Express & Star

As Myrtle Taylor takes the warm, freshly-baked bread out of the oven, she is pleased she gave up her mundane office job to train as a baker.

“I always looked forward to getting home to my kitchen to start cooking,” she says. “I started to think that I could make a career out of my cooking and so I enrolled on the the NVQ course in baking at Wolverhampton College.

“Before the course I would experiment with different recipes but when I did something wrong I never knew what had happened.

“But now, thanks to the course, I am able to correct myself.”

To celebrate national bread week, students at Wolverhampton College are learning to make bread the old fashioned way without the use of machines. Gary Russell, baking and pastry lecturer at the college says: “The increase in the number of people buying home bread makers means skills are disappearing.

“There used to be a time when there were several bakeries in each town, but now you are lucky to have just one or two. For me, the best thing about bread making is seeing all the raw ingredients mixed together to make the final product.

“The very first time students make bread, I get them to do it with their hands in a bowl. The mixture usually sticks to their hands but after a while they get used to handling it.

“When their first loaf of bread comes out of the oven, they are astonished and really pleased with what they have produced.

“We always let them take a few loaves home so they can see the difference between fresh bread and supermarket-bought loaves.”

Gary says it takes at least two months of training for someone to become a good baker.

“We teach students how to make basic breads such as cottage loaves; plaits; coburgs, which are known by most people as cobs, and Chelsea buns,” he says. “The course lasts 36 weeks and to be a competent baker you need at least two months of training. With so many ready-made loaves on in supermarkets people don’t see why they should make their own. But once they have a go, they find out how addictive it is, and they want to find out other ways of making their own.”

Jamie Benion, aged 19, from Tipton says his parents love it when he brings bread home from college.

“I have always liked baking, even when I was a child,” he says. “My parents love the bread I make and it is cheaper, and fresher, than the ones you would get in the supermarket.

“My favourite type of bread is the French stick because it is quite easy to make and it is nice to have with a meal or as a sandwich.

“We are based at the Metro One campus in the centre of Wolverhampton and often make bread for the college restaurant

“There are theme nights at the restaurant and so we have learned to cook the different breads to go with each evening.

“For the Italian night we cooked ciabatta and foccacia and for the Mexican evening we did tortilla wraps. We have even made orange and chocolate bread, which was delicious.”

Myrtle says friends are often jealous of her culinary skills and wish they could make their own bread.

“The smell of the bread is lovely,” she says. “I often get a lot of looks off people when I’m going home on the bus and my arms are filled with fresh, delicious bread.

“The smell of it seeps through the bags and fills the bus.

“My friends are quite jealous of all the recipes that I’m learning and my house always smells fantastic. Also, my daughter and three grand-children love it when I come home with warm bread for them. I usually give some away to neighbours and friends and it helps to have their feedback.

“One day I would like to work for myself and have my own cafe as I would make fresh bread every day.

“I think freshly baked bread is what people want now, as loaves from the shops just don’t taste the same.”