The Prime of Mrs Helen McGougan

Well, girls (and boys), this month the student has become the master and I have been let loose on the general public to share my love of all things breadlike & yogic. 

On 17th February I held the first Hels' Bakehouse bread course and taught 4 willing victims how to make their own Real Bread in the very chilly but lovely and brilliantly equipped kitchen at Killearn Village Hall.  I'm so used to baking from my sweltering home kitchen that it never occurred to me that a proper commercial kitchen might actually be cold! The next course will be at the end of March and focuses on Sourdough, a logistical exercise that will test my lesson planning skills to the max but it's going to be fun.

I was also invited to share my knowledge of running a micro bakery as a co-host on this months BreadChat on Twitter which was an hour of riotous fun with bread lovers across the world. Then, last but most definitely not least, I started my first official yoga classes as a qualified teacher with a new joint weekly class in the village as The Strathblane Yoga Club, an afternoon seasonal flow class at YogaJo's in Milngavie, and weekend workshops scheduled at Halo Pathways in Kirkintilloch.

This all fills me with a great deal of pride and an equal amount of fear as I try to fight down my very British sense of self-doubt at the absurdity of teaching others when I still have so much to learn myself.  Instead I am choosing to focus on the fact that actually I do know quite a lot, and that it is my passion for what I do and my love of sharing that with others which is most important and will hopefully shine through.

I remember I once had a conversation with a friend where they laughed at the idea of me ever becoming a teacher of anything. Not because I don't know my onions, but because in the past (and often in the present) I have not been known for displaying a massive amount of patience with others. Still, I have surprised myself over the last year with how much we can change if we really want to, and I'm hoping these new ventures will prove that point. After all I am, of course, a woman in my prime. 

Hels' Bakehouse Annual Review

So this week see's the first birthday of Hels' Bakehouse, and what a year it has been. I've baked over 1200 loaves and made an awful of a lot of granola in my little home oven. I've also made some great friends along the way. The high points include the Hot cross bun pop up shop, baking with the Strathblane Guides, the bread demonstration at Edenmill Food Festival, monthly fun at Killearn country market and spreading the Real Bread message of 'true loaf'' throughout the local community.  There have been lows too; realising I hadn't got enough ingredients at four in the morning (several times), nearly burning the house down when I fell asleep in a bread coma, attempting to bake sourdough in a heatwave...

It's all been great though. I've learnt a lot and I've loved every minute.

So what now?

Well, I'm taking a break from farmers markets for a little while and concentrating on getting more beauty sleep, indulging in my other passion for yoga through my alter ego of MLH Yoga, and passing on my love of baking to others with 'Bread courses from Hels'. The first 'Introduction to Bread Making' course runs on Monday 17th February at Killearn Village Hall, with a Sourdough course scheduled for the 31st March and Italian breads on the 28th April.  The Bread Club continues to be very popular, and I'll be working on some new recipes to keep my bread clubbers hungry for their weekly loaf, whilst bringing back some old favourites from the past year.  As part of my birthday celebrations I asked the bread club members to let me know what these were and promised to make some of them again over the next month. Here's the list so far:

Potato & Rosemary

Apple & cider

Fig & fennel

Chollah

Beer bread

Orange & mint

Sage & Onion

Malted brown

Rye & Raisin

Spelt & honey

Cheese & apple

Poppy seed

Looks like I am going to be busy, and I wouldn't have it any other way! Thanks to everyone for your support over the last year, it has been a pleasure baking for you.

Hels xx