You’ve got the loaf

‘Give us this day our daily bread’ or so goes the Lord’s Prayer. Bread is a major student staple – whether due to lack of funds or cooking proficiency, the 47p Sainsbury’s Basics loaf seems an essential addition to every student kitchen in Manchester. Must it be this way – will the student always be hampered by a lack of adventure, of experimentation, of curiosity? When will we refuse to consider that piece of thin, cardboard-like toast, even if just to ‘take the edge off’?

Now is the time to embark on our journey of bread discovery. Let me tell you boys and girls, we’re in for a treat!

My own student bread experience came in first year, when considering how best to exploit my electricity/gas bill-free existence. One exploitation was baking my own loaves, and before long the whole flat was giving it a go. The only requirements to get started are a few ingredients (bread flour, dried yeast, butter, milk, salt and sugar), and a willingness to experiment!

Needless to say there are ups and downs in baking: occasionally you’ll get a doughy middle, your latest exotic addition might result in it being the texture of soap or it quite simply might look (and taste) like a medium-sized rock. Bear in mind that every oven is different, as I found to my dismay whilst trying and failing to recreate my best farmhouse loaf at home for my parents.

Nothing, however, beats that feeling of pride that bursts from your chest as you pull a golden, fragrant and perfectly-scored loaf from a hot oven, displaying it with smugness to your jealous housemates, breaking it open to let butter melt on its warm, soft flesh. One may have to jump through certain hoops on the way to that perfect loaf but, with God as my witness, this is a staple that’s worth spending a bit of time over.