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!