Mike Russell didn’t set out to become a baker. But after finishing a media arts degree and spending two years as an advertising copywriter, he was looking for something more soulful and hands-on.

Today, Russell and wife Mia own bakeries in Hawksburn and Caulfield North in Melbourne and in Sydney’s Double Bay, and supply bread to some of the restaurant industry’s biggest names, including Neil Perry, a partner in their Sydney bakery.

Tapping into those dormant writing talents, he’s penned Baker Bleu: Bake It Till You Make It, which spills the secrets to making dark-crusted sourdough loaves and other baked goods, then putting them to use, right down to the last crumb.

“Fresh bread is undoubtedly one of life’s great joys but there pretty much always comes a time when you’ve got an awkward final sixth of a loaf sitting in your cupboard,” Russell writes.

Don’t worry. He’s shared one of his favourite uses for stale bread, panzanella salad, with Good Food readers. − Roslyn Grundy

English tapas (aka easy Welsh rarebit, or amazing cheese on toast)

The British answer to tapas might just be Welsh rarebit. I’ve cut a few corners here, keeping in mind that the time I most feel like eating rarebit is when I’ve had a few drinks. It’s so comforting, but there’s no way I’m pulling out saucepans to make a roux or waiting for things to cool. This is my shortcut. Enjoy it just before you hit the hay or as a light dinner to soak up you know what.

As essential as good bread is to this recipe, so is the grill setting of your oven. This allows you to toast the bread but also melt the cheese. If yours doesn’t have this capability, you may not enjoy this sandwich at its fullest. I recommend slicing your bread to about 2.5cm thick to best soak up the oil and butter.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 slices rye-caraway or country loaf, sliced to your desired thickness
• 30-40g unsalted butter, for spreading
• 1 tsp hot English or Dijon mustard, or to taste
• 80-90g aged cheddar (clothbound, if possible), coarsely grated
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• worcestershire sauce, to taste

METHOD

1. Heat your oven grill to high while you prepare your ingredients. You want them all ready to go once your bread is toasted.
2. Once the grill is piping hot, place your slices of bread on a pizza pan or tray (things will get messy later). Toast the bread for 1-2 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden on both sides, then remove from the grill and butter very liberally. Keep the grill on.
3. Allow the butter to melt and sink into your toast, then liberally apply your mustard. Finally, add the cheese and return each slice of bread to the grill until the cheese has completely melted. You want it bubbly and blistered, so don’t pull it out too soon, about 2-3 minutes.
4. Remove from the grill and allow to cool for 1 minute, then use a small paring knife to score the melted cheese in a large crisscross pattern. Dust the cheese with cayenne pepper, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper, then douse liberally with worcestershire sauce, which will soak in between the crisscrosses. Serve immediately.

Serves 1

Neil Perry’s curried egg sandwich

This sandwich filling is from the kitchen of Neil Perry. “It’s pretty hard to beat the combination of eggs, mayonnaise and rye bread. I love these curried egg sandwiches at any time of day, but if you wish to make them for breakfast and would like something less full-flavoured in the morning, leave the curry powder out,” Perry says.

INGREDIENTS

• 10 eggs
• 8 tbsp Kewpie mayonnaise
• 2 tsp Keen’s curry powder
• 8 slices very fresh rye-caraway loaf (or high-quality sourdough of your choice)
• softened butter, as desired
• iceberg or baby cos lettuce, as desired, shredded finely

METHOD

1. To boil the eggs, place them in salted boiling water for 8 minutes, then remove and run under cold water to cool. Crack the eggshells well and leave the eggs to soak in a bowl of water for 10 minutes before peeling; this makes them easier to peel. It’s also easiest to start peeling from the bottom of the egg.
2. Add the peeled eggs, mayonnaise and curry powder to a bowl and mash together with a fork until evenly mixed but still slightly chunky. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Lay the slices of bread on a chopping board and butter them evenly. Place equal amounts of the egg mix in the middle of four slices of bread, then spread the mix out evenly to cover the whole slice. Top with lettuce and the remaining pieces of bread, and serve immediately.

