Fame and festivities

Now, I have never been one to shy away from the limelight, so this month has been a lot of fun for me. Aside from all the excitement of Christmas coming and getting to bake some of my favourite festive breads, I've been let out of my kitchen to spread the word about Hels' Bakehouse and my passion for bread making.  In the eyes of my 5 year old son this pretty much takes me to the same level as Paul Hollywood & Mary Berry, so I have been enjoying my 5 minutes of fame whilst they last.

First up, I had a brilliant time at the Edenmill Food Festival, where I gave a bread demo to visitors to this great local event.   The farm had been transformed into a pop up restaurant, festive market, Santas grotto and Christmas tree emporium and it was a pleasure to be a part of it all.  My aim was to show people how simple it is to make some great tasting bread for Christmas from a simple white dough, so there were lemon & black pepper rolls to go with some smoked salmon, and tasty cheese straws to soak up the festive spirit, as well as a plain loaf and Sourdough to compare & contrast.  I discovered it's quite tricky trying to make bread, maintain eye contact and talk at the same time, but luckily I had some little elves at hand to help me knead the dough and pass round the samples.  Here's a pic of me in action!

Next up was an interview with for BBC Radio Scotland's Out of Doors programme, where I had the opportunity to let out my evangelical side and spread the message about Real Bread to the masses - at least the ones who were up at 6.30am on a Saturday morning!  You can hear the inteview online through the following link for the next few days - so be quick if you want to enjoy my moment in the spotlight and cringe at my dodgy bread jokes.

Out of Doors programme

Finally, my little elves were back in force to help me with my last two events of the year, the Strathblane Primary School Christmas Fair and the Killearn Christmas market.  Both events were great opportunities to get the Christmas party started and chat to all the lovely people in the community that we are lucky to live with.  I came away with empty bread baskets, full Christmas order lists and a warm feeling in my heart. I'm unlikely to manage another blog post before the big Ho Ho Ho so I just wanted to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported the Bakehouse over the year.  I have made a lot of bread and a lot of friends and I've loved every minute.  There's more fun to come in the new year with plans to introduce courses for people who want to learn how to make their own bread at home and some tasty new loaves to bake, so bring on 2014.

Merry Christmas from Hels xx

Me and an elf

It's time to get Festive!

This blog post is a mission statement, advert and general catch all communication for anyone who is interested in what Hels' Bakehouse is up to for Christmas!

I'm not normally one for planning ahead, but it occurred to me that as a business owner I might be expected to be more organised this year. So here's the plan:

1st December - 2pm Bread making demo at Edenmill Food Festival. Come along and find out how to make great Real Bread and test some of our favourite loaves. Then pay a visit to Santa and buy some great local produce!

A selection of breads and Christmas gift jars of festive granhohohola will be on sale at:

7th December - Strathblane Primary School Christmas Fair (6.30-9.00pm)

14th December - Killearn Christmas Market (10am-3pm)

The last Bread Club day of the year will be on Friday 20th December but I'll also be doing some special extra baking days on the 22nd & 23rd December.  These are open to all and you will be able to pre-order the following delicious Christmas treats from me for collection only:

Apricot & Walnut Couronne - a very special Christmas showstopper, filled with marzipan, apricots and nuts and finished with a sticky icing.  £8.50

Pain de Glengoyne - Whisky soaked raisins in delicious malty rye bread. Bye bye Miss American Pie, those good old boys would like this one with some thick cut marmalade for a very merry breakfast. £4.00

Cranberry & Pecan bread - a Bakehouse thanksgiving special. Wholemeal bread packed with the most festive of fruit and nuts. £3.50

Sourdough - Hels' Bakehouse's signature bread. Tastes delicious, good for the digestion and will see you through the festivities as it keeps well for toasting. £3.75

Blue cheese, Honey & Walnut bread - This one is like a ready made Cheese board. Yum! £3.00

Sage & onion bread - Pop this one in the freezer and bring it out to make an amazing boxing day sandwich with your left overs. £2.50

Croissants - Rich, buttery, flaky, fresh croissants available in packs of 4. Enough said! £3.20

Festive granhohohola - a Christmassy take on our original granola, this one is festively spiced and packed with pecans, cranberries and crystalised ginger. Available in 250g packs at £3.00 or our special Christmas gift jar £10.00

Availability will be limited so you'll need to get your name in fast. We'll be taking orders at the Christmas fairs or you can email me at info@helsbakehouse.com. The deadline for getting your orders in will be Monday 16th December.

