6 February 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 Rachel recommends some baking books and we look at the power of regenerative flour.

Scroll down for this week’s lunch menu, cookery school spaces and community news.

🍞 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

Books for bakers

We’re often asked for book recommendations, either as gifts or as a follow-up from doing one of our classes, so here’s four that Rachel often suggests from our cookery school library. When she’s not in the bakery Rach leads on the Simply Sourdough class and can often be found making cakes on the sweets shift.

Sourdough Culture: A History of Bread Making from Ancient to Modern Bakers
Reading more like a novel, this is a deep dive into the origins of sourdough. It’s told from the perspective of environmental science professor Eric Pallant who’s researching the the history and origins of starters, the different cultures and countries, and what they made.

Modern Sourdough: Sweet and Savoury Recipes from Margot Bakery
The main recommendation given to people on the Simply Sourdough class, this takes sourdough baking far beyond loaves of bread, taking in cakes, buns and savoury bakes.

Sugar Rush: Master Tips, Techniques, and Recipes for Sweet Baking.
This book will have you making things at home that you wouldn’t have thought possible. More an advanced book, this is perfect for the more advanced baker who wants to hone their skills.

100 Cookies: The Baking Book for Every Kitchen, with Classic Cookies, Novel Treats, Brownies, Bars, and More
If you want to make brilliant sweet bakes at home, this book is full of comprehensive, easy to understand recipes that will take your baking to the next level.

All links go to Hive.co.uk who share profits with independent retailers. We like to support The Bookshop on the Green in Bournville.

We’ll be asking the rest of the bakery crew for their recommendations over the months, and do let us know if you have a favourite book at newsletter@loaf.coop .

Regenerative flour

We’ve recently been experimenting with a new stoneground flour and have been very pleased with how it’s turning out. It’s grown using regenerative methods which is something we’re very keen to support. One further advantage is, we also know exactly where each sack of flour comes from and how it was farmed — unlike our normal white flour which is a blend from many farms. For example, here’s the information table for the current batch:

We’ll be sticking with the normal white flour for our main white loaves but look for the regenerative flour in the ciabatta, focaccia and other speciality breads. If you’d like to know more about the flour we use, please ask!

The Breadcrumbs

🥖 The tree outside Stirchley primary school is going to be decorated with hearts this week. If you’d like to help make some, and dedicate them to someone special, there’s a drop-in workshop happening opposite at Artefact on Saturday 11th February, midday until 1.30pm. It takes five minutes to make a heart so stay as little or as long as you like.

🥖 Concentration and Power in the Food System: Who Controls What We Eat? is an online event run by the Sheffield Wheat Experiment on Wednesday 15th February at 8pm. Professor Phil Howard takes his research and data visualisations to tell a story of how grain looks in our food system.

🥖 Our good friends at Alicia’s Micro Bakehouse are now open on Sundays and are looking to expand their premises. Dorit had a tour of the new space and their plans are very exciting. Always good to see a business based on high-quality dough doing well.

🥖 Jeweller Ellen Lou popped in this week to tell us about the crafting workshop she’s running at Hedge, making silver-cast flowers from your own wax carving.

🥖 The next Stirchley Community Forum meeting is on Monday 13th February, 7.30pm at Stirchley Community Church. If you’re interested in getting involved with the future of the area, this is a great place to start.

If you’ve got news or an event in Loaf’s wheelhouse (some variation on bread / community / cooperatives), let us know at newsletter@loaf.coop

Lunches this week

Tuesday

• Curry: Tarka daal with sourdough (Ve)

Wednesday

• Soup: Mushroom and rocket with sourdough (Ve)

Thursday

• Soup: Carrot and coriander with sea salt focaccia (Ve)

Friday

• Curry: Sweet potato, cauliflower and pea with sourdough (Ve)
• Salt beef on challah

Tue — Fri

• Sourdough pizza: Aubergine, potato, red onion, basil, mozzarella and parmesan (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 21 Mar
• Heritage Grains: Sat 25 Mar

Haseen’s evening classes:

• Dosa: Tue 7 Mar

Lap’s evening classes:

• Thai Cooking: Tue 21 Feb
• Knife Skills: Tue 14 Feb

The next tranche of dates will be released late February / early March. You can sign up to alert lists for specific classes here.

Thanks for all your continued support. See you next week!

Team Loaf: Dorit, Ian, Nancy, Sarah, Pete, Dave, Martha, Neil, Rach & Molly

Website: loaf.coop
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