Baker’s winning ways with bread
New cookbook shares how to bake it till you make it
MIKE RUSSELL STARTED Baker Bleu with a bread obsession, three recipes, his life savings and a hard-won belief there is more to life than a soulless desk job.
Baker Bleu, in frank and glorious detail, reveals the secrets to Russell’s bakeries’ cult following.
Make one of the classic core recipes, from the country loaf to the everything bagels and challah, and discover at least three more ways to use the same dough — from seeded and fruit loaves to pizza, focaccia, empanadas and more.
PANZANELLA
Panzanella could almost be called a baker’s salad — it takes your hard work baking a beautiful rustic loaf and showcases it, even when the bread might be past its prime. This recipe is made extra summery with the addition of ripe nectarines. To showcase the jumble of colours and textures in this salad, it’s best to use a big serving plate, rather than a deep bowl.
Ingredients
4 slices day-old country loaf , 2cm thick Olive oil, for drizzling
3 ripe heirloom tomatoes
3 ripe nectarines (optional; they need to be in peak season)
Pinch of pink salt
100ml extra virgin olive oil (the highest quality you can afford) 1⁄3 cup (80ml) white balsamic vinegar (alternatively, white wine vinegar) 1 Tbsp honey
1 bunch of basil, leaves picked
1 tin Ortiz anchovies
Method
Heat a chargrill pan or an oven grill to high. Drizzle the bread liberally with olive oil and then grill it, turning once, for up to 1 minute a side until the bread is crisp but not burnt, with visible grill marks. Once it’s cool enough to handle, break up each slice into bite-sized chunks over your serving plate.
Cut each tomato in half and place cutside down on the chopping board, then cut the tomatoes into uneven segments (all the rough edges are going to accelerate the amalgamation of flavours). Scrape them, along with all their juices, onto the plate.
Halve the nectarines, remove the stones, then cut the fruit lengthways into wedges. Scrape them and their juices onto the serving plate, too, then sprinkle everything with the pink salt.
Combine the extra-virgin olive oil, vinegar and honey in the bowl of a food processor, add most of the basil leaves (reserve some for garnish), and blitz to make a dressing. Avoid making this more than an hour before serving, or the dressing can discolour.
Drizzle the dressing over the salad and gently toss it all with care and love so you don’t squash your tomatoes and fruit. Finally, arrange the anchovies evenly over the salad, scatter with the remaining basil leaves and serve. — Serves 4 as a side