New Zealand’s gluten-free bread, reviewed and ranked

Summer reissue: A definitive answer to a burning question: what is the best gluten-free bread of them all? First published October 21 2020 Outside of coeliac circles, not many people know that gluten-free bread is actually better than regular bread. It’s true.* After years of fastidious experimentation and perfecting, gluten-free bakers have now produced a … Read more

New Zealand’s gluten-free bread, reviewed and ranked

A definitive answer to a burning question: what is the best gluten-free bread of them all? Outside of coeliac circles, not many people know that gluten-free bread is actually better than regular bread. It’s true.* After years of fastidious experimentation and perfecting, gluten-free bakers have now produced a product vastly superior to its wheat-filled counterpart. … Read more

Waste not, want not: The collective turning surplus food into bread and beer

Everyday huge volumes of unsold supermarket food go to waste. That’s why a baker, a brewer, a chef and an innovator are collaborating to rescue as much as possible and turn it into something new and tasty. Beer is a simple product – there isn’t a whole lot you can do to improve its core … Read more

Recipe: A simple loaf to begin your bread-making journey

A honey-scented, seed-studded loaf that’s super adaptable. And no kneading required! It was about six weeks ago that the supermarket shelves were first stripped bare of hand sanitiser and toilet paper. A week or so after that whole aisles of bread racks stood empty as the panic-buying took hold. And now here we are confined … Read more

Make a fresh start(er) in 2020 – then whip up some sourdough bagels

Been wanting to join the sourdough club for ages but haven’t managed to find some decades-old starter with a suitably charming backstory? Fuggeddaboutit and make your own bubbly batch, after which you can give these bagels a whirl. Forget chasing that friend who keeps saying “yeah definitely!” (me), forget staring longingly at Instagram posts of … Read more

A groundbreaking solution to the bread shortage: make your own!

multiple loaves of bread against a pink background

In a sure sign of impending doom, we’re in the grips of a bread shortage. Here’s why you should learn how to make your own.  In case you haven’t heard, we’re in crisis mode up here in the upper North Island. Supermarkets are running out of bread. Bread! The staff of life! What did we … Read more

The Bulletin: Complexities of converting farms back to forests

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Farming groups concerned about growth of forestry, dramatic new documents revealed in Hit and Run inquiry, and govt agency loses town records. Land conversions towards farming have pretty much always brought with them economic growth at the expense of environmental health. But increasingly, farmers and those who … Read more

Recipe: Sourdough crackers

Get your hands on some sourdough starter and get crack(er)ing on this recipe. There is something magic about a sourdough starter – the life it contains, the life it gives and the potential held within it. I have been making sourdough bread for myself and my family for almost two years now and we are … Read more

The Spinoff Reviews New Zealand #53: Daily Bread, Pt Chevalier

We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, does the celebrated new bakery from the Orphan’s Kitchen team live up to the Instagram hype? The good burghers of Point Chevalier have been spoiled over the last couple of years. Excellent cafes like Twisted Tomato, the Beach Cafe … Read more