had, my introduction to delicious char kway teow... But by the end I am not ashamed to admit I missed my breakfast of a slice of toast. It’s probably the longest I went without eating bread. Sure, I have done keto and forsaken carbs. I might have done that longer than three weeks. I can’t remember. I can remember crowing to a friend about achieving ketosis! How long does that take? But forsaking bread was mad, it is now a non-negotiable part of my life.
I have never baked bread. I once tried and made a half successful focaccia. But I have so many bread books in the hope that one day I will try. I dream of the smell of a loaf of sourdough bread baking. If you want to bake some sourdough bread, perhaps try this recipe from San Francisco’s famous Tartine which featured in the New York Times and comes from their first book Tartine Bread. I have all their books. One day I will bake from them.
I just love the sourdough bread from Baker Bleu. The crust! I get it from Toscano’s in Kew. Always two boules. One is never enough. The dark chewy crust … yum. I make toast. Or sandwiches. Sometimes toasted sandwiches. Reminds me of my days working the sandwich bar when I was at uni. I can make a mean sandwich! If you are in Melbourne or Sydney and haven’t tried Baker Bleu’s bread, I say do.
Sometimes when I make a cheese sandwich I think of the ‘french bread’ sandwiches skit from The Catherine Tate Show. ‘Listen to this’, go on, watch Janice and Ray, it might make your day and ‘you’ll never guess what they have put in a cheese sandwich!’
Bread has to be the most universal of foods. Every culture has a form of bread. Flattened or leavened, from all types of grains. In nineteenth century England, during the Corn Laws between 1815 and 1846, bread was a political statement and carved breadboards and bread knives often with beautiful wooden handles were introduced to celebrate the obsession with bread, these are now coveted and collectable antiques.
My obsession with bread takes many forms! Who remembers the BBC sitcom Bread from the mid 1980s? We watched it every week. If you did too, you’ll never forget the catchy opening, go on listen for old times sake. It’ll bring back the Boswell’s, the traffic cones, Nellie and Freddie and Lilo Lil…
Little did I know that, like Jack, one day I would run an antique-dealing business! Instead, I thought I would be like Joey and grow up to drive a Jag.
Eat bread this week or maybe even go all out and bake a loaf.
♡.
If you love bread as much as I do, you might want to celebrate it with an antique breadboard or bread knife, you’ll find exceptional examples in The Kitchen. Every loaf deserves it! 
