Christine, one of our community contributors to our Blake & Bull guide to baking in an Aga range cooker, has a granite worktop. She uses this to knead on, with a little olive oil when making her daily bread. However she got to thinking on how to get a cold surface, when you only have wood or similar worktops.
In an inspired moment she thought of a piece of equipment that is affordable, and most probably already amongst most Aga range cooker owners' arsenal of cooking tools. The Cold Shelf!
"Use the cold shelflaid on a tea towel to stop it slipping, short edge nearest to you to knead on. I’ve tried it for kneading a loaf - perfect size and works really well"
More from Christine in her Daily Bread recipe with tips!, where you will find advice like this -
Kneading - "Using a little olive oil on the work surface helps with kneading rather than using flour. If the dough is sticky, the tendency is to keep adding more flour rather than ‘working through’ the sticky stage. I have a granite worktop that requires neither flour or oil, but my old work surface was a formica style top and sticking was an issue."
I wonder if you could chill your cold shelfdown in the fridge, and use it this way for pastry? hmmm, maybe we should try that out!
<< navigate to, What is a cold shelf?
Katy
