You probably thought I'd popped my clogs with the length of time between entries - over a year - and that I was now just a virtual ghost, LIVING ONLY AS A MEMORY OF FOOD ARTICLES ON THE INTERWEBS.
But no, the fleshy me still exists, even if there HAVE been a few close scrapes and a bit too much gourmandising.
The reason I haven't been here in a while is because I've been working on a new action adventure book titled 'the Cornerstone' (set in Italy) for the last couple of years. That, and a kind of awareness that everybody is posting stuff all the time, so what's the point (?), there's ten years of articles here if you're interested.
That said, I had to make this note because I just made the best loaf of bread in my life, from dried sachet yeast, and it was superb and SIMPLE (after two years of keeping a starter alive and making sourdough). Read on to get the best Italian bread loaf at home without the need to build a wood fired oven... and a pretty good baking themed joke at the end!
To make the bread, you will need: