An East Anglia Cake-ation...celebrating wimbledon

I am just back from spending a lovely week at the seaside...and despite the weather...it was just that...lovely.  We stayed in Cromer on the North Norfolk Coast, and pretty much spent our days avoiding the rain, pottering about, going on longer hikes (when the skies looked promising), sitting on the beach, and searching out cake.  It was perfect...

Some friends came to say with us for a couple of nights, and seeing as they had a car (we are slaves to public transport) we ventured further afield...to Holkham Hall.  The house was great and the weather held up for most of our trip but the main attraction for me (of course) was the cafe.  

I snapped a few pictures when we first arrived (before going through the house) and hatched a plan with our friends to come back after wandering around the house to collect some goods to take home with us for lunch.   

We took our time and wandered around the house...unfortunately time got away from us...you see there was the little matter of the Men's Final at Wimbledon that day...and there just wasn't quite enough time to potter around the grounds before making our drive back to Cromer.  We did, however, have time for the gift shop (of course) and a quick dash into the cafe to collect some scones, and a Bray's Cottage Pork Pie to take away.  

The scones were a good size and tasted great but the fabulous extra touch was the availability of clotted cream in individual containers to take away.  I am a total greedy guts when it comes to clotted cream and had some trouble rationing the amount I had...luckily David had some leftover...but other than that I can easily declare these the perfect treat for a damp Wimbledon final in front of the tv. 

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Real Bread @Breadshare Community Bakery Part 2

Along with the little bready treats I picked up at Whitmuir on Saturday I also bought a gigantic loaf of Border Country Loaf.  

This loaf is made with a french wheat leaven and has a lovely soured aroma and taste with a really soft chewy texture.  The loaf I bought was a day old and still super soft.  I purposely bought it day old because I had planned on making a panzanella for my supper...something to make the bread the centre piece of my meal.  

Traditionally panzanella uses stale bread but I never seem to have any of that in my house so I just use fresh bread.  This loaf was perfect.  I had planned on making enough for one dinner with some leftover as a snack...but, well...I ended up eating it all.  

In a large salad bowl I put half a thinly sliced red onion with 1Tbsp of red wine vinegar and 1 small clove of minced garlic.  I let the vinegar soften the onions for a few mins while I seeded and chopped 2 largish tomatoes and then added those into the onions with some salt, sugar and then about 1/4 of the loaf of bread cut into cubes and a good glug of walnut oil.  I mixed it all up and let it sit while I fried 4 rashers of streaky bacon and then added the bacon and the oil into the bread mixture.  

And then sat down to enjoy!

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Real Bread @Breadshare Community Bakery Part 1

On Saturday, fellow cake lady and real bread enthusiast Fiona and I embarked on a short road trip down to the Scottish Borders to a town called Lamancha.  Just past the hub of this tiny town is an organic farm called Whitmuir and nestled into one of the outbuildings on the farm is the Breadshare Community Bakery.  

The bread made by the team at Breadshare is sold through the farm shop at Whitmuir but we were lucky to have been offered the chance to have a look around the bakery itself.  Geoff and Debra, who have recently been appointed to manage the bakery, took Fiona and me through their real bread methods and ethos.  

The bread is made with the minimum of ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast or leaven and is left to prove for a minimum of 4 hours. Debra and Geoff are clearly enthusiastic about their project, and it is infectious.  Debra showed us some small containers of leaven she was testing for a workshop with the local scout group.  By sharing methods and knowledge with local children, and adults alike, they hope to encourage more people to enjoy making bread.   

I could go on and on about our visit but I think that the big message I took away from it was that baking bread...on this level...is really amazing.  Debra did mention that when they first started everything was very exact, but now they feel more free in their baking, it's more of a fluid process. I can barely imagine baking with 1kg of flour, let alone 20kg.  It is seriously technical and scientific, it is a challenge, and it is something that the Breadshare Community Bakery has embraced.  

To bring home with me I bought a Cardamom Almond Roll...totally delicious enriched dough with cardamom slathered with frangipane, rolled up covered in flaked almonds and an egg wash and baked. Normally I am a sucker for an almond croissant but there was something much more satisfying about this roll, perhaps it was the cardamom.  

I also picked up this Cheese Scroll.  It is mixture of rye and wheat dough mixed with cheese and then rolled.  I've only nibbled at the edges so far...

Geoff and Debra were kind enough to offer us some samples not only of something new they are developing (croutons and crisp breads using left over breads) but they also sent us on our merry way with a little pot each of the Breadshare rye leaven to get experimenting with.  

