Jo's Loaves

Yey me!  I shall be at Whitwell Farmers’ market this coming Friday and for the foreseeable ‘2nd Fridays in the coming months, taking my markets to 4 a month now.  It’s an earlier one than usual, starting at 11 (ends at 2pm) and therefore as I’d not had the usual week to plan everything out to within a gnats pisker, I’ll only be taking a 2 or 3 varieties of bread with me. 
For the last couple of months, I have also been selling Mrs Middleton’s Rapeseed oil; an ingredient that I love so much, I bought the company!!  No, no, I didn’t really. But it is something that has not only grown on me, it has also helped change my processed-food buying habits.  Let me explain.  For those of you that know me, I loathe processed foods.  For those of you who know a bit more, you’ll know that I am a little hypercritical when it comes to SOME processed foods – Haribo.  (My massive downfall). But also, the humble chip.  Now I love my chips (Westway Chippy stylee) but when I make double egg and chips for my beloved after  five-aside Wednesdays, I am reaching for the McCains at 10pm, not the fryer.  That was until I discovered that if you ‘chip’ a good potato, soak them in water for a bit, then dry off, all you need is a couple of teaspoons of Mrs Middlestons Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil and a bit of salt and pepper, hot oven, 30 minutes – excellent crispy chips!

You can also use it for dressings, drizzling, frying, roasting (THEE best roast potatoes) and it’s also high in omega oils and vitamin E, and low in saturated fats.  So I now use it in place of olive oil in my Focaccia bread and for practically every other use at home in the kitchen.  So if you would like to try some to see how delicious it is, come to Whitwell on Friday.  I’ll have small and large bottles to sell.  They also make excellent pressies as the bottles are so, so purty!

Visit Mrs Middletons Oil (Grown in Lilley,Bedfordshire)

I should also mention that I’ve just updated a lot of my site so if you’ve not yet had a good nosey round at all my pages, now would be a great time!  And if anyone out there can help me with a proper website, that would be most excellent, thank you!

For the last couple of months, I’ve been ensconced in DIY, baking and the Great British Sewing Bee (gotta love that programme).  I am happy to report that my little bakery has officially now moved premises from my
home kitchen and into a little converted barn in Hoo Lane, Great Offley.  I’ve got a fabulous working oven, a mahoosive fridge, a green floor, shelves, racks and basically a dedicated workspace where all my bread is now baked. My hallway has been restored back to a hallway rather than a flour store; I had to chuckle this week as a visiting friend said, oo, “I like your new cabinet;” it fact it was not new at all, just buried for so long, under a hundredweight of locally grown and milled Organic flour…

Did you all see me on the tele last night??  I was on the 6 ‘o clock news on Anglia television (the regional bit of ITV).  Unfortunately, despite actually living in the Anglia region, we don’t get a good signal for Anglia TV so instead we had to watch it on the internet.  If you missed it, you can watch it again by clicking this link:-

Rising Number of Micro Bakeries in East Anglia

I must point out that unfortunately the lovely Claire presenter-lady made a bit of a faux paux and announced that Real Bread was made with just flour, yeast, butter and salt…. I think that my hips would be under incredible strain if I baked my bread with butter instead of water!

A couple of weeks ago I said goodbye to my beloved red Honda Civic and hello to my new compadre, a white VW Caddy!  It has already enjoyed two baths but is mostly looking forward to being decorated with my business logo in a couple of week’s or so, so that I can go and flaunt myself around the neighbourhood.  It’s only a 2-seater, but so far not been a problem and my little junior passenger loves it!

It is very rare for me to do Saturday markets, but this coming Saturday, 12th April I will be at the lovely village of Shillington, Bedfordshire from 10am until 4pm (or until I sell out, that’s if I do of course!).  As well as my usual sourdough loaves and focaccia, , I will also have my raisin and stilton and Roasted Garlic and Herb specials, as well as my very popular sticky hot cross buns, raised with wild yeast for an amazing flavour.  Then next week on Good Friday, (the 3rd Friday of the month) I will be back at Hexton with the last hot Cross Buns of the year.  Whatever shall I do next??

I usually hate January.  It’s such a depressing month. All the Christmas adornments that have brightened and festooned the house have to be removed, leaving your rooms and walls bare and forlorn. There is constant drizzle, rain and cold outside.  And as you glance down at your bathroom scales and sigh a big hurrumph, you also have to ponder how you are going to simultaneously reduce your waistline and the collection of chocolate goodies that have mounted up on the sideboard.  So with no farmer’s markets for me until 7th February, I needed to find something exciting to kick start my year – and wow, did I find it!  On 23rd and 30th of January, I was delighted to welcome my first Real Bread baker trainees to my home, to learn how to bake slow bread. For some reason, I thought it would be less stressful than preparing for a farmer’s market as there would be less bread to bake, but it was far more exhilarating than I could have imagined!  I enjoyed every minute of it and judging by the the feedback that I received, all my students enjoyed it too and they have since gone forth and made their own Real Bread!  I have made it clear to them all, that if they need any additional extra help, I am always at the end of an email of phone if they need advice.

