20 March 2023
This is the weekly 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 report on the inaugural meeting of the West Midlands Grain Network, a gathering of growers, millers and bakers with an interest in rethinking our industry.
Scroll down for this week’s lunch menu and cookery school spaces.
🍞 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:
Tue - Fri: 12 - 6
Saturday: 8 - 1
A grain gathering
The West Midlands Grain Network met for the first time this month. Farmers, millers and bakers with an interest in rethinking how grain is grown, processed and consumed in the region attended. Three of the Loaf team went along to be part of the discussion, and to see how we can help make a fairer and better system for everyone, at every stage of the process.
Similar networks have been emerging around the country in recent years – see the Britain & Ireland Community Grains Association Grain Map – but until now the West Midlands had no dedicated network of its own.
Mill Farm near Worcester, which we visited back in September 2021, hosted the event. It was great to catch up with Jonathan and Emma again, as well as a few other familiar faces from events such as UK Grain Lab and Matthews Cotswold Flour’s Soil, Stone and Sourdough.
It’s really encouraging to meet other bakers working in this area, to see how they’re working with locally grown and milled flour, and also to find people coming up against the same obstacles we are. Challenges such as how we transport, store and process the grains while still keeping our products accessible and affordable, for example.
Working with local and heritage grains is something Loaf wants to do more of. It helps us reduce the food miles of our products, supports local farmers, millers and the local grain economy, improves the traceability of our ingredients, and enables us to build direct connections between our bread and the land the grain was grown on.
Using a more diverse range of heritage grains and wheats, alongside farming methods that rely less on chemical inputs, is also of great benefit to the environment – and our diets.
All this comes at a cost, however. Current systems favour mass marketing of flour for lower costs, greater consistency of product and ready availability. As a relatively small bakery in a Birmingham suburb, we’re heavily reliant on some of these things. But, hopefully, working with the WM Grain Network will help us see a way forward that’s better for people at every stage of the process, from farmer to consumer.
Big thanks to Heloise, Emma and Savannah for organising the meeting, and to Jonathan for hosting. This was a great first step towards making good things happen, and we’re looking forward to the next time we can all get together.
Photo by Heloise Trott
Our interest in how and where our grain is farmed informs the whole of Loaf’s business, but surfaces particularly in our Heritage Grains and Wholegrain Baking classes. And when you’re in the bakery, look out for any specials marked “Heritage”.
Lunches this week
Tuesday
- Curry: Tarka daal with sourdough (Ve)
Wednesday
- Soup: Mushroom and rocket with sourdough (Ve)
Thursday
- Sandwich: Butternut squash, roasted garlic hummus, cabbage slaw and pickled red onions on herb focaccia (Ve) with optional feta (V)
Friday
- Curry: Tomato and chickpea curry with sourdough (Ve)
- Salt beef on challah
Tue — Fri
- Sourdough pizza: Four cheese (mozzarella, ricotta, scamorza and cheddar) basil oil and confit garlic (V)
Wed — Fri
- Ham and cheese croissant
- Pine nut pesto and cheese croissant (V)
Tue — 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.
Cookery school classes
The following classes have spaces as of this newsletter being posted.
Loaf’s all-day classes:
- Bread — Back to Basics: Tue 18 Apr, Tue 30 May
- Sweet Breads and Viennoiserie: Sat 13 May
- Wholegrain Baking with Tom Baker: Sat 20 May
Haseen’s evening classes:
Lap’s evening classes:
- Thai Cooking: Wed 29 Mar
- Sushi: Wed 5 Apr
- Ramen: Thu 4 May
- Dumplings: Tue 2 May
- Knife Skills: Thu 25 May
The next tranche of dates will be released soon. You can sign up to alert lists for specific classes here.
Thanks for all your continued support. See you next week!
Team Loaf: Rach, Neil, Nancy, Sarah, Martha, Dave, Ian, Dorit, Pete & Molly
Website: loaf.coop
Socials: Instagram / Mastodon / Twitter / Facebook