Slow Rise

The power of tweaking (cont)

Back in 1997 I worked for Dixons Group (owner of PC World, Currys, The Link and Dixons), a massive £5bn turnover, multi-national FTSE-100 mega-corp. I wanted the full-fat corporate experience and that's exactly what I got.

My job was to improve the business through identifying opportunites (easy and fun) and making them happen (bloody hard and very frustrating). Dixons started out as a true entrepreneurial business, with instinctive decision making and a bucanneering style of "JFDI". Sir Stanley Kalms makes Alan Sugar look like an intern.

As the 1990s ended, it had gone stale, and growth had stagnated. Most of the 2500 people working in head office (that is not a typo) were manager-mentality. Don't rock the boat, don't risk new things. Avoid failure at all costs.

I used to hear the phrase "If it ain't broke, don't fix it", an awful lot.

Why wait until something's broken to make it better?

Our Walnut sourdough is a great loaf (it won a True Taste award last year) but a few tweaks later, it's now it's even better. Tweak Tweak.

 

 

The power of tweaking

These passed the Usk Farmer's Market test and sold out in about an hour... We've had loads of great feedback from our shops too, with a few suggestions how to make them better. So I made a few tweaks, made another batch, tweaked again and made another batch... I made batch 8 on Friday and now they sing with fruity, spicy sweetness.

Not reinventing the wheel

There's nothing new about seeded loaves, but we get asked for them all the time.

So we started experimenting and tried a few different combinations, but kept coming back to Pumpkin & Sunflower seeds.

Nothing innovative, just a great, simple loaf based on our 16hr fermented white dough with great colour, crunchy texture and flavour.  K.I.S.S. as they say.

True Taste Awards - meeting Patrick Gee

It was fascinating talking to Founder of Llanllyr Water Patrick Gee last week at the True Taste Awards. His bottled water is exported all over the world and is so pure it is used by chefs at restaurants such as El Bulli and Hakkasan to cook with. When I explained the lengths we go to do make the purest, most natural Organic sourdough, Patrick suggested that as well as obsessing over flour and the fermentation process we should experiment making sourdough with a pure bottled water. Hard to deny the logic so samples are on their way ready for a test batch to see if it makes any discernable difference. Will keep you posted on the results.

True Taste Award - 44hr Walnut Sourdough

Everyone needs a pat on the back now and again.

Last night our Walnut Sourdough won Bronze at the True Taste Awards in  Builth Wells.

It was the only bread which won an award, so we're beaming.

Bring the brie

First of many new things from us in 2012. Our new Walnut sourdough is the loaf for cheese lovers - does a great duet with brie or camembert. We roast the walnuts for more flavour and crunchier texture. The natural oil in the nuts blends with the dough during the super slow fermentation to give a purple crumb inside. Neat.