Collection will be at Hels' Bakehouse HQ, 13 Blane Crescent, Blanefield between 4-6pm on each special baking day with mince pies and mulled wine waiting for all. All of my lovely loyal Bread Club customers are invited to drop in too as a thank you for your excellent support and bread eating skills over what has been an amazing year.

After that the McGougan sleigh will be heading down to Wiltshire to see the relatives with baking for the Bread Club starting again on 10th January.

It's almost enough to start making me feel Christmassy. Where's the sherry?

An apple a day

Autumn days are here and it's my favourite time of year. Cooler days, clear night skies, beautiful colours and a whole load of apples to deal with.

We have two apple trees in our garden and every year I see it as a personal challenge to see how many of them I can use. This year's crop hasn't been amazing, but it hasn't stopped me filling the freezer with apple purée for the Hels' Bakehouse granola and for stirring into my morning porridge with some scavenged blackberries from the woods.

For puddings there have been apple pies and my favourite Chocolate Apple Betty recipe from Nigel Slater's Real Food book. This is also a great way to use up bread crumbs which make a delicious crunchy topping which is so much tastier then a crumble.

The Bread Club got a harvest time treat of Apple & Cider bread which smelt amazing as it baked and was the perfect accompaniment to some nice strong cheddar.

Most satisfyingly my store cupboard is also now full of beautifully coloured apple & chilli jelly and Beetroot, apple & ginger chutney made with beetroots gifted to me from our local allotments.

The annual apple challenge has become part of the ritual of the McGougan year. It captures the memories of the summer and makes me feel like a wholesome, thrifty housewife, whilst all else around me remains in chaos. But most importantly it heralds the start of warm tasty dinners and treats stored up for the winter months ahead and is a damn good excuse for a tasty calorie laden pudding that sort of counts as one of your five a day. Waste not, want not and with any luck with the amount of apples I've eaten over the last few weeks the doctor should be in for a quiet few months ahead.

Back to school - Welcome to Sourdough September

So my wee boy has started school at last and life seems to be returning to some kind of version of normality. Am I the only one that already needs another holiday though?

Now that everyone is back from their jols the Bread Club seems busier than ever and for the first time I have had to split up Sourdough week so that my starter, oven and sanity can cope with the demand. With Edenmill Farm getting busier, more granola orders & Killearn market also going well I'm beginning to have regular dreams about owning a proper commercial oven. Well, I would be dreaming of one if I actually had time for any sleep!

It's all good fun though and I'm still finding time to try new things (see croissant pic) and loving making so many new friends through the medium of bread.

Next up on the big list of things to do is to spread the love of Real Bread further and set up a couple of dates for a bread class as well as start giving some serious bread making thought to the 'C' word that rhymes with 'Bhristmas'.

But first, it's time to enjoy Sourdough September and with cooler weather, a happy starter and a quieter house I intend to do just that! If you've never tried making or eating Sourdough before its time to give it a go. All you need is a large tupperware, some flour and water and with a bit of commitment and nurture you can soon be making your own great real bread.

Here's how to do it:

Mix 125g flour (any kind will do but I like rye flour) with about 200ml of water, whisk for 10 minutes to get all the lovely wild yeast in from the air around you. When it is frothy and thickened to the consistency of thick paint, pour it into a sealable container with plenty of room for the starter to grow. Glass jars look prettier but have a tendency to explode, so I use a big tall Tupperware that fits in the fridge door. For the first week you will need to feed your starter every day by pouring half off and repeating the steps above. After that you can feed it once a week. After a few weeks of this it should start to smell sweetly sour - mine smells a bit like apples and vinegar. When it gets to this stage and bubbles up quickly every time you feed it you are ready to start baking.

