Food for Thought

To celebrate Fair Trade Fortnight we have curated our perfect fair trade breakfast. We have combined our own fair trade products with the skill and knowledge of chef and food writer Vanessa Kimbell.

Vanessa is a frequent contributor to BBC 4’s Food Programme and leading expert on the Sourdough section of the World Bread Awards. She has been baking bread since she was 9 and first learned her skills from a traditional French bakery in south west France. Her recent cookery book ‘Food for Thought’ blends her own delicious recipes with a real passion for fair trade and sustainable ingredients.

Fundamental Sourdough – ‘the most sustainable bread in the world’

Makes 1 x 1.85 kg loaf.

Equipment recommended:
1.5kg banneton baking dome
Grignette, for slashing the dough

For the sourdough:
650 g water at exactly 28 centigrade
200g levain *, refreshed using equal parts flour to water and mixed 8 hours before you are ready to bake.
1kg stoneground organic white flour, plus extra for dusting
20g fine sea salt
Organic polenta flour, for dusting

*Levain is made by taking 20g starter and adding 90ml cold water and 90g strong white organic flour. Leave covered with a sample cloth on the counter for 6 – 8 hours, you will see that it is bubbly and ready to use.



Mix (at about 6pm):

In a large bowl, whisk the water and levain together. Add the flour, salt (combined well) and mix until all the flour has made contact with the water and there is no more dry flour. Do not knead 1st Ferment

Cover the bowl with a clean damp cloth and leave the dough to rest in a cool environment for 30 minutes. This is called autolyse.

Fold (6.30pm):
Lift and fold the dough over on itself. Do a quarter turn of your bowl and repeat three more times. Over the next hour lift and fold your dough again twice.

Shape (7.30pm):
Shape the dough lightly and place into a dusted banneton. Dust with white flour and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave to prove in the fridge for 8 hours.

Bake (8am):
The following morning preheat the oven to 220 centigrade/ 200 centigrade fan/ gas 7 for at least 30 minutes before you are ready to bake with your baking dome in the oven. The baking dome must be very hot. Take the dome out of the oven and sprinkle a little polenta flour over the bottom. Put the dough into the dome and slash the top of the brad using a grignette (or lame), then place the lid back on top and return to the oven as quickly as possible. Bake for 45 minutes then reduce the oven heat to 190 degrees centigrade 170 fan / gas 5 and bake for a further minutes. Finally remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes.

For a really authentic loaf bake until you have a dark brown crust.

Once the bread is completely cool store wrapped in a piece of cotton or linen bread bag or tea towel. If you don’t like crunchy crust then wrap the bread in a tea towel while it is still warm.

To accompany your delicious bread – we recommend this mouth-wateringly good organic honey.

Styling pieces

To create this stylish (and delicious) breakfast we used our sustainable mango wood chopping boards, and a selection of cups, bowls and plates from our Mali collection, handmade as part of a fair trade project. The elegant Ruri jug is handmade from recycled glass and is available in two sizes.

Recipe provided by Vanessa Kimbell - Food For Thought