September 20 2022
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 take a look at the work of Santina Amato, an artist who works with her own weight in dough.
We’ll have plenty of bread and pastries on the shelves all day, with lunches served from noon on weekdays.
Scroll down for this week’s lunch menu and cookery school vacancies.
Our opening hours are:
Wednesday: 12-4
Thursday: 12-6
Friday: 12-6
Saturday: 8-1
Loaf crumbs
🍞 A space has suddenly come available for the Simply Sourdough class this Saturday. Book here.
🍞 Sarah’s on the sweet shift again so look out for apple frangipani (with local fruit), pumpkin loaf with a cream cheese frosting, fruit cake, and a vegan lemon and blueberry cake over the week.
🍞 Also, watch for some “experimental wholemeal pastries” towards the start of the week. Intriguing!
🍞 Loaf founder Tom’s Rye and Roses bakery was featured in this roundup of Welsh cuisine. Really want a slice of his Torth Dyfi and Felin Ganol breads now…
🍞 Friend-of-Loaf Dale Hipkiss is launching a Climate Breakdown discussion group at Artefact on Thursday evening. “Come and feel just a little less crazy by talking about what we can do.”
Dough art of Santina Amato
Since hosting Bio Arts Birmingham this summer we’ve been coming across more artists who work with the living materials we make bread from. This week Rachel brought Santina Amato to everyone’s attention and we had to share her amazing work.
Her dough-based work begins with a durational performance where she filmed herself kneading her own weight in dough, culminating in her lying exhausted holding the dough as it rises and envelopes her. Click through for the videos.
This then led to her ongoing series, Portraits Of Women With Their Weight In Dough, where she works with women to make the dough which they then pose with over two hours. The resulting images are both absurd and profound, and the duration of time really emphasises how alive their globulous companion is.
If you come across any artists doing interesting work with dough, please let us know!
Lunches this week
Wednesday
- Curry: Tarka daal with sourdough (Ve)
Thursday
- Ciabatta sandwich: Tomato salsa, baked chickpeas, caramelised onions, spinach (Ve) optional feta (V)
Friday
- Soup: Potato, cauliflower, mushroom and rocket with sourdough (Ve)
- Salt beef on challah
Wed — Fri
- Sourdough pizza: Potato, courgette, bell pepper, tomato, spinach, mozzarella and goat’s cheese (V)
- Ham and cheese croissant
- Pine nut pesto 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.
Cookery school classes
The following classes have vacancies as of this newsletter being posted.
Loaf’s all-day classes:
- Bread — Back to Basics: Tue 27 Sep, Tue 4 Oct, Tue 8 Nov, Sat 19 Nov
- Simply Sourdough: Sat 24 Sep, Sat 12 Nov, Sat 26 Nov
- Sweet Breads and Viennoiserie: Tue 1 Nov, Tue 22 Nov
Haseen’s evening classes:
Lap’s all-day classes:
- Seafood Masterclass: Sat 8 Oct, Sat 5 Nov
- Sausage & Charcuterie: Tue 11 Oct, Tue 29 Nov
Lap’s evening classes:
- Thai Cooking: Wed 5 Oct, Wed 9 Nov
- Sushi: Wed 28 Sep, Thu 27 Oct
- Knife Skills & Maintenance: Wed 2 Nov
We release new dates as soon as possible, based on tutor availability. You can sign up to alert lists for specific classes here.
Thanks for all your continued support. See you next week!
Team Loaf: Pete, Ian, Martha, Dorit, Neil, Rach, Sarah, Molly & Nancy