Five minutes with…Pauline Beaumont, author of Bread Therapy

By Jo Dunbar

Last week Pauline Beaumont published Bread Therapy, which examines our relationship and history behind making bread and also includes several recipes for different loaves.

High Life North spoke to Pauline about how she began her breadmaking journey, the pleasures you can derive from crafting dough and whether we’ll carry on kneading and folding as we move further away from the peak of lockdown. Pauline lives in Berwick and has six children and works as a therapist.

Photography by Sophie Davidson.

Buy Bread Therapy

BONUS RECIPES

Spinach flatbread

There are only four ingredients in this unleavened bread that makes healthy wraps. You will need a mixing bowl, a small pan, a blender and a heavy-bottomed frying pan or cast-iron skillet. If you have a stick blender then use this with a measuring jug or beaker, otherwise use a regular blender. The mixture starts off being bright green but becomes less lurid when cooked.

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 240g wholemeal spelt flour, plus extra for dusting
• ½ tsp fine salt (unrefined sea salt if possible)
• 100g baby spinach
• 60ml water

Method

1. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Place the spinach in a pan with the water over a medium heat and cook until wilted.
3. Transfer the spinach and its water to a blender. You should end up with about 230ml of liquidised spinach; add a little more water to make up the volume if necessary
4. Mix the blended spinach with the dry ingredients and knead gently into a ball of dough.
5. Form the dough into a log shape and divide into 12.
6. Dust your work surface with a little flour. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, then dust it with a little more flour, before rolling out into a thin disc, about 16cm across. The dough can be a little sticky so you can use a dough scraper or spatula to lift it.
7. Heat a large, heavy frying pan and dry fry each tortilla for 1–2 minutes on each side. As they cook they will turn darker green and brown spots will appear.
8. Wrap in a cloth or foil to keep warm and to stop them drying out before eating. Like other flatbreads, these are best cooked and eaten fresh but the wrapped dough will keep in the fridge for a day or so.

Soda bread (with variations)

The only equipment you will need to make this bread is a mixing bowl, a spoon and a baking sheet (lined with baking parchment to stop the bread sticking). Soda bread relies on the chemical reaction of acid (from the buttermilk) with bicarbonate of soda to produce the gas that raises the bread. This happens quickly, hence there’s no need to knead or prove the dough. In fact it is best to avoid hanging around and get this loaf into the oven as soon as you have mixed it.

This recipe is for a wholemeal version but feel free to substitute plain or strong white flour for some or all of the brown if you prefer a lighter loaf. You could bake it in a loaf tin but the traditional (Irish) way is to form a round loaf and to make a deep, cross-shaped cut in the dough. Apart from any symbolic significance, this helps the bread bake through thoroughly.

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 450g wholemeal flour, plus extra for dusting (or this loaf works well with a mixture of half strong, white, bread flour and half wholemeal flour)
• 1 tsp fine salt (unrefined sea salt if possible)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 450ml buttermilk (or you can use 450ml milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice added to it)
• splash of milk (optional – only if required)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan/Gas 6.
2. Put the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl and stir. Make a dip or well in the centre of the dry ingredients and stir in the buttermilk.
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and use your hands to work it into a ball (it will be about 15cm in diameter). If it is too soft and sticky add some flour. If it is too dry and not all the flour has been incorporated, add a splash of milk.
4. Put the ball of dough on the baking parchment on the baking sheet and cut a cross into the top. Cut into the dough quite deeply, about half way down the depth of the loaf. It will immediately start to open up, this is fine and it is time to get it straight into the oven.
5. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the crust is browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
6. Your soda bread can be cooled on a wire rack, but this is a bread that can also be eaten while it is still warm.

Reflect on how, in under an hour, you have produced a wholesome loaf of bread, an honest loaf, a rustic beauty, to share with people you care about.

There are hundreds of recipes for soda bread. Some recipes include a tablespoonful of treacle or honey, so try them out and see what you prefer. A lovely, savoury version results from the addition of 125g of grated, hard cheese. A teatime, sweeter variation is to add 1 teaspoon of mixed spice, 100g of demerara sugar and 150g of whatever dried fruit you have in the cupboard (you could use raisins, currants, sultanas, chopped dates, chopped dried apricots or mixed peel).

This is a bread to make on impulse or when unexpected visitors arrive; it provides almost instant gratification. Why not invite a friend to enjoy it with you? Soda bread is best eaten on the day it is baked so enjoy it while it is fresh. Soda bread goes wonderfully with butter and jam or marmalade but also with cheese or soups or stews (especially Irish stew).