Breadshare is not for profit, which means that they can really focus on slow fermentation, the process and the ingredients that go into making their breads. You can buy Breadshare Community Bakery breads through Whitmuir Farm in Lamancha or in Edinburgh at St. Mary's Market on Saturdays and also at Margiotta on Dundas Street.  The bakery also featured in an episode of Landward earlier in April.   

Thank you again to Geoff and Debra for letting us have a nosey around the bakery.  It was a really lovely introduction to community baking I only wish I was able to get down more to volunteer.  I should note that the bakery isn't normally open to the public.  

Piggies on the farm! I couldn't resist...

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5 a day

Living the life of an urban housewife in a town that is too large to really be a town and too small to actually be a city is sometimes difficult. The conscious (and slightly economical) decision to not own a car has made it even more difficult to be satisfied with my weekly shop! Chelmsford has few options open to the environmentally and economically aware housewife. As a town it has outgrown it's country-side feel. The town centre heaves with high street shops, brand names coffee shops, restaurant chains and fast food stops, the small covered market is a mixture of food and goods and sadly leaves much to be desired.

I do not mean to look down my nose at what is available in my new town I have chosen to purchase my meat at the butcher in the market because I do believe in supporting my local producers/purveyors, but I find myself regularly disappointed in their run-of-the-mill selection. The same goes for the fishmonger, who rarely stocks raw prawns!

There is something coined a Gourmet Market which takes place on Fridays and Saturdays in the town centre. Unlike a proper farmers market with it's rustic veggies and stalls of homemade preserves and baked goods, this gourmet market is more an extension of a food hall. Sausages, burgers and Indian take away is available with a large whole-sale fruit and veggie man taking over nearly half the space.

For two reasons: a) interest in supporting local farmers, and b) no transport, David and I have decided to have an organic vegetable box delivered once a fortnight. Joining this scheme has changed my life! Every other Thursday afternoon we are brought a box of 10 vegetables from Sacrewell Farm (part of the Riverford Organics group of farms). The box means that we are now cooking with seasonal vegetables (although I haven't completely stopped picking up the odd addition like spring onions or avocados) and more importantly I am planning my meals ahead of time, saving me more money at the grocer. Were we not on such a tight budget we would more than likely have a box delivered every week.

I urge you to investigate schemes in your local area. The cost may be a bit more than you would spend at a big grocery chain, but it the quality and the variety is worth it!

the clinking of glass bottles in the morning...

When I lived in London my friends and I would spend Saturday mornings (not too early!) perusing the local organic farmers market. What a lovely luxury in the middle of East London! We were also fortunate enough to live on a bus line that stopped practically at the end of the street and went all the way to the stunning, bustling and tres chic Borough Market. I was spoiled for choice and my head was constantly bursting with ideas for seasonal dishes and experiments. Relocating to a large county town has somewhat taken away that choice for me. My new home town has a decent covered market where we can pass an eye over the goods at the butcher, fish monger and the corner vegetable stalls. They pale in comparison to the availability of quality farmers markets and covered markets in the big bad city where I was spoiled for choice.



I have had to get over my big city snobbery and embrace everything that my new home has to offer. I have always tried to support my local producers, when I lived with my parents in Canada the superior quality of meat from the market and provincially grown fruits and vegetables was made evident to my impressionable mind. I remember with fondness early morning trips to the market with my father to choose the roast for Sunday's lunch, stopping at Paddington's cafe for a backbacon in a bun morning treat and the quick trek through the cheeses and vegetables to collect the few things my mother would request. My father's get-in, get-out attitude hasn't rubbed off on me, thank god...I can spend hours exploring the markets and food shops, just taking it all in.



Support for local farmers and producers is very important now, as ever. Thankfully David has grown out of his student-living lifestyle and has become locally-conscious. After some research and looking at our budget we have decided that there was at least one area in which we could, without overspending, give support. And so Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning I awaken to the feint clink of glass bottles outside our door when the milkman delivers our pints. It is somewhat soothing and at the same time exciting to hear him as he opens the gate. Milk in bottles is something that only few of my generation know of, and for those of us who grew up in North America it is the thing of story books and old movies. Not only does having milk delivered make me feel socially conscious in terms of supporting my local dairy, but it also lessens our household waste as we return our bottles, and brings a bit of nostalgia to my tea every morning. Budget-wise, the cost isn't much more than we would be spending each week on milk from the supermarket and I rarely find myself pouring sour milk down the drain.



If you haven't considered this service I urge you to look into it, perhaps for a family or four it seems unfeasible, but these days the milk man delivers more than just milk...it might be worth it! siigh

check it out:
http://www.milkandmore.co.uk/