Makes 4 sandwiches

Panzanella

This could almost be called a baker’s salad – it takes your hard work baking a beautiful rustic loaf and showcases it, even when the bread might be past its prime. This recipe is made extra summery with the addition of ripe nectarines. To showcase the jumble of colours and textures in this salad, it’s best to use a big serving plate, rather than a deep bowl.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 slices day-old country loaf, 2cm thick
• olive oil, for drizzling
• 3 ripe heirloom tomatoes
• 3 ripe nectarines (optional; they need to be in peak season)
• pinch of pink salt
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil (the highest quality you can afford)
• 80ml (⅓ cup) white balsamic vinegar (alternatively, white wine vinegar)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 bunch of basil, leaves picked
• 47.5g can Ortiz anchovies

METHOD

1. Heat a chargrill pan or an oven grill to high. Drizzle the bread liberally with olive oil and then grill it, turning once, for up to 1 minute a side until the bread is crisp but not burnt, with visible grill marks. Once it’s cool enough to handle, break up each slice into bite-sized chunks over your serving plate.
2. Cut each tomato in half and place cut-side down on the chopping board, then cut the tomatoes into uneven segments (all the rough edges are going to accelerate the amalgamation of flavours). Scrape them, along with all their juices, onto the plate.
3. Halve the nectarines, remove the stones, then cut the fruit lengthways into wedges. Scrape them and their juices onto the serving plate, too, then sprinkle everything with the pink salt.
4. Combine the extra virgin olive oil, vinegar and honey in the bowl of a food processor, add most of the basil leaves (reserve some for garnish), and blitz to make a dressing. Avoid making this more than an hour before serving, or the dressing can discolour.
5. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and gently toss it all with care and love so you don’t squash your tomatoes and fruit. Finally, arrange the anchovies evenly over the salad, scatter with the remaining basil leaves and serve.

Serves 4 as a side

Pistachio, white chocolate and cherry cookies

We love the pistachios that we get from Eric Wright at Go Just Nuts, grown on a farm in sunny Mildura, hundreds of kilometres north of Melbourne. He brines his pistachios so they’re super crunchy. These cookies show them off fabulously.

INGREDIENTS

• 220g plain flour
• 80g rye flour
• 5g baking powder
• 8g bicarbonate of soda
• 8g fine salt
• 135g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 105g pistachio paste (see note)
• 265g soft brown sugar
• 65g caster sugar
• 65g eggs (about 1½)
• 40g egg yolks (from about 2½ eggs)
• 95g white chocolate, roughly chopped
• 95g dried cherries, roughly chopped
• 195g shelled unsalted pistachio nuts, roughly chopped

METHOD

1. Place the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl and combine with a whisk. Set aside.
2. Place the butter, pistachio paste, brown sugar and caster sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream the ingredients on medium speed for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Switch to low speed and add the whole eggs and yolks in two batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl and making sure the first batch is fully incorporated before adding the next. Mix until all the egg is incorporated.
4. Add the bowl of dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.
5. Add the white chocolate, cherries and 95g (3¼oz) of the pistachios and mix briefly until evenly distributed.
6. Use a spoon or quarter-cup to scoop out pieces of the cookie dough about 60g in weight. Roll each piece into a ball, then press to flatten into discs.
7. Place the discs on baking trays or in a proofing tray lined with baking paper and cover with a tea towel or a lid, then refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight to rest.
8. Half an hour before baking, preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced (200C conventional) and spread the remaining 100g of chopped pistachios onto a plate or baking tray.
9. Remove the cookies from the fridge 10 minutes before baking. Press one side of each cookie into the chopped pistachios, then place the cookies on a baking tray lined with baking paper (you may need a few trays) about 5cm (2 inches) apart, with the nuts facing up.
10. Bake for 7 minutes, at which point remove the trays from the oven and gently tap them on a bench before placing them back in the oven for a final 3 minutes or so until the cookies are browned around the edges. (The tapping will give you nice flat cookies with a chewy texture.)
11. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
12. Cookies will keep in a sealed container at room temperature for 3-4 days.

Makes 20

NOTE

Pistachio paste should be 100 per cent pure pistachio butter. Read the ingredients list carefully. It can be bought from health food shops or specialist baking shops.

This is an edited extract from Baker Bleu: Bake It Till You Make It by Mike Russell, photography by Parker Blain. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99. Buy now

Baker Bleu is part of the MF&W Baker’s Dozen market in Federation Square, March 23 and 24.

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