But that is another story...

Hot bread in a hot kitchen

Now it's been a while since I have blogged and my excuses are long and varied, but it's mostly because life has been manic and so many blogging subjects had come and gone that I was beginning to lose heart. I've decided, however, to get back on the band wagon so here is a whistle stop tour of what's been going on in the Bakehouse.

1. I've upped my game with more people in the Bread Club and a couple of Farmers markets under my belt at Edenmill Farm & Killearn country market. It's been hard going in a small kitchen with one domestic oven, but I've managed it and I absolutely loved spending time meeting and chatting to customers. Now I just need to work out how to do it in a more time and cost effective manner!

2. I've experimented. There's been Orkney beer bread, Isle of Mull & apple bread, brioche, ciabatta, burger buns, bagels, cinnamon whirls and a new line of gluten free granola added to my repertoire to name but a few. It's great to be using local produce and responding to both the seasons and what my customers want and I wish I could find more time to try out more.

3. It got warm, then it got hot, then it got unbearable! I've swapped my baking hours around for the last few weeks to avoid the worst of the heat but last week's sourdough disaster lead me to start dreaming of a nice cool breeze and a bit of Scottish dampness like we're used to most summers. On the other hand I have a nice tan and now understand why hot countries favour the fast make & bake flat bread!

In summary, there's a lot to think about in the business, with a mountain of things to plan, review and do, but it's been going for over 6 months now and I think that's a great position to be in. First though I will be taking a bit more time off to wash the flour out of my hair and enjoy the sunshine whilst it lasts.

Going green

I have been on a health kick. It's not my usual style and I suspect it may not last long, but whilst I've been in the right frame of mind I've been going for it. My main driver for this has been the yoga teacher training course that I am now nearly half way through (how did that happen). In yogaland, if not in the real world, it's been spring time and I have decided that if I am ever going to embrace the yogi lifestyle it should probably be now.

Spring is all about cleansing: getting rid of the winter love handles, clearing out your house, planning for the future, and giving your body a stretch and some much needed respite from the every day excesses that usually get me from 9 to 5 and beyond. Feeling inspired, I set to work. The cupboards have been emptied and ebayed, I've done my home yoga practice and meditation like a good girl most days, and I've been trying to cut back on caffeine, alcohol and any processed food whilst getting lots of green onto my plate to alkalise my diet which is supposed to be the best way to energise your life.

The most extreme part of all this has been a 7 day juice detox, where I drank 5 freshly squeezed fruit and veg juices every day, and nothing else (apart from the odd home made lemon or fennel tea). Most of them were spiked with spirulina (a blue green algae superfood) or wheatgrass and were various shades of yummy greenness apart from the odd vibrant carroty orange or bloodred beetroot.

It was hard.

The first few days were full of aches and pains as my body went cold turkey on all its usual stimulants, and even though I wasn't hungry I spent a lot of time fantaising about eating Greggs pasties and Chinese all you can eat buffets, which is strange because I really don't like either much. However, I did it and at the end of the week I felt great; full of energy and just a little bit smug! Since then I've kept up the caffeine free life (apart from the odd square or two of dark chocolate) and I've been juicing each morning and keeping up the effort to make sure my plate has much more healthy green  stuff on it then anything else. The wine, however, is back although in a much more restrained style.

For all the difficult bits, I would do it again, and it certainly taught me some things about myself that I wasn't fully aprreciative of before:

1.  I have much stronger will power then I thought I did
2.  I love cooking and eating food with my family and friends much more than I thought I did.

The planning, preparation and consumption of good food is a sociable, relaxing and enjoyable part of my every day life and I really missed it.  Fortunately, springtime is also about having fun and being a social animal, so without further ado I am off to open a bottle and sit in the sunshine with an Italian inspired feast to celebrate the important things in life and the fact that my shorts from last year, now that I've finally got a chance to wear them again, are significantly less snug then I remember them. Cheers to that!

