Aug. 30, 2022, 6:58 p.m.
The Weekly Loaf 🍞 - supporting B30 Food Bank this autumn
Loaf bakery & cookery school
30 August 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 announce our 10th birthday party, want your apples to make mince pies, are hiring more staff and are now a B30 Food Bank donation point for both cash and products.
Also please note we’re open until 6pm on Thursday and Friday again.
We’ll have plenty of bread and pastries on the shelves all day, with lunches served from noon on weekdays. Scroll to the bottom for this week’s lunch menu.
Our opening hours are:
Wednesday: 12-4
Thursday: 12-6
Friday: 12-6
Saturday: 8-1
B30 Food Bank drop-off and fundraising
With the cost-of-living crisis now in full effect we have decided to support the B30 Food Bank as our charity for the rest of this year. As well as donating money online and at the counter, we are now registered as a drop-off point for product donations.
You can check what’s needed and what they have sufficient amounts of on this page. Currently in urgent need:
- Tinned tomatoes
- Ready made custard tins or cartons not powder
- Tinned fruit in juice (not prunes or grapefruit)
- Long life fruit juice
- Instant hot chocolate (made up with water not milk)
- Rice (500g max)
- Packets of sweet biscuits (not family packs)
- Gender neutral shower-gel
- Toothpaste
- Liquid or bar soap
- Dog/cat food
- Strong carrier bags
You can bring donations to the counter and we’ll save them for the weekly collection alongside our bread donation.
Thank you.
We want your apples!
We’ll be making our mincemeat next week so it can sit for the required amount of time before filling the legendary mince pies in December. As usual we’re putting out a call for any apples from your gardens that would otherwise go to waste.
Cooking apples are preferred, but any varieties will do. You can drop them off at the bakery all this week until 1pm Saturday.
As mentioned last week, we’re hiring a new full-time staff member focusing on the shop and lunches.
Are you, or someone you know, interested in working at Loaf? Please help us spread the word.
Details of the job and how to apply are here.
The deadline for applicants is Sunday 18th September.
We’re having a party!
Next month marks 10 years since Loaf opened on Stirchley High Street and we’re having a big party to mark the occasion. If you’ve played a part in making Loaf what it is today, whether that’s as a customer, supplier, original investor or supportive friend, we’d love to see you.
On Sunday 11th September we’re taking over the rear of Attic Brew Co on Mary Vale Road, near the railway station bridge, from 3pm until closing. Kids are welcome until 6pm.
We will be putting together a slideshow of photos and memories from the last decade, along with our plans for the decades to come. If you have any nice pics, we’d love to share them. Please upload them here or send by email.
Birthday treasure hunt around Stirchley
To mark our birthday, and to kick off Sourdough September (more about that next week), Rachel is running a special edition of her advent treasure hunt. From this Thursday 1st, through to Sunday 11th, Loaf bread tokens will be hidden around Stirchley with clues posted to our Instagram Stories. Each token can be exchanged for a free sourdough loaf!
The Breadcrumbs
🥖 BirminghamWorld wanted to know how we’re dealing with our doubling energy bills. We’re quite pleased with how the article came out.
🥖 The Birmingham Open Honey Show is next weekend, 10-11th September at Winterbourne gardens. It’s free to enter and well worth it if you’re at all curious about how honey is made and harvested. Plus free entry to the gardens!
🥖 Bio Arts Birmingham gets local artistic babs thinking big (and really small) - a nice review of last month’s BAB Lab arts festival which held its opening day at Loaf.
🥖 Dads Lane Community Association, the building on the corner of Pineapple and Cartland Roads where some of you will have voted over the years, is crowdfunding for the renovation of this community space, and looking for volunteers to do the labour.
🥖 Birmingham Bike Foundry is running some free, funded workshops this month aimed at developing your basic bike repair skills.
🥖 We enjoyed the first episode of Matt Cox’s Art and Ecology podcast exploring issues very close to Loaf’s heart.
🥖 Andy Cato has been doing the media rounds for Wildfarmed grain. This article in the Guardian is a nice overview of how he got started.
Lunches this week
Wednesday
- Curry: Tarka daal with sourdough (Ve)
Thursday
- Sandwich: Whipped feta, pink pickled onions, toasted walnuts and rocket on focaccia (with truffle crisps) (V)
Friday
- Soup: Pappa al pomodoro, a Tuscan tomato soup made with leftover sourdough bread. (Ve)
- Salt beef on challah
Wed — Fri
- Sourdough pizza: Potato, mushroom, rocket and taleggio (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: Sat 10 Sep, Tue 27 Sep, Tue 4 Oct, Tue 8 Nov
- Simply Sourdough: Sat 24 Sep, Sat 12 Nov, Sat 26 Nov
- Sweet Breads and Viennoiserie: Sat 3 Sep, Sat 15 Oct, 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
- Ramen: Thu 15 Sep, Thu 20 Oct
- Dumplings: Wed 21 Sep
- Macarons: Wed 7 Sep
- Knife Skills: Thu 8 Sep, 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: Sarah, Molly, Nancy, Ian, Rach, Martha, Pete, Neil & Dorit