17 January 2024
This is the weekly-ish newsletter from Loaf in Stirchley, keeping you abreast of our bakery and cookery school, and other news we think you might be interested in.
This week we welcome two new members to our little coop, say goodbye to those they're replacing and thank our friends at the other worker coops in Stirchley for getting us through Christmas.
Scroll down for this week’s lunch menu and cookery school classes.
🍞 Pre-order your bread and pastries 🥐
We’ll have plenty on the shelves all week, with lunches served from noon on weekdays.
Our opening hours are:
Wed - Fri: 12-6
Saturday: 8-1
We're back!
Thank you for your patience over our extended winter shutdown. We had a good fortnight of R&R followed by an intense week of setting up 2024. There'll be a few changes at Loaf over the next few months as we get the business and ourselves ready for our big move to the new building in the autumn. Some of them you'll notice, some will be behind the scenes, and we hope to share the thinking behind our decisions with you soon.
Knife Skills class has spaces
There's seemingly no rhyme or reason to how well our classes sell. Most months a class will be sold out and then suddenly one date will sit there like the kid picked last for football.
This month the lonely child in need of love is Knife Skills and Maintenance. Usually a very popular class, we have five spaces available next week, Tuesday 23 January.
As the title implies, this class is focused on knives – how to look after them and the different ways they are employed in the kitchen. Whether you're overly cautious of sharp blades or want to slice perfectly sized carrot chunks like they do in the cookery shows, our tutor Lap will give you the confidence and skills you need.
And as with all our evening classes, as you learn you'll be preparing a meal together which you'll share at the end of the session.
A good sharp knife used well is at the heart of the kitchen, which is why we offer this class. Book your place here.
Hellos and goodbyes
2024 sees us welcoming two new members to Loaf. Michael and Mina will be working in the bakery and join us, in a roundabout way, from Alicia's and Ten Four. We are always keen to hire people not just for their skills and experience but for what they can bring to the ongoing development of our coop, and we're delighted to have their fresh minds on board. Look out for awkward photos of them shaping dough soon.
While we originally advertised for one baker, we hired two partly because they were both great, but also because this will free up Neil and Rach to teach more Saturday baking classes, and to explore new ways of sharing their knowledge with the community.
New hires are often necessary because someone has left, and sadly last month we said goodbye to Ian who had his last shift in the bakery just before Christmas. Ian brought a lot to Loaf and we truly valued his energy and enthusiasm. But Loaf turned out to be a mere chapter in the Book Of Ian and he's off on new adventures. We look forward to hearing about them.
We also have something of a pseudo-goodbye. This has been tricky to mark as Nancy – yes the Nancy who has been with Loaf since Tom first needed someone to do his accounts in 2009 – came off our payroll in the autumn and is no longer a director of the company. That said, we've seen her regularly these last few months as she will be heading up our new advisory board which we hope to start recruiting for soon. Watch this space.
Nancy has formally taken an indefinite sabbatical and is currently working for the Landworkers' Alliance as their HR coordinator. This is nicely Loaf-adjacent and we hope to learn lots from her.
Big thanks to Artefact and Bike Foundry
If you were in the shop in December, you might have noticed some new faces, or some familiar faces out of their usual context. That was members of Artefact and the Bike Foundry who were able to answer our call for help.
Last year was tough all round and as we entered our busiest period we were genuinely unsure if we'd make it through Christmas in one piece. But number six in the Cooperative Principles is "Cooperation among Cooperatives". Artefact and the Bike Foundry are not just our partners in the new building but part of a broader community that has mutual support written into its DNA.
When we asked for help and the replies came in we don't mind saying there were some teary eyes in the back office. We would now be able to bake more and serve more and sell enough to see us comfortably into the new year.
Everyone involved is keen that this is not just a one-off. Our coops have gotten closer thanks to this, and will get closer still. Due to the aforementioned baker training and the need to get some serious business planning done, we're hiring seven Artefact members to work in the shop over the next couple of months. Like the proverbial kids in a trenchcoat they'll be sharing one part-time position between them so look for a wide variety of faces welcoming you to Loaf.
And then in the autumn we'll be neighbours, running our new building together...
Cookery school classes
The following classes have spaces as of this newsletter being posted.
Loaf’s all-day classes:
- Bread — Back to Basics: Tue 27 Feb
- Simply Sourdough: sold out
- Sweet Breads and Viennoiserie: Tue 19 Mar
- Baking with Heritage Grains returns in spring
- Wholegrain Baking with Tom Baker: sold out
Haseen’s evening classes:
Lap’s all-day classes:
- Sausage & Charcuterie: Sat 24 Feb
- Seafood Masterclass: sold out
Lap’s evening classes:
- Thai: Wed 24 Jan
- Sushi: returns in spring
- Ramen: Wed 13 Mar
- Dumplings: Tue 12 Mar
- Knife Skills: Tue 23 Jan
Classes for the Spring will be released as soon as we're able to schedule them. You can sign up to alert lists for specific classes here.
Lunches this week
Wednesday
- Tarka daal with sourdough (Ve)
Thursday
- Soup: Spicy mixed bean & tomato with sourdough (Ve)
Friday
- Curry: New potato, chickpea & spinach with sourdough (Ve)
- Salt beef on challah bun
Wed - Fri
- Sourdough pizza: Three cheese (cheddar, parmesan, mozzarella), sun dried tomato & basil (V)
- Ham and cheese croissant
- Tomato, spinach and cheese croissant (V)
Wed – Sat:
- Sausage rolls
- Vegetable rolls (V)
Lunches are made fresh weekdays for 12 noon.
Our menu for the week — with ingredients and allergens — is on the website.
Thanks for all your continued support. See you next week!
Team Loaf: Michael, Dorit, Rach, Sarah, Neil, Martha, Mina, Molly, Pete & Dave
Website: loaf.coop
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