All over social media people are going mad with bread making. At the start of lockdown it was the sourdough wars, everyone learning or teaching others how to create a sourdough starter, then tutorials on baking, and suddenly everyone’s feeds are full of baked loaves. This of course spread into banana bread and so on. It is great that people are getting in touch with their inner baker. They now have time to do something they would have otherwise not had time to, or used work and a busy social life as an excuse. Feeding your sourdough starter daily is a commitment! I have had my starter for 18 months now. He spends most of his time in the fridge until I feel inspired to bake and then he goes back in when I bake a disappointing gluten free loaf…. oh yes the gluten free baking of bread is not as fun, it takes a lot more time, weird and wonderful flours and it of course costs far more than normal bread as the flour is so darn expensive.

There are some gluten free baking experts out there, like Naomi Devlin who I have mentioned before. I use her River Cottage Gluten Free book quite regularly, especially for bread. I think the problem is I just miss normal gluten filled bread, and its never quite the same. Maybe I am just not a baker, I should stick to cakes.

My lack of enjoyment in baking bread means I am always on the hunt for good gluten free bread, and thanks to the wonderful world of social media I discovered a new online gluten free bakery  – Wildcraft Bakery! I saw someone post about their order and followed the link. They do not have a huge selection but a couple of different loaf types, rolls and some sweet things. I of course put an order in straight away and it turned up yesterday afternoon ( a very quick efficient service). We got a couple of loaves to try –  white and buckwheat, and some sweet treats, including ginormous Viennese whirls and filled pastries.

I cut into the white loaf this morning for breakfast and joy! It was a lovely loaf of bread. Soft but it held together well when cut and buttered, it toasted beautifully and is well aerated but not too much that you end up with giant holes and no bread.  There has been much excitement in the flat, I do not think it will be around for long. I can predict this will not be our only order to the Wildcraft bakery.

It is the little things in life that are keeping my spirits up. Eating all this bread is not going to help my waistline but I think I just need to give up worrying about that for now, otherwise its a very fast spiral. With that in mind I cannot wait to try the frangipan pastry for my breakfast tomorrow. Hurrah for the delivery of gluten free bread and baked goods, making lockdown possible.