The baker tests his loaves

One of the best things about having my elder son home from university is the fantastic bread he turns out day after day. Mostly it's sourdough made with his own leaven and different sorts of flour but he can also turn his hand to pita bread, croissants, baguettes... He's often up early kneading, rising or proving the latest batch. His Christmas presents were mostly bread books and professional baking tools.

As children my sons adored messing around with playdough and I became a dab hand at making it - for years the recipe was stuck on the fridge (1 cup plain flour, half cup salt, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 tablespoon oil, 1 cup water plus food colouring). They especially loved to get their hands on it when I scraped it, still warm, out of the saucepan. Bits of it got trodden all over the kitchen, stuck in their hair or encrusted hard on the table.

But now I wonder if that early playdough experience hasn't paid dividends.