Monday 16 December 2013

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