Celebrating Sourdough

One of the things that has surprised me most about starting Hels' Bakehouse has been the number of people who say "I'm not sure if I could get through a whole loaf." Perhaps I am just very greedy but my problem has always been more like, "I'm not sure if I can stop myself eating a whole loaf in one go!"

Anyway, last week there were a couple of unsold Sourdough's from Edenmill Farm Shop, so I decided that to tie in with Real Bread week (11th-17th May) that I would do a special blog post all about the mighty Sourdough loaf; how it is made, what makes it special and how you can make sure you use it all up.

Sourdoughs tend to be more expensive then your average loaf, which I think probably puts people off unless you have tried it before, but there are some very good reasons for this:

1. A good one will take around 24hrs to make from start to finish, whilst your average yeasted loaf takes just 3. This is because sourdoughs are made using a fermented starter, and therefore take much longer to rise and much more effort on the part of the baker to make something that looks like a loaf.

2. They tend to be larger and keep really well, so you don't need to worry about them going stale after a day or so. Make sure you store your bread in a cotton bag so it can breathe. It won't go mouldy and should be useable for up to a week.

3. They taste amazing! The texture of a good Sourdough should have a thick crust and a chewy flavoursome crumb. The flavour comes from using a starter of fermented flour and water which will have been lovingly fed and nurtured for many weeks, months and if not years. Google them and be amazed at how much you can sell some prized starer for!

4. They are good for you. Not only are the natural yeasts developed in the dough full of friendly bacteria, but the long fermentation process also makes the bread easier to digest. Sourdough is therefore a great choice for people who want to avoid that bloating feeling without giving up bread. People with mild wheat intolerances may also want to give Sourdough a go for these reasons as many have reported they find it much easier to tolerate. It's not gluten free though!

5. A little goes a long way - not only will this bread make the most delicious toast, it is the bread that keeps on giving! From dunking in soups to Italian salads or being the soup itself (I first ate Sourdough in San Francisco where they turn it into bread bowls for their famous clam chowder). This week I transformed my 4 & 5 day old Sourdough into the following delicious meals:

Bread & vegetable stew with white wine, chickpeas, fennel and home made basil pesto - an Ottolenghi recipe from The Guardian website:

Panzanella salad with oven toasted sourdough soaked in a tomato, red wine vinegar & garlic dressing with cucumber, capers, basil and black olives. This particular recipe comes from Rick Stein's Food Heroes book but there are loads out there:

I also attempted to capture the 12 step Sourdough making process on Twitter this week in my real time Life of a Bakehouse Sourdough photo diary. Check it out and find out what it takes to get from here...

to here...

to here!

If you fancy having a go at making Sourdough yourself then there is plenty of information out there about how to get started or you could sign up for a bread class with your local friendly Real Bread maker. Personally, I first went on a one day course with the wonderful Lesley Martin of Lesley's Kitchen and have never looked back (Tip: her cakes and welcome are as good as her bread!).

In conclusion, if you haven't tried it before give some Sourdough a chance this week and help to celebrate Real Bread by supporting local artisan bakers. Think of it as a bread investment and enjoy a great bread, made with love and packed as much with good feeling as it is flavour.

Breaducating Strathblanefield

So Real Bread week is but a stones throw away, but I decided to get the party started early in Strathblanefield with my first foray into Breaducation: teaching 25 Girl Guides how to make their own bread. We knew it would be messy, we knew it would be fun, but would any of them get the baking bug or would it all end in a sticky, yeasty mess? The answer of course is yes to both!

