Knead Peace: Bake for Ukraine

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Divide the dough into 600g pieces; the batch should be just enough for four loaves. Shape the dough into a round, place on a tray and cover for 40 minutes. In every city that our army reoccupies, they find mass graves where people have been buried without any identification. These are the important things to talk about. Bread is just bread.” Soak the flaxseed 12-24 hours before mixing the dough. To do this, mix the flaxseed with the room-temperature water in a container. Cover it with a lid and leave it on the counter.

It is a bread from our USSR [Soviet Union] past,” explains Makievska, “which is still baked in bigger bakeries and factories. It is a white yeasted bread, a little bit sweet and made with butter and milk. It’s the bread that most people eat”. Staff at Bakehouse bakery in Kyiv have kept the ovens going throughout the invasion (Photo: Supplied) The book was inspired by Anna Makievska and The Bakehouse Kyiv, where baking has continued throughout the conflict. "Baking connects good people and lets them understand each other, no matter what language they speak," said Makievska. Baking connects good people and lets them understand each other no matter what language they speak.' - ANNA MAKIEVSKA After Russian troops withdrew from Kyiv in the spring and life in the city began to regain a semblance of normality, Bakehouse gradually returned to serving customers with artisan bread, cakes and patisserie. If there’s anything left over at the end of a day, staff will find someone who needs it.Mix for 10 minutes, then start adding the butter in small pieces little by little, increasing the speed as you go until the mixture detaches from the sides.

One hour before you bake your bread, preheat your oven to 250C with a Dutch oven or casserole dish inside. Whilst buns are proving, make the cross mix by combining with a whisk 100g of bread flour with 75g water, adding the water little by little. When the leaven is bubbly, smells like yoghurt and has grown in volume two-and-half to three times, it’s good to go in the dough.Baton is faster to produce than the artisan loaves Bakehouse usually sells. They have sometimes baked as many as 1,000 in a day, but more usually it will be 600-700, or only 200-300, depending on the need and logistics, as they liaise with other volunteer networks for distribution. After mixing, the dough’s temperature should be about 23-25 °C. Let it rest at room temperature for 2.5-4 hours, depending on your climate, and the initial temperature of the dough. Stretch and fold about every 45 minutes. Divide and round the dough into four 600g pieces. Place on a tray and cover for 40 minutes. Baking connects good people and lets them understand each other no matter what language they speak.’– ANNA MAKIEVSKA The film reveals the extraordinary story of Fanny, a composer long sidelined to her famous brother Felix by the guardians of classical music, who despite being forbidden a musical career persevered, composing 450 works in her short life. Fanny’s lost masterpiece, ‘The Easter Sonata’, is brought to life by virtuoso pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. As she explores the music, the parallels between her life and Fanny’s – including the challenge of being a pioneer with few role models in classical music — become clear. It’s bittersweet, but Makievska is not asking for anyone’s sympathy. In fact, she is reluctant to talk about personal hardships given that so many of her colleagues are currently serving in the Ukrainian armed forces. “Yes, it’s hard to be without my husband, but my children are safe,” she says. “More than 30 Bakehouse and Wine Bureau’s employees are serving in the army.

Soak the flaxseeds for 12 to 24 hours before mixing the dough. Mix 260g flaxseed and 260g of room temperature water in a container. Cover it with a lid and put it to one side.Add the salt and the soaked flaxseeds and mix thoroughly using your hands or on speed one in the mixer. The dough will be quite wet and soft and will need to be mixed for a while to pass the windowpane test. (Take a small ball of dough and stretch it so that the dough is thin enough for light to pass through. If it can’t be stretched thin enough without tearing then it is not yet ready and should be kneaded further.) Knead Peace, founded by Andrew Green, was born from the idea that baking is a community that has the power to make a difference. Make a liquid levain approximately 7-8 hours before mixing the dough: mix together 155g bread flour, 155g water, and 35g liquid ripe sourdough starter and leave for 7-8 hours. Baking connects good people and lets them understand each other no matter what language they speak." - ANNA MAKIEVSKA From day three of the war, my team has baked bread and given it for free to our soldiers, hospitals, people in cities and villages hurt by the Russians, and the elderly of Kyiv. Our bakers make 450 to 1,000 charity loaves every day. And we will continue to bake them as long as our country needs them.

Next, add all the dry ingredients to the mixer and mix for 5 minutes at a slow speed, then add the cooled tangzhong, milk, eggs and yeast. Feeling otherwise powerless, I want to purposefully set aside this time to actively contemplate the war. I consider things that people here in the UK can do – such as buy Knead Peace, make donations, host Ukrainians, or set up your own fundraising project, like Andrew Green. Most recipes are presented across a double spread, accompanied by beautiful full colour photography. The text of each recipe is well laid out, the ingredients are listed in metric weights/volumes, and the instructions are clear with the steps numbered. Occasionally commentary and tips are also provided. Generally I think most of the recipes are best suited to a baker already in possession of basic skills, but there is a good variety of bakes to suit all tastes. What is Makievska most likely to bake at home these days? “It’s a funny and a sad question,” she says. “Because being a working mum with two kids is very challenging and I think the only thing I’ve baked through all this time is stuffed poppy seed buns. There is a special day called Makoviya which was my father’s favourite holiday. Usually Ukrainians bake something with poppy seeds for this holiday – “mak” means “poppyseed”. Shape the dough into either a boule (round) or batard (oval) shape. Place, seam-side-up, into well-floured proofing baskets.

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Cover and leave from 40 minutes to 1.5 hours to rest. Then add the salt and the soaked flaxseed and mix thoroughly by hand or on the lowest speed in the mixer. Sometimes I’ll get a message from someone saying thank you for the cherry pie,” Makievska says. “It makes me happy they can do this.” It isn’t easy to do her job from another country, Makievska says, and she imagines she is inefficient. When she reached Portugal, she was moving from place to place every few weeks because it was hard to find a long-term let, and she says, many landlords were not keen to rent to Ukrainians. With her daughters, she was able to find an apartment to rent two months ago. Her brother helps her with paying the rent. Take a celebrated musical genius, sibling rivalry, an unknown manuscript, some very persistent research and one sensational revelation, and what have you got? FANNY: THE OTHER MENDELSSOHN – the documentary from BAFTA-winning director Sheila Hayman that features global Decca star, Isata Kanneh-Mason.