Give us this day our daily bread - sailing style...

1:44 AM Sat 4 Jul 2009 GMT

'Kids at the Longhouse Rumah Lidam in Sarawak, Indonesia - enjoying their pizza' Ley and Neil Langford

Ley and Neil Langford, long time cruisers on their yacht Crystal Blues, are embarked on serious maintenance on their boat in Thailand. This gives them time to think about the bread-making that has stayed a prominent part of their daily life as a cruising couple, and to offer YOU some good recipes:

The quote in the title of this story, from Matthew 6, provides food for the soul, however real bread is more than soul food - in all its varieties it has provided sustenance and joy for generations. As you can see at left, the kids at the Longhouse Rumah Lidam in Sarawak sure enjoy it.

SV Crystal Blues, sailing in fine style - Ley and Neil Langford

Shortly after we bought Crystal Blues, Ley (having read mountains of cruising books) decided that bread making was a must-have boat skill. Back home in Williamstown she had access to a great range of the Simply No Kneadbread making products - so, armed with bread flour, black bread tins, yeast, bread improver and the bread making bible, she started baking.

Ten years later that skill is providing great bread for our table, and is also a valuable social tool, allowing us to share a craft that is creative, beautiful and downright tasty with friends and acquaintances.

Wherever we travel, people want to know how to make real bread - not the sugary fluffy preserved stuff served up by many modern bakeries. So bread-baking lessons have become a regular occurrence aboard Crystal Blues, and more recently ashore here in Thailand.

Bread by Charlotte Harris Neeve, guest on Crystal Blues. - Ley and Neil Langford

At left is 18 year old Charlotte Harris Neeve, obviously pleased with her new skill, baking on board last year.

This past year, Ley has taught our Thai neighbour Kaew to bake, along with Filipino friend Maryanne , who is housekeeper to our friends the Stonhams (SV Tui Tai) in Singapore.

More recently it was Maryon from SV Nimbus II who tackled the task and ended up looking very happy !

Recipe 1:
For the real bread recipe that everyone seems to love, click here.
Crystal Blues Bread

Recipe 2:
Haven't got an oven ? Too hot on board for baking ? Then try this recipe for English Muffins (or bread rolls) cooked easily in a pan on the stove top - just click here: Crystal Blues English Muffins

Filipino friend Maryanne with fresh baked bread - Ley and Neil Langford

Recipe 3:

If you really love your pizza (like we do) you can have fun with our favourite piza recipe - we've even cooked these on the BBQ - just click here:
Crystal Blues Pizza

Happy Baking!