Firehouse

The Menu has been getting great pleasure this week from a baker’s cookbook, even successfully attempting a heretical substitution of buttermilk with red wine vinegar in his soda bread — and the roof didn’t fall in! — so will be taking to the high seas once more in search of sustenance.

Well, to be precise, the short ferry-trip to lovely Heir Island, in West Cork for what promises to be an extraordinarily rewarding one-day bread-making course at The Firehouse Bakery with chef/baker, Patrick Ryan, co-author of Bread Revolution and star of BBC2’s Big Bread Experiment.

Ryan welcomes all baking colours and creeds: from those still wedded to the cursed sliced pan to the more experienced, those who know their brioche from their baguette and even their bocadillo. Expect to be all ‘floured-up’ shortly after arrival as he runs through soda, yeast and sourdough breads and a host of artisan breadmaking tricks and tips utilising his specially built wood-fired oven. With return ferry, lunch with wine and an artisan baker’s goodie bag all for €110pp, it seems ridiculously cheap! www.firehouse.ie