Some of our favourite bread comes from Bordeaux Quay.  Luckily, if I don’t want to go all the way down to the harbour, I can buy it either at the butcher’s Ruby and White or at Whiteladies Road market which takes place every Saturday and is a few minutes’ walk from my house.

We were there yesterday morning, stocking up on sourdough, pain de campagne and granary bread, which I shall save for toasting.  As you can see, we should have gone a little earlier; the tables were becoming rather bare.

Arrived a bit late. Thank goodness there’s still some bread at Bordeaux Quay

Pains de campagne and mixed sourdough starter loaves.

So much is written and said about food allergies these days and about wheat in particular.  Every other person one knows seems to have a wheat intolerance.  There is a case for eating good quality bread, instead of some of the factory-baked stuff and this article on sourdough bread which I read recently explains why.

Which brings me on to toast (sort of).  I wrote on my tumblr about my old-fashioned way of making toast on an Aga , and explained that naturally, the quality of the bread used to make the toast is a factor, but everything being equal, Aga toast is still the best.  Here are a couple of toasting tips for Aga owners who may not have tried doing it this way:

• Put the Aga toaster on the hot plate for a few minutes first to let it get very hot.  This prevents the bread from sticking.
• If some bread does stick, put the toaster back on the hotplate when you’ve finished.  This burns off any stuck bits.
• Use the wire brush that came with your Aga to scrape away all the burnt crumbs from the hotplate.

Heat up the Aga toaster

Have good bread ready

Place bread in here and close the lid

Some crumbs might stick but are easily burned off

Don’t even think about reverting to a “normal” toaster.  Why would you?  You get better toast this way and you are making the most of your Aga.  The same applies to kettles.  Once you have an Aga you don’t need an electric one.  Think how much work surface you gain by not having either a toaster or a kettle taking up space on it, and of course how much electricity you save.