All you knead

TOP TIP!

Push some of the toppings into the dough and leave others on top.

When visitors poured into the Expo 2020 Dubai site, there were plenty of sights and sounds to queue up for. One surprise, at least for Matthew Jones, was the line of people snaked around the building leading up to his concept, Bread Ahead.

He says, sitting in the now relatively silent and empty Bread Ahead kitchen at the Expo City, “The Expo was incredible and gave us huge brand awareness. We didn’t know what to expect… I can remember the first day, I was upstairs in the bakery getting stuff ready. I came downstairs at 10am, opened that door and there were about 100 people outside waiting. It was incredible.”

But if there was anywhere that people would queue for bread and doughnuts (the latter of which probably has a cult following), Bread Ahead was it. Matthew says, “I was always in the kitchen and my mum was very keen on teaching me to bake. From a young age, I was always making flapjacks and rock cakes and brownies and carrot cake. It was just how we grew up in the kitchen.” Once the food and beverage industry was identified as one that interested him, Matthew worked alongside chefs such as Shaun Hill, Simon Hopkinson and Phil Howard in London at the height of the city’s food renaissance. Next, he opened Flour Power City Bakery in 1999 and then had a space in London’s Borough Market before officially founding Bread Ahead in 2013.

“I opened Bread Ahead with a new direction,” he says, “and I wanted to teach and I wanted to have retail shops.” When it comes to education, the Bread Ahead Baking School now has more than 40 courses, ranging from Japanese to South American baking techniques, learning about gluten-free baking and much more.

Education in baking is important to him. “In the early days at Borough when we started just as a market stall, often customers would ask, ‘What is rye bread? What is spelt bread? What’s the difference?’ And there was definitely this curiosity around baking, so I thought, ‘Let’s include people in an immersive environment inside the bakery where we can teach them to bake properly’ – and not just teach them to bake but teach them how to understand the ingredients and understand what’s going on and what it means.”

From a market stall to a London-based business to making its mark in the Middle East, including with a permanent outlet at Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates, Bread Ahead has certainly gone places and kept Matthew busy – but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

He explains, “The process of baking is much deeper than people realise. In ancient times, the centre of any village or community was a place of worship and a bakery. So, to be a baker is a profound thing, it’s an honour to be a baker.”

“For me, the physical repetition of baking is a really important part of my day. It keeps me sane, it gives me a purpose. It’s never boring… every day, it’s the same, but it’s different. I really encourage people to connect with baking in that way, a bit like gardeners love gardening and bees love making honey. I’m like a bee making honey. I love what I’m doing.”

Prep time: 15 minutes (plus proofing time)

Cook time: 15 minutes

Serves: 4

For the dough

500g strong white bread flour

1½ tsp SpinneysFOOD Fine Sea Salt

6g fresh yeast or 1 tsp active dried yeast

400g SpinneysFOOD Bottled Drinking Water, at room temperature

80g SpinneysFOOD Mediterranean Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus extra for brushing

For the toppings

SpinneysFOOD Artichokes in Sunflower Seed Oil

SpinneysFOOD Cherry Tomatoes

Pitted black olives

SpinneysFOOD Fresh Rosemary

SpinneysFOOD Sea Salt Flakes

1 Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, add the yeast to the water and mix until dissolved. If using dried yeast, mix the yeast through the flour mixture. 2 Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the water, then using a spatula, dough scraper, spoon or your hand, bring the dough together to form a loose dough, mixing for a few minutes until all the ingredients are evenly incorporated. If using a stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment to bring the ingredients together. You want a glossy dough with no lumps of flour in it.

3 Drizzle 2 tablespoons of the olive oil around the edges of the bowl and use a scraper or spoon to gently tease the oil around the edges of the bowl so it’s evenly distributed underneath and over the top of the dough. 4 Put your hands under one side of the dough, then pull it up and stretch it over to the other side. Do this from the bottom, then the top, then from each of the two sides (this is considered a single fold and will trap layers of air within the dough). Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Give your dough three more folds in the same way, resting for 30 minutes after each of the first 2 folds. After the third and final fold, move the dough to the fridge and rest for 10 minutes. 5 Lightly oil a large baking tray with some of the remaining oil, then gently slide the rested dough into the prepared baking tray. Fold it in half (like a giant Cornish pasty) and massage the remaining olive oil into the surface of the dough, making sure it’s evenly covered. Press your fingers into the top of the dough to spread it out to fill the tray. Make sure you press over the whole surface of the dough (this will give your focaccia its dimpled appearance). Add the toppings (except the salt) and leave to rest for 30 minutes. 6 Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 240°C, or highest gas mark. 7 Sprinkle the top of the dough with salt, then transfer to the oven and lightly spray the oven chamber with water or place a baking tray filled with 120ml water on the bottom of the oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until crisp and golden. 8 Remove from the oven, brush with a little more olive oil, then cool and serve.