Why the GG Bread Revolution means so much to me

Two weeks ago I posted this blog piece about Baking Real Bread after struggling to successfully bake a good loaf of bread.

It got me thinking about the basics of cooking.

About how it is confidence that so many of us are lacking.

And skills.

And a cheersquad.

I started thinking..... maybe I could be that cheersquad.

Maybe I could be the one on the sidelines cheering everyone on with my colourful PomPoms!

Everything is better when there are PomPoms non?!

I started to think about why this idea meant so much to me.

Here is where my thoughts led me ~

Right from the beginning of this blog it was about me sharing.
Sharing what I knew about food & cooking and passing on my skills to others.
Sharing food, sharing knowledge, sharing thoughts, sharing LOVE.

I thought about how important an understanding of the basic skills are.

Bread making is not just a skill- as I talked of in my original post, I think it is an ART.

I think bread represents so much more than food.

It represents the sharing of food & love for one another, the nurturing of people we care about.

The breaking & sharing of bread together is one of the most ancient of rituals.
Yet we have lost the art of making it & generally find little time to perform these rituals together.

I began to think about how I could help bring this most important of rituals back.

And so began the #ggbreadrevolution.

Every time I see one of the pics in the gallery- of which just 2 weeks in there are over ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY loaves- I smile.

Most loaves have been baked by absolute beginners. And NOT ONE disaster.  All beautifully unique.  Just like the people who baked them.

And each and EVERY loaf has made the baker behind it feel proud. Really super dooper proud.

It is an achievement to be proud of.

I feel proud too.

This makes me happier than you guys will ever know.  I feel as if this space has done something that I set out to achieve all that time ago when I started.

I said to a mate of mine last week- I think I was born to be a Revolutionary, I'm so glad this is how it turned out.

If I can give this many people the confidence to give bread a go- imagine all the other things that will soon be be cooked and shared in these same kitchens!!

All it took was FOUR ingredients and a cheersquad.

Other bloggers have also blogged about & been part of the #ggbreadrevolution too.

You can read what they had to say in the links below ~

Shellie wrote about how the making of bread has been a super important ritual in her family's cooking history here.

Kim said my bread efforts were causing something of "a Renaissance in breadmaking" here.

Beth has ticked off something in her bucket list by baking this bread & wrote about it here.

& Carly wrote about getting back to real food here.

Keep it up everyone.

And THANK YOU - yes YOU - each and every one of you who has been a part of the GG Bread revolution so far!

What a wonderful little community we have made together.

Vive La Revolution!

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S OLIVE, FETTA & THYME NO-KNEAD BREAD:
After baking many successful plain loaves of the no-knead I wanted to try tweak it a little.
To add some other goodies and see what transpired.
Here is what I made.
It was SUBLIME.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 quantity of no-knead bread dough- recipe here
• a small handful of pitted olives of your choice
• 100g crumbled fetta
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves.

METHOD:
Follow the no-knead recipe up to the part right at the end of the first 14-18hour prove.

Flour your bench very well.

Place dough onto the floured bench and sprinkle the olives, fetta & thyme onto the top of the dough.

Fold in the corners into the middle of the bread and cover lightly with glad wrap for 15 minutes.

Flour a tea towel liberally.(I use semolina for this part- i prefer the texture it gives the bread crust) 

Uncover the dough and make a round shape and place onto the floured tea towel.

Flour top of the dough well and place another tea-towel over the top.

Leave for 2 hours.

After one and a half hours place a cast iron pot (without the lid- see notes at end) into the oven at 245C. 
After the pot has been heating for half an hour remove it carefully from the oven and place the dough into the pot. The heat fo the pot instantly starts to form the delicious crust you will enjoy later!

Put the lid on and replace it in the oven.

Bake for half an hour with lid on and then remove the lid for the last 15 minutes.

SOME NO KNEAD TIPS ~ 

1. Some people have told me the knobs of their pots have exploded off in the oven (EEEEEEK!!) - it may be worth purchasing a cheaper cast iron Dutch Camp oven from a camping or Disposals store to avoid this happening to your favourite pot- these oven's lids are an integral rather than separate part and won't come off!
2. DON'T put the lid on at the initial heating of the pot- it isn't necessary for the lid to be heated and just makes it super hard work when you remove it from the oven to place dough in.
3. Some people have tried using a baking tin & cover with foil in lieu of a cast iron pot and reported good results- the beauty of the cast iron is it's heat retention and ability to instantly seal the dough to give it it's amazing crust.
4. I definitely noticed inferior results on the days that were colder- the dough did not rise as happily!
5. I bake my bread at night and leave it wrapped in a teatowel ready for the next day. It is still super fresh with a super crusty outer. It takes away the stress of the timing which I know is worrying some of you.