Knead It
Gone are the days when the best of English cuisine was pie and mash or a pickled onion. With the likes of Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay, the bar in the kitchen has been well and truly raised. Cooking fever has taken London by storm; my favourite is baking your own bread.
In search of classes to satisfy my new whim, I found Knead it!, a lively, fresh course run by the young and enthusiastic Moro chef Ollie. The concept is bread, and through five lessons themed by country, you learn about the traditional loaf and local specialities. This course covers Italy, Lebanon, Spain, Morocco and the UK.
The group meets at 10am on a Sunday, in a private West London home (locations change weekly). You are given your station for the day and the bread lesson begins. Depending on which lesson you choose, this can be anything from foccacia to flat bread, breadsticks to crumpets. As I learned, bread making is quite time consuming, but chef Ollie has thought of everything. While your bread is proving, baking, and rising you begin on your lunch. We made braised rabbit ravioli with a thyme and butter sauce and I can honestly say I have never enjoyed a meal cooked by myself so much in my life.
Instructions are clear and easy to follow, Ollie’s teaching style is relaxed, interesting and friendly, and the atmosphere is intimate and personal. His Moro influence is apparent in the attention to detail, daring combinations, and emphasis on quality.
By the time you sit down to lunch you have new friends, a loaf to take home and show off and a delicious meal to tuck into. Knead it! is a fantastic way to spend a Sunday, learn a skill and have a good old nose around a lovely W11 pad.
When she’s not baking fresh crumpets, Anna Templeton is normally found in Argentina, tucking into an ojo de bife and sipping on a glass of Malbec; all in the name of exploring the culture, of course.
