I made bread in my new/old kitchen for the first time today, and I could feel the spirits of generations of innkeepers and cooks looking over my shoulder. The house is the old village inn and though its origins are lost in the mists of time, the central bearing wall was left standing in the 16th century when a flood devastated the village. The inn is on the high road and had a bread oven the size of a small bedroom (it is in fact, a small bedroom now!). I’m not sure what the cooks would have thought of my modern electric oven and kitchen tools but the bread-making methods are likely the same and they would have appreciated, as did I, the minimal kneading required for this delicious bread. I’ll be eating it with some local goats’ cheese to keep the flow of history and tradition going!
vivreinfrance 