LIVINGLIVING
J
ane Mason's first book was
All You Knead Is Bread, with
her second being the Book of
Buns, a collection of unique
recipes from all over the world:
sweet and savoury, every day and special
buns. Mason explains why she focused
on buns, saying: "Buns have a special
place in our history as they were originally
made to allow poor people to buy their
own whole 'loaf' in miniature rather than
buy a small piece of a larger loaf, giving
dignity to everyone's bread purchase."
Mason has researched and travelled
widely with photographer Peter
Cassidy, and have created step by step
photography and simple instructions so
bakers of all levels can bake a new bun
every week for over a year if they so wish.
One of Mason's best friends became
Type 1 diabetic as an adult after a
virus attacked her pancreas, so she is
familiar with the dietary impact of bread
on someone with diabetes. Mason
encourages diabetics to eat bread in
moderation and to consume mainly rye
bread. She says, "Rye is a very slow
release carbohydrate, so it's better for
blood glucose control. In addition, I urge
all diabetics to bake their own or find a
source of extremely well made bread with
no sugar added and perferably made with
stone ground flour. This is because most
shop bought bread has sugar added. If
it freshly baked is sold from shelves or in
pretty baskets in the supermarket there's
not even a label for you to read."
Some of the recipes in All You Knead
Is Bread and some in the Book of Buns
contain sugar when they are 'sweet
breads', but Mason says, "You never
need to add sugar to daily bread. Sugar
is used to accelerate the yeast but is not
necessary. In fact, slow fermentation bread
(bread that is made over four hours or
more, and up to 36 hours for a really tangy
sourdough!) is better for digestive health all
round, whether or not you have diabetes."
Mason's company, Virtuous Bread,
incorporates Bread Angels, a network
DAILY BREAD
Explore an abundance of ideas in Jane Mason's Book of Buns
of micro bakers. Mason started teaching
bread courses and then a micro bakery
course. Any micro baker trained by
Mason can start teaching and list classes
on the Bread Angels website. One of
Mason's collaborators (or 'Bread Angel') is
Peter Voshal, is a scientist who specialises
in diabetes research.
You can buy the book here.