... just got more complicated, at least in East Sussex, UK.

This is the sign put up at the duck pond outside my son's school:

I knew feeding bread wasn't too good for the environment, introducing a lot of nutrients into the environment and essentially helping algae to grow (and I now know that angel wings might be caused by malnutrition), but:

White bread, not ok (the community officers are watching you!) - cake crumbs ok?

Hm, makes me think...

Juergen

...because that leads to co-dependency!

Not sure if anyone here is a fan of Ms. Hart, but I get a kick out of her misadventures (specifically those involving baking, for which she has a notable aversion). The episodes are hit-or-miss, and probably not safe for work, but nothing worse than you would see on late night network television.

Enjoy! (I hope!)

http://hartoandco.com/meatpie.html

Hello,

I work as the Community Development Director for a small town in east-central Minnesota.  Princeton (popul. 5,000) is a great community, but we do not have a bakery.  We had one in town for years, but it recently closed down.  We have space available downtown (including the old bakery building) and also commercial lots in the newer retail development near the intersection of two major highways.  If anyone has any ideas on how to attract a bakery into town, please let me know! 

Thank you,

Carie

Here is a link to find out who the winners and runners up are in all categories of these prestigious awards.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/ffa/2011/

Not mentioned, but Andrew Whitley picked up a Special Award for his work through Real Bread Campaign.

The food business I co-ran bought cheese from Loch Arthur Creamery back in the late 1980s, so it's really good to see them pick up one of the big prizes.

A brewer picking up the top drinks prize for a second year tends to suggest the continued vibrancy in our small Brewers.

Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall scarcely needs my plug for all his great work this year.   However, probably of greater interest west of the Pond is that his work was featured by Mark Bittman of the New York Times in a guest slot on the Food Programme.   You can catch the podcast here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017c8gr

Happy reading and listening!

Best Wishes

Andy

Normally I come to this site to post bread pictures and comment to questions. Many of you might not know this about me, but I am an amature photographer. Recently, a photo of mine was selected out of hundreds for a contest drawing. Many of the other photographers are calling around and rallying votes for thier picture, so I though I would do the same.

I was hoping everyone here can go and vote for my picture. There is absolutley no registration, just go to the link below and vote 5 times everyday. My picture is the only one with the name 'Bryan'.  It is a sunset with a desert foreground. You can vote 5 times per 24 hours per computer everyday until December 2nd.

Thanks in advance for your support and keep baking good bread!! 
http://whyilovearizona.com/contest-vote-public-photos.htm

Having grown up in the U.S. and having begun bread baking only recently, I am finding quite a few loaf shapes confusing.

For instance, just what do you do with a baguette? I know the simple answer is to eat it, but how? What good are slices of bread when the bread is 2" or less in diameter? What do the French do with it?

I'm getting the same Email notification of new content delivered 10 times to my inbox.  It's been happening for a couple of days now.

Looking for peoples stories about failed loaves that weren't your fault!

Why do I ask? Because if I don't vent my frustration somewhere, I am going to crack my own skull open against the oven door.

I made a fantastic loaf today! I tried a new shaping method that worked really well for me, as my shaping usually results in an uneven mess of a thing. Popped it in the oven, happily awaiting my loaf to appear amazingly shaped and well.
Couple of minutes in to cooking, someone in my house asks if they can use the oven- "fine, just watch the bread."

I assumed they would use a different shelf! oh how wrong one person can be. They put a pot with a sharp edge right next to my bread, which at this point was still benefiting from a healthy dose of oven spring. Well, you can see where this is going I hope. I now have a loaf which is painfully deflated on one side and well risen and browned on the other.

End of pain!
Thanks for listening TFL brothers and sisters.

Share your pain

Charlie

Hi,

my email notifications always have a subject in the form "[The Fresh Loaf] content type subscription for nicodvb: [actual subject]". I find these notifications very very long,  preventing a quick glance at the actual subject. They don't even fit in a single line in my email browser (or gmail for what matters). Could subjects be shortened if I'm not asking too much?

Thanks.