With only an hour and a half to get them baking I did a 'Blue Peter' and had prepared dough in different stages before hand so they could see each bit of the process before making their own in teams of three, which then got divided and bagged to take home, prove overnight in the fridge and bake the next day. They were then tasked with sending me a picture of their creations to be in with a chance of winning some Hels' Bakehouse goodies. Here's what they made:

First prize went to Iona Campbell for her amazing plaited loaf (second from top, puts mine to shame!), whilst Eilidh Jones picked up the runners up award for her well risen and nicely fired mini loaf  (top). Vivienne, was disqualified despite making multiple beautiful loaves (bottom picture), as she is one of the leaders!

I for one needed a large glass of wine and a long sleep to recover, and I did feel slightly guilty about the amount of dough stuck to clothes, hands, hair, tables and the floor, but it was great fun and brilliant to see all the Guides having fun and getting involved in their bread making efforts.

Hopefully it will not be the last time I venture into the world of bread making education, but for now I will enjoy the relative serenity & cleanliness of the Hels' Bakehouse kitchen at 5am with renewed appreciation!

Well done to everyone who took part and thank you for inviting me to share my enthusisam for Real Bread with you!

A little bit of cake bakery

It's national bread week this week and Real Bread month is coming up in May, which means all things bread related have been getting lots of media coverage. There have been recipes in the Daily Mail, some great articles on the rise of artisan bread and the return of British millers in the Independent, and a one hour special on Scottish bakers on BBC Scotland's The Kitchen Cafe. All great news for Real Bread lovers and bakers everywhere.

Meanwhile, never one to miss a good marketing opportunity, I have been busy making cake! I like cakes. I like making them and eating them, but I'm not great at decorating them. I don't have the steady hand and nerves of steel required for it but once people know you can bake they tend to ask you to make things for them. Simple cakes like banana bread are my forte but I like to give more ambitious things a go from time to time with often amusing results.

This week I was commissioned to make a cake to celebrate a 10 year anniversary at work. I warmed up by making a massive pile of delicious gooey River Cottage chocolate and beetroot brownies to sustain me, then got to work.

My cake of choice was Edd Kimber's Bakewell homage; a three tiered almond sponge, with raspberry frosting which I pimped up with some icing and shiny hand painted stars. Now mine didn't look quite as beautiful as Edd's version on the BBC Food site, more like a slightly messy version of the Disney cake in Sleeping Beauty that I used to fantasise about as a child, but I was quite proud of myself none the less.

The downside to all these baking commissions are that you don't get to taste the finished result, so I've no idea if it was edible but judging by the amount of drink flowing in the room I
have a feeling the party goers may not have been that discerning by the time they got to cutting it! It was great fun to make and if a good time is had by all then I think that is all that a cake really should be.

Springtime Community Fever

Hello blog, remember me? Time seems to be on fast forward at the moment and with the clocks going forward, the sun shining and the lambs in the fields it feels like the world is waking up again. Here on the west coast of Scotland we have quietly been enjoying a blue skied hiatus in the weather whilst the wind from the east blows unseasonable Siberian chill and random blizzards over the rest of the country. On some days I have even detected something I believe is known as 'warmth' in the suns rays and generally have been feeling cheerier as a result.

My 'power of two' plan, where I try to buy two things each week from local businesses and producers, also seems to be working and over the last few weeks I've enjoyed: bacon & black pudding from Edenmill Farm, honey & jam from Heather Hills Farm, hot chocolate from Cup in Glasgow, cheese from the Blanefield Deli, rapeseed oil from Stark, and a bag of delights including shortbread, yoghurt, vegetables, olives and fish from various local businesses at the Killearn monthly Country market.

The market runs on the first Saturday of every month and is a proper community venture, set up by locals to support local businesses and bring local produce to people in the village and surrounding areas. By the time I arrived after my post-baking nap at 12pm the hall was buzzing with people and the stall holders were smiling as most of their produce had already been snapped up. Better yet, for £2.50 you could sit down for a cup of tea and all you can eat home made cake with profits going back into the community to support the village tennis club. I came away feeling re-motivated about the idea of living locally and inspired by the people in the community who work so hard to make sure it happens.

