Before they opened in the UK, I had some Poilane overnighted from Paris at some considerable cost. The problem was that the driver was a smoker and he delivered the bread absolutely full of stale tobaco. I think the loaf of bread cost me nearly £40 and it was binned.

I had a mate who is a real sourdough nut taste my final loaf and he pronounced it better than Gails except it's shape and I'm happy it was a reasoanbly optimal example. Much of my cooking is simply time wasting ie perfecting or trying something for the sake of it, and this was that. I spent a couple of years on batters for example and other deep frying .....

I think they great discovery from a bread viewpoint is how easy it is for those that travelled to France a generation or so ago and yearn for proper bread they use to eat when it was fully prepared in bakery - and how much easier it is tahn they probably think to recreate that in the kitchen. Poolish, small amount of rye, envelope folding, and steam. The other thing is the simplicty of making real home made pizza which as we all know is about the base and not the topping which is less is more.