26 September 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 our classes in November have gone on sale, we've made the mincemeat for our mince pies, and The Breadcrumbs are back.
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:
Wed - Fri: 12-6
Saturday: 8-1
November cookery school classes are on sale
We released our November cookery school classes over the weekend. People on the Alert Lists have had first dibs but there are plenty of places left. Here's what's new – click through to book your places.
All-day classes:
- Simply Sourdough: Sat 11 Nov
- Bread — Back to Basics: Sat 18 Nov, Tue 28 Nov
- Sweet Breads and Viennoiserie: Sat 25 Nov
- Seafood Masterclass: Sat 2 Dec
Evening classes:
- Sushi: Wed 1 Nov
- Dumplings: Tue 7 Nov
- Dosa: Wed 8 Nov
- Thai: Tue 14 Nov
- Handmade Pasta: Wed 15 Nov
- Ramen: Tue 21 Nov
- Thaali: Wed 29 Nov
Mincemeat mix is made
Well, together we made it! We had plenty of apples and a couple of leftover bags went to Ed the cider man today. Thank you all for your donations! 🎉
We added them to our special secret recipe (not really a secret - ask if you'd like it) along with some stout from local breweries Birmingham Brew Co and Infinity, shovelled it all into the big bread mixer, and off it went!
Once it had been pummelled for long enough it was decanted into three massive boxes, covered up tight, and will be left to mature in our storeroom for two months.
Traditionally our mince pies go on sale on the 1st of December, which is a Friday this year. Put it in your diaries!
The Breadcrumbs
🥖 As autumn creeps in the tenor of events at Cotteridge Park changes. Soups, stories and... walking netball. Read more in their latest newsletter.
🥖 We forgot to mention Birmingham Open Studios last week, but it seems to have been a tremendous success! Thankfully it's still on so be sure and check out the artists showing at The Old Post Office this weekend, including one of our regular customers, Mirta Vargas. Lovely work, Mirta!
🥖 We're often asked if we do gluten-free bread and the simple answer is no – it's impossible to avoid gluten in our bakery. But a friend of Loaf who has gluten intolerance told us about The GFB, a mail-order bakery in London that does gluten-free sourdough loaves, among other things. This isn't an endorsement so if you try them, let us know how they are.
🥖 A Quarter Horse Coffee restock is on its way and will include Marcela Valle (Honduras) and Franklin Botache (Colombia). If you ever have questions about coffee, ask for Dave. He's a massive coffee nerd and happy to help.
🥖 This newsletter is mostly written by Pete and the others have told me, sorry, him, to mention his new personal newsletter all about composting. It's called The Aerobic Digest, two issues are out, and if you get the pun in the title they you should definitely subscribe.
Week four of baking with Desem
This month, for Sourdough September, we're experimenting with a new style of starter - Desem. This week Neil baked for the first time with the nascent starter.
Last Friday we baked four loaves with the Desem starter using 100% wholemeal flour and everyone had a taste. The results were interesting, so much so we forgot to take any photos! It's definitely different from bread made with our normal starter.
More experimenting this week!
Lunches this week
Wednesday
- Tarka daal with sourdough (Ve)
Thursday
- Sandwich: Aubergine parmigiana focaccia sandwich (Ve) with optional mozzarella (V)
Friday
- Curry: Butternut squash, kale and chickpea curry with sourdough (Ve)
- Salt beef on challah bun
Wed – Sat:
- Sausage rolls
- Vegetable rolls (V)
Wed - Fri
- Sourdough pizza: mushroom, cherry tomato, gorgonzola, mozzarella, pine nut and rocket (V)
- Ham and cheese croissant
- Pine nut pesto and cheese croissant (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 24 Oct, Sat 18 Nov, Tue 28 Nov
- Simply Sourdough: Sat 11 Nov
- Sweet Breads and Viennoiserie: Sat 14 Oct, Sat 25 Nov
- Baking with Heritage Grains Returns in 2024
- Wholegrain Baking with Tom Baker: Sat 28 Oct
Loaf’s evening classes:
- Handmade Pasta: Wed 15 Nov
Haseen’s evening classes:
Lap’s all-day classes:
- Sausage & Charcuterie: Sat 4 Nov
- Seafood Masterclass: Sat 7 Oct, Sat 2 Dec
Lap’s evening classes:
- Thai: Tue 14 Nov
- Sushi: Wed 1 Nov
- Ramen: Thu 4 Oct, Tue 21 Nov
- Dumplings: Tue 7 Nov
- Knife Skills: Returns in 2024
Classes for November 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, Martha, Neil, Dorit, Sarah, Dave, Molly, Pete & Ian
Website: loaf.coop
Socials: Instagram / Mastodon / Twitter / Facebook