Tuesday 23 September 2014

Sourdough

OK, so this beautiful September Autumn warm weather is a blessing and I am NOT complaining but it's playing havoc with my sourdough!
Working in a shipping container is great fun and I love my girl shed, but, it is also rather susceptible (despite insulation - obviously not very good) to changes in outside temperature. It's keeping me on my toes though and am having to think outside the box (pun intended!) and work my sourdough to a different ratio and schedule to account for warm days and cold nights. Having said all that, the other day out of the oven came what for me is the perfect sourdough. Crunchy, caramel even crust and a moist, chewy, soft crumb, heaven! A loaf did find its way into the kitchen instead of out on delivery and and I am quite sure my bathroom scales are lying? (Possibly not). Butter, what butter??
Will I manage to recreate that splendid loaf I do not know, but that's the fun of the fledgling baker, experiment, trial, error, success, disaster, hope, pride, devastation, joy, learning a never ending circle of life in yeast.

Thursday 28 August 2014

Markets

First market after the summer holidays will be:
Aldworth Community Market, Berkshire.
September Saturday 13th from 09.30 to 12.00hrs
Come along support your local community and buy fresh veg, cakes, free trade goods and of course freshly baked bread.
OK, August 2014 ......so a LOT has happened since I set up this page in 2011 and then forgot I had done it! So a very quick update and a promise to try and do more!

Birch Cottage Bread through www.breadangels.com is now a thriving business and keeps me flat out baking bread and teaching bread baking classes. I am completely and utterly addicted to sourdough And yes there will be future posts on this too.

Birch Cottage Bread was featured on BBC TV at the beginning of this year as part of the James Martin At Home programme. A very exciting happening and a lesson that I never want to be in television it's dam hard work! A whole days filming for a finished film that lasted less than five minutes! I now have new respect for all things documentary!

West Berkshire Agricultural and District Show at Newbury Show ground 20th and 21st September 2014 will see me in the Demonstration Kitchen once again on Saturday morning at 10.30am so if you need a seat and want to hear some facts about Sourdough then come along and join in its "Have A Go With Sourdough" time.

Hope to see you there!