Over Easter I had a little taste of that myself when I ran the first Hels' Bakehouse pop up shop in the Blanefield Village Club on Good Friday. The hot cross bun sale was a sell out and I was touched to see so many people taking an interest in what I was doing and coming along to buy some buns and find out more. People were full of ideas about how to build the business and really interested in the whole concept. It's always good to have some reassurance that you are onto a good thing and I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to do something similar. May is Real Bread month so I think some kind of event will be in order, but first I think I will just sit back and enjoy the fact that Spring is in the air and that local life is good!

Farm shops, food guilt and a good idea.

First for the exciting news on the bread front; I'm now supplying Edenmill farm with bread every weekend and they are stocking my granola too. Edenmill are the farm at the top of the hill, and their meat is sold at farmers markets across the west coast as well as through their shop. They're branching out their catering services at the moment and are also on a mission to support more local suppliers through their shop off the Stockiemuir road near Strathblane, which is great news for people like me.
If you know of a local food hero that deserves a wider audience, let Chris at Edenmill know, especially if it's some local butter to go with my bread!

Anyway, this weekend is week two of the Saturday early morning bake. I'm making small batches of a variety of loaves each week for people to try and it seems to be going well so far.

I've also been having a few guilty moments of late as the time and financial pressures of my new juggling lifestyle take hold and I've not had as much time or money to go on the hunt for quality local produce. I'm having nightmares about getting caught sneaking out of the supermarket with a bag of shopping from the evil empire but have decided that needs must and that I need to find a new way of supporting the independents without having to go out in disguise to buy some emergency bagels.

My idea is, therefore, to instigate a 'power of two' rule where each week I will make sure I buy at least two things from an independent business. It might be a cup of coffee, a pot of jam or some fresh fish, but I reckon that can't be too hard or expensive to try and if everyone was to do the same each week it would make a massive difference. I'll tweet what I buy each week, and who knows, maybe I'll start a trend?

This weeks buys will be some produce from Edenmill for a cooked breakfast with friends on Sunday, and some honey for next week's spelt bread from Heather Hills Farm in Perthshire who hand bottle all the honey their bees can make.

Feeling better already!

Baking fever

Right then, here's what's been happening since I last wrote: I've left my full time job, found a part time job, filled up the Bread Club with lovely customers, been on a yoga retreat and slept a sum total of about 4.5 hours (not really, but it feels like it). There is no going back now and in between the waves of terror and panic I am super excited.

Today is the first sourdough week and the logistics of making 10 long fermenting loaves in a domestic oven with a four year old building Lego at your feet have been challenging, but I've done it and seeing all the lovely fresh loaves lined up and cooling in my kitchen makes me smile from the inside out.

My lovely friend Rowena, who makes one off original bags in her spare time has also agreed to make me some bread bags for my customers. The first prototype arrived today and it's fantastic. Storing your bread in a cotton bag is the best way to keep it fresh as it allows the air to circulate and stops your loaf going mouldy. Even when the bread goes stale you can still use it for bread crumbs and of course it's also good for the environment.

Hels' Bakehouse: saving the world one loaf at a time!

Going public

Last weekend I took the plunge and decided to let the good people of Strathblanefield know about Hels' Bakehouse. A quick post on the community Facebook page and the word was out. I took a stroll up to our fabulous local deli, Pestle & Mortar, to reveal my secret identity 48 hours later and sure enough the jungle drums had already done the work for me!

Yesterday was therefore the first day of Hels' Bakehouse proper, with three local ladies taking the plunge and giving Real Bread a chance. On the menu was oat, apricot and walnut bread and it felt great to get baking and start delivering to people in the community.

Taking this community spirit further I've taken inspiration from the local area and been developing some Glengoyne whisky based Rye bread as a signature loaf. The first attempt, christened Pain de Glengoyne, made great tasting, good looking bread but didn't carry the flavour of the whisky particularly well, so taking advice from my product development team (my Dad) the second attempt featured raisins soaked in Glengoyne. The result was still subtle but delicious, and I drove up to the distillery to pick up more supplies and leave a loaf with the brand heritage team to sample.

