Right now, I'm sitting in a lovely B&B in Shaftesbury, Dorset. In the morning, I'll be starting my three day course at Panary, Paul Merry's bread school. After my apprentice day in August, I've been itching to get back here and learn more! more! more! about professional bread baking.
The B&B so far is fantastic... I'm looking so forward to spending three days away from work, by myself (miss the husband and cat terribly though), with three days of non-stop bread madness, and three nights of quiet, with just me and the laptop.
I'm a bit worried about dinner though. What's worse - eating by yourself in a pub? (shudder) Or just grabbing a cold egg and cress sandwich from the fridge in Esso? (cringe) Can you tell I don't spend a lot of time alone?
I'm planning to really stretch myself over the next few days though. I'm going to tackle the two bakery items I fear: brioche and croissants. I'm also going to try to bake in percentages off the top of my head, like Paul does. Or divide dough into twenty four identical rolls without weighing. Or shape 16 loaves into rounds at the same time. (I don't actually know if he can do that. I bet he can.)
Off to bed.... more tomorrow night.
