THE LITTLE KITCHEN LDN: Bread Ahead bakery at Borough Market

I made - Rye Bread, Chelsea Buns, Brioche (huge) and about a million croissants.

I was rather excited when I received a full day voucher for Bread Ahead at Christmas. My main dilemma was which course to take! In the end, I went for the Enriched Dough workshop because it offered a range of recipes including the croissant, which I had tried to make once, and failed...badly.

I strolled over to the South side of London Bridge on a sunny but chilly Sunday morning and was greeted by the friendly staff. Our workshop was taken by Manuel, "a French person with a Spanish name" - his words. He was also sporting a beret just to make sure we didn't confuse his French accent with a Spanish one.

Where the magic happens

It was a thoroughly pleasant day. There was a mix of 12 people in the group all with varying degrees of baking experience and all different ages. Manuel and his assistants were very efficient with the change of equipment and cleaning round after us.

The actual bakery was extraordinary, I've never stepped into an industrial bakery before so it was just rather exciting for little old me seeing shelves and trolleys of bread. A mysterious room for proving the dough, the proper ovens through the doorway and even just the modern little ovens we used amongst all the wooden furniture.

Another use for shower caps

One great bit of usage was for the free shower caps you get at hotels - we used these for proving our dough - they fit perfectly round the mixing bowl and completely covered! Genius!

Overall, it was a fantastic day. It was hard work as everything we did was by hand but it was a great stress relief. It was so much fun and knowledgeable. Manuel was a great teacher and really helpful. We ran over slightly but they were very accommodating with the times to get our value for money. I would definitely recommend Bread Ahead for anyone who wants to learn, know or enhance their baking skills. I felt very comfortable and not at all intimidated. If you don't mind the tourists peeping in through the window that is.

Bread, bread and more bread

Lunch is also provided on the full day workshops, which they make themselves. In fact, I was really impressed that they hand-make everything themselves including the jam and lemon curd we got to try. Everything you get to taste on the day is from the baker's batch, everything you make, you get to take home...which is a lot!

The croissant by far takes the longest and needs the most patience, mine had some butter leakage but 100 times better than my first attempt. A great tip is to use French butter rather than English butter as that has less water content.