I've also been selling granola to my growing band of addicts and sorting out all the boring bits of admin that I'd been putting off and it now seems I have a real business to develop all of my very own. Such a great feeling.

Finally, for the romantic amongst you, I leave you with a picture of the valentines biscuits baked by my husband and I as surprise treats for each other. Proof if ever it were needed that great minds (and gluttons) think alike.

Bath and bread

I've had a weekend off baking to visit family in the south, and whilst the boys watched the rugby, the girls escaped the tension of the auld rivalry to rediscover their shopping muscles with a day trip to Bath.

It's such a beautiful city, but on a crisp, sunny, winters day when the bus loads of tourists have died down it's even better. I love the grand Georgian mansions, the narrow winding lanes and the way that even the big chains feel a little special when they are crammed into wonky little shop fronts. It may have started with the Romans, but Bath continues to evolve and the bits that once were shabby have been transformed into smartly paved and chic shopping zones whilst elsewhere the high street is a lovely mix of big names, independent speciality shops, boutiques and foodie delights. With all of this crowded round the historic abbey and Roman baths, I would say that Bath is definitely ahead of the game when it comes to 'destination shopping' and the much needed revival of the British city centre.

The main reason we were there this time though was for the bread. I went to see Les Miserables this week, where destiny is made by a loaf of bread, and in Bath a certain Frenchman has been busy building his own bakery barricades at the heart of the bread revolution. Richard Bertinet's bakeries are now sprinkled over the city and we visited all three on our little pilgrimage.

The Bertinet Kitchen has a small shop front where you can pick up a loaf and your baking kit, whilst out the back the great man himself was busy teaching a class of lucky people the secrets of beautiful bread. At last I got to try one of their delicious almond croissants and picked up an olive bread and sourdough to sample later on. There's also a bakery in the lanes with a beautiful selection of loaves, cakes and pastries and a queue out the door, whilst down in the new station development people were crammed into the latest cafe to get their caffeine and gluten fix in one hit.

It looks like bread is big business, but I also wanted to hunt down the Thoughtful Bread company who have been busy holding their own against the French invasion from their base at the old Green Park station market. I'd never been to this part of town before, but loved the busy market filled with curiosities, vintage gear and local producers. There was cheese, chilli sauce, meat, macaroons and there amongst it all is the bread. By the time we arrived it was early afternoon and the good people of Bath had been busy buying loaves all morning, but there was still plenty of interesting bread to choose from. I was very tempted by the bright pink beetroot bread, but in the end opted for a white local cheese loaf and a sunflower rye. Both of which were delicious.


By this time we were exhausted and in need of revival and refreshment so met up with some friends for a bite to eat and a glass of something chilled. After rejecting (or being rejected) by our first choice by some particularly rude waiters, we hit the council owned Roman Bath House which was lovely and found that Thoughtful Bread was again on the menu. It's great to see the council continuing to build on the success of the spa, and doing something so well rather than just resting on their Roman laurels. I headed home with a bag full of bread and a happy heart, with renewed confidence both in my ability to start my own bread revolution on the other side of the wall and in the future of our nation of shopkeepers.

The news that England had also trounced Scotland in the calcutta cup was just the icing on my Bath bun.

Feeling seasonal

This weekend was the first week of yoga school with Seasonal Yoga Teacher Training in Glasgow. It was great, but tough and as with most things in my life I've probably not given enough thought before I get started on something about what I'm actually getting into. My justification for that is always that if I spent too long considering what I want to do I would never get round to actually doing it. It's a high risk approach maybe, but in the end I think life is too short to play the 'wait and see' game.

What did I learn at yoga school? That I have wonky shoulders, muscles in places I didn't know existed and a lot to learn. The whole philosophy of the course, however, ties in perfectly with the premise of this blog. It champions the need to get back to basics and reconnect with the natural flow of the seasons in body, mind and stomach.

