Sourdough or bitter ale?
| Published date | 17 April 2021 |
| Publication title | Evening Chronicle |
And they're the subject of his two new cookery guides, From Scratch: Sourdough and From Scratch: Brew.
The former Great British Bake Of f contestant, who lives in Glasgow, has been making sourdough since his late-teens, and has been pleased to see the lockdownfriendly bread in particular get "the recognition it deserves".
His other bread books actually sold out as bread-making boomed during the pandemic - but as a doctor, there have been lows among the bread-based highs.
"We've all had a few crises, a few wobbles," says James, who also become a father to daughter Lily during the pandemic. But, he adds, "I've got a feeling we're getting there. I'm feeling really, really positive."
so why do you think sourdough became so popular in lockdown? It's a labour of love, there's this story of creating something from literally just flour and water, bringing it to life, sharing it with other people, sharing it online - which has become a really important part of it. And the fact it's just awesome. You can make bread as good as the best bread in the world, in the comfort of your own home.
so is there a secret to producing perfect sourdough? Sourdough is just a mixture off lour, water and salt, but there's all this biochemical madness going on in order for you to get this loaf of bread, and the most important part of that is the starter.
"It's just flour and water that you leave to go off, it starts to bubble, it's full of yeast and bacteria, and if you neglect it, let it just fizzle out and fade over time without feeding it, or taking proper care of it, it will just not produce good bread.
how often do you bake bread? I make bread two to three times a week, two to three loaves at a time. So we get through a lot of bread. I've been making the focaccia and my staple, the country loaf [in the book].
It's mostly white, with a bit of rye or oatmeal in there to give it some earthy crunch.
When did you first find yourself drawn to brewing beer?
I did get into it as a student. One of my friends happens to be a UK champion homebrewer, and so he introduced me to this idea that homebrew wasn't just something that tasted dodgy, brewed in these big plastic buckets with little airlocks, that bubbled on top and was always sour, or the bottles were exploding.
Why do you think it's...
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