Breadmaking at Pattacakes

Here's something I made earlier...

BREADMAKING has been on my to-do list for far too long.

Full of good intentions, I even bought some bread flour – only for it to sit in the cupboard next to the abandoned packets of dried yeast.

So what’s stopped me? Well, if truth be told, it all seemed a bit tricky.

Despite my colleague and fellow Too Many Cooks columnist Julian Cole sharing his bread recipes within these pages every month and insisting that anyone can do it, I was never truly convinced.

Also, it looks so messy, and physically tiring (all that kneading) – and it seems such a lot of effort when you can pop to the shops and buy a loaf for about £1.50.

So I was more than ready to be converted when I drove over to Welburn one Sunday morning to enrol on a breadmaking course at Pattacakes, the charming Ryedale bakery and patisserie and café-shop, just a stone’s throw from Castle Howard.

Owner and chief baker Anita Tasker runs a series of courses from the Pattacakes kitchen.

There were four of us on the breadmaking course, and after a caffeine boosting cappuccino in the café, we set to work.

We started making a rye bread. Soon our hands were covered in a cream-coloured stodge as the flour, water and yeast turned into a sticky gloop.

Undeterred, Anita kept on working her dough, until it became smooth and pliable. She pulled a chunk off and teased it apart, holding it up to the light, displaying translucent patches. “When this happens, you know it’s ready,” she said.

If our hands were getting too sticky, Anita advised us to wash them in cold water (“not hot, that will just bake the dough on to your skin!”) or dip them in flour and rub them clean.

The second method worked best for me and soon my dough started to behave. We left it to rise in a wicker basket while we got on making a batch of white bread.

This was less sticky and within minutes, we had all worked it into submission. The kneading was energetic, but satisfyingly hypnotic too.

We each used a kilo of flour, so had lots of dough to work with. Some of us made baguettes, others tin loaves and also some baps, which we topped with an array of seeds.

Fellow novice baker Dave Ferguson, on the course with his mum Sue and girlfriend Gemma Wilson, wanted to make hedgehogs. “I remember making these at primary school,” he said.

Within minutes, we’d assembled a whole tray of doughy hogs. We used scissors to snip into the top to create the spikes and added raisons for eyes and nose.

We also made a bread plait; taking three long snakes of dough and weaving them in and out until the desired shape was made. After applying a layer of eggwash, for glossy colour, we sprinkled them with the seeds.

After a break for lunch – home-made soup by the team at Pattacakes and some of our own baguettes – it was back into the kitchen and on to the final straight, olive bread.

This was my favourite to make; I found it the easiest to knead, and it was the tastiest. That was no doubt on account of the delicious produce we stuffed inside.

The trick is to roll the dough into a large rectangle, smother it in the topping of choice, fold up like an envelope, give it a twist as if wringing out a dishcloth and then leave to rise. We stuffed our loaves with a tangy red onion marmalade relish from Yorkshire’s Braken Hill Preserves and lots of grated cheddar as well as a mix of olives and sun dried tomatoes.

After five hours of breadmaking, it was time for a final cuppa and a catch-up. Here, with clean hands, we quizzed Anita on the methods we used and crib her top tips.

Then we each filled a box with the spoils of the day. I drove home with a boot full of bread – enough to have something different for every day of the week.

What’s more, I left with the confidence to finally open that bag of bread flour in the larder.


The breadmaking course costs £50. For more dates and to find out about other courses, ring Pattacakes on 01653 618352.


Anita is also involved in a new venture, Cake Together, where people bake and bring their results to Pattacakes, where Anita will host a supper and where everyone can try each other’s bakes. The aim is to raise funds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The next event will be on April 17. To book a place or find out more, telephone 01653 618352.