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.