Spotlight - 14.2019

Fotos: Julian Earwaker; iSebastian, PicturePartners, Magone/iStock.com

36 Spotlight 14/2019 A DAY IN MY LIFE

y name is Paul Merry,

and I am a master

bread baker. I’m 71,

and I live and work

in Dorset, England.

I grew up in Melbourne,

Australia, and still have

childhood memories of

bread deliveries there

by horse and cart.

I gained a degree in law, but never

worked in that area. In my early twenties,

I travelled and got a job on a boat. The

skipper told me I had to learn how to

make bread from his wife, because

I would be baking on the next voyage.

So, I did.

After four years of travelling, I returned

to Melbourne, and baking bread became

my craft. This was in the 1970s, when bak-

ing was in decline. It was all about profit,

mechanization and instant dough. Bakers

were making rubbish.

Of all the European nations, I found

that Germany produces the best bakers.

They make exceptional breads of wheat

and rye.

I moved to the UK in the 1990s and

started Panary, my business, in Cum-

bria, before moving down to Dorset and

setting up in a traditional flour mill here.

My working week is split between con-

sulting, teaching and commercial baking.

amino acid

[E)mi:nEU (ÄsId]

, Aminosäure

apprentice [E(prentIs]

, Lehrling

craft [krA:ft]

, Handwerk, Fertigkeit

crust [krVst]

, Kruste

decline: be in ~ [di(klaIn]

, im Niedergang

begriffen sein

degree [di(gri:]

, hier: akademischer

Abschluss, Grad

flour mill [(flaUE mIl]

, Getreidemühle

from scratch

[frQm (skrÄtS]

, von Grund auf

fungus [(fVNgEs]

, Pilz

horse and cart

[)hO:s &n (kA:t]

, Pferdegespann

instant dough

[)InstEnt (dEU]

, Fertigteig, Instantteig

loaf (pl. loaves) [lEUf]

, Brotlaib

revival [ri(vaIv&l]

, Aufschwung

rye [raI]

, Roggen

seeded [(si:dId]

, mit Samen

sourdough [(saUEdEU]

, Sauerteig-

spiked [spaIkt] ifml.

, gespickt, versetzt

starch [stA:tS]

, Stärke

stepchild [(steptSaI&ld]

, Stiefkind

stoneground

[(stEUn)graUnd]

, in einer Steinmühle

gemahlen

wholemeal [(hEUlmi:&l]

, Vollkorn-

The master

bread baker

Paul Merry backt köstliches Brot – mit sehr

viel Leidenschaft, einfachen Zutaten und

ein bisschen Hilfe seitens der Wissenschaft.

Von JULIAN EARWAKER

MEDIUM AUDIO PLUS

A DAY IN MY LIFE

M

I start each day with e-mails and office work. A typical consul-

tancy client might be a baker or a business wanting to know

more about dough. Dough is remarkable stuff. It never becomes

boring. Every dough is mixed from scratch, and every dough is

different. Giving bread-baking courses involves a lot of paper-

work. Then I try to write my book, which has taken me ten years

so far. It is a big project: it’s biographical and anecdotal, and an

attempt to set down all that’s important about the craft. It’s hard

finding the time to write.

Much of Wednesday involves preparation for Thursday,

which is my commercial baking day. I have a long-term appren-

tice to help. We make bread to sell to local shops, using stone-

ground flour from the mill. It’s hard, physical work and a long

day. Our most popular breads are sourdough and wholemeal

seeded loaves.

Becoming a master baker is a process that takes place

over time. You have to understand the raw materials,

which means learning botany and biology for the

grain, and chemistry for the fermentation, which, of

course, is done by a fungus. The crust is very impor-

tant. It protects the bread, but it is also shaped and fla-

voured by the Maillard reaction, in which the amino acids

and starch combine in the intense heat of the oven to produce

rich, brown, caramel colours. The crust gets spiked with a great

range of flavours.

On Friday, I take it easy and prepare for teaching the week-

end courses, which run from February to June and then from

August to November. I do take some weekends off to relax:

I like going for a walk, which can be in the city or the countryside.

I like to explore, perhaps going to a National Trust place that I’ve

not been to before. I have two children and two stepchildren,

and they absorb a great deal of my leisure time. As I grow older,

I find it’s very satisfying simply to do things with my children

and grandchildren.

We are in the middle of a baking revival in Britain now, which

gives me hope. The craft sector produces only about five per cent

of all the bread baked here, but it shows that there is concern out

there, and that the craft is not going to die.

Listen to Paul Merry

on Spotlight Audio:

spotlight-online.de/

spotlight-audio