At the end of the year I hope to have found the inspiration, motivation and head space I need to get my plans for a different life off the ground and the skills to be able to pass some of the benefits of that onto others. If I could also drop a few pounds, have perfect posture and be a little saner then that would also be a bonus!

Meanwhile the crazy juggling of life continues. This week the reality of trying to balance 'real' jobs with family life, baking and sun salutations hit home. The fact that both my husband and I were away from home for most of the week for work and that the weather was conspiring against us did not help matters.

As a result of all of this plus cleaning, bowling with the kids to remind them who we are, a live strictly come dancing show and an impending appraisal, I am now writing this at 6am whilst my second batch of sourdough's bake for this weeks bread club after four hours sleep. Given that in winter Seasonal Yoga teaches that we should be conserving our energy I know this is all going to come at a cost. I'm exhausted, but the weird thing is, I'm kind of enjoying it because I think although the track is going to be a long, tiring and bumpy journey it's also fun, exciting and heading in the right direction. I just might need to stop for a quick snooze at the next station.

Shaking the tree

It's been a strange week, but a good one for promoting what's great about living locally.

First up we had the horse burger scandal, where the supermarkets all got caught out for using suppliers that have been less than scrupulous about what they put into their products. Apart from producing some of the best tasteless jokes I've heard in ages, it was brilliant to see the reaction from all the farm shops and independent butchers on Twitter as they capitalised on the opportunity to promote the provenance of their superior delicious meats. Special mention has to go to Macbeths Butchers for their inspired press statement in The Coo's News.

Meanwhile, whilst the business news was all about the death of corporate giants on our beleaguered high streets, one British family were basking in the national coverage attracted by their attempts to spend a year only buying British products. The Bradshaw family's mission promotes all that is great about home grown local producers, service providers and manufacturers. You can follow their progress on @BritishFamily and through their website www.britishfamily.co.uk

Finally, we've had snow (well everywhere apart from here), and although the national reaction to the white stuff has been a little ridiculous, with reports of mass panic buying of sliced white from supermarket shelves, the independent Real Bread bakers were quick to start shouting about their ability to keep their local customers supplied whatever the weather.

Personally, I'm ready to join the revolution and have been working hard to get Hels' Bakehouse off the ground. I've come out of the baking closet and have set up a new Facebook page, I've been getting the web pages ready for www.helsbakehouse.com (nearly ready to go!) and best of all I've been baking!

This week saw the first test run of the Hels' Bakehouse Bread Club, with three willing volunteers ready to sample a loaf of Real Bread from my own micro bakery (previously known as my kitchen). There's a lot still do to perfect the routine, and I've already learnt some important lessons about planning ahead, volume and timing but that's what the test run is all about and it was a fantastic feeling to finally get things underway. As my new favourite artist Nell Bryden sings, it's time to Shake the Tree.

New beginnings

So it seems to be a new year and I'm feeling guilty about many things, including:

1. Not having blogged for ages
2. Not doing as much yoga as I would like/need to
3. Eating too much and working too little

However, 2013 is the year to change all that.

Since I last wrote life has been full on Christmas madness, but in between the mince pies, nativity plays, present frenzy and port drinking, I have been reading yoga books in preparation for the start of my teacher training course at the end of January and have also cleaned my kitchen so vigorously that it has been approved by the council for me to start my micro bakery when I am ready.

I now have a mountain of baking books, lots of new twitter bread buddies and an in depth knowledge of how to prevent cross contamination in a commercial kitchen. Most shockingly of all, instead of splashing out at the sales on shoes and sparkly things, I have spent all my Christmas money on loaf tins, cleaning products and stretchy yoga clothes.

In short, I have the theory and the gear sorted for getting both sides of my dream off the ground this year, now it's time to actually make it happen.

The tricky bit will be finding the time for it all whilst trying to keep everything else going as well. I'm fairly sure there will be some tears and trauma along the way, but I'm up for the challenge and hoping that by the end of 2013 I'll have a lot more to write about in my blog and a lot less to feel guilty about.

New Year's Resolutions sorted.

Oh, I'm going to walk up more mountains too.