If you want to do something differently than you’ve done it before, you’ve got to do it in a new way. I think the best way is to get together with a group of like-minded people and learn directly from someone who can show you just a few tweaks that make all the difference. You can’t do it from a book, the net or television because that doesn’t make you practice, you can’t ask questions and you don’t make mistakes.
I went to Somerset Cottage cook school near Tauranga a couple of years ago. These bread rolls were one of the items demonstrated there to us by chef, Rick Lowe. The recipe was almost trivial – flour, sugar, salt, yeast and warm water. I’ve made bread before, both by hand and in a bread maker. I’ve got recipes for every shape and flavour of bread you could imagine. I’ve watched Jamie Oliver make bread on DVD. Yet those of us who gathered to see these made and tasted the results, will all make bread differently as a result. It would have been even better if we’d been able to practice making them ourselves with Rick looking over our shoulders.
Don’t just think that you’re going to be better at vegetable gardening next year, do something to make sure you are.