If you would like to join in my little Real Bread revolution, I am taking bookings from May.  Please visit my page Power to the Flour from Jo’s Loaves for more information, gift vouchers are available.

Next month, I hope to be able to post some more information about my bakery unit;  so far, I have a working oven, two unplumbed sinks and an a raw floor.  I am hoping for a wall-heater any day now, so that I can warm it up and paint the floor; then everything will hopefully follow.

FIRST FARMER’S MARKET OF THE YEAR IS THIS FRIDAY!!  7th FEBRUARY, AT OFFLEY VILLAGE HALL FROM 11 AM UNTIL 2PM.  USE IT OR LOSE IT FOLKS!!
(It is also my Granny’s birthday and she’ll be 94. Happy Birthday Granny)!

I confess, it is with much delay and hesitancy due to excited disbelief that I finally put virtual pen to cybernetic paper to tell you about another new chapter for Jo’s Loaves.  Back in September, I was presented with the opportunity to move my little empire(?!) from my home kitchen, into a dedicated space provided by a local farmer in one of their outbuildings.   When I finally floated down from the cloud that I zoomed up to (I believe it is fondly known as number 9) I began to put together all manner of plans and budgets and lists.  
Amazingly for me, the unit will have a phase 3 (super juicy) electricity supply, which means I can finally run a proper deck oven, albeit a fairly modest sized one.

The space has been cleared, insulated, painted and a new interior door fitted.  It was originally being used to store old Landrover parts by Jim the on-site mechanic, who will eventually become my next door neighbour; I am envisaging many a summer BBQ with farm sausages and Jo’s baps in return for the odd air filter change for my old Honda.  I digress.  On Monday, my little baking space will enter the next phase of refurbishment with the electrics going in and then hopefully everything else falling into place for the rest of January.
Dare I say it, but by the end of February, I’ll be baking all my loaves in the new oven!  So very, very excited and a little chuffed with myself for making it happen.I am also running 3 baking courses in January and February  and I don’t have any markets for a while, so I’ll probably limit the number of loaves that I’ll bake in the month.  Incidentally, if you would like to learn to bake with me at home (maybe from Le Boulangerie when fully functional!) then I  have 2 spaces left for the 23^rd January and I have added two more dates:-
Thursday, 13^th MarchThursday, 8^th May
Have a look at my course page for further information.
In the meantime, please do still keep contacting me if you need anything as I’ll probably still be able to fit a few things in around my busy schedule and I’ll keep you all informed of my progress in the next few weeks. 

My order book is now open for my special Christmas loaves!

  You can choose from French Brioche, Italian Panettone or German Stollen.  All will be wrapped in snowy cellophane, tied with ribbon – perfect for a gift or just to scoff yourself.

I have 6 markets between now and Christmas (phewy!) and you have up until the Saturday, 14th December (which is Kings Walden Christmas Market) to place your order.  

Orders will be available to collect from Hexton Market on the following Friday (20th) or you can collect directly from me by prior arrangement.  The Brioche, should last 3-4-days, the Stollen will easily see you through Christmas and the Panettone possibly through until New Year, unless of course it get’s gobbled up before then.

Payment is required upon ordering – you will be refunded if for whatever reason I have too many to bake or my oven packs up, although I do have a little back up plan up my sleeve! 

I will have some tasters at Hexton Farmers Market tomorrow from 1pm together with as a limited stock of these items, should you wish to get stuck into ‘Christmas Eating Training.’  And just in case anybody is curious, yes I do hang my panettones upside down!

Oo, and before I forget ,if you are stuck for theee perfect gift this Christmas, my 1 day bread making course would make a smashing lasting present for someone who is curious about bread-making.  I only have a couple of spaces for the 16th January left with more dates available in February.  Find out more  here:  http://www.josloaves.co.uk/p/y.html

By jingo, (as my lovely Gran says) have I got some exciting news to tell!  The first bit of news, is that having fiddle faddled (my words) around with the idea of teaching how to make Real Bread myself from home,  I

am actually going to do it, starting in January 2014!!!

My first forays into teaching have been successful, a few sessions at Jean Christophe Novelli’s Academy school and more recently with a couple of friends, who I think have definitely caught the baking bug.  So in the shadow of the ever popular, Great British Bake-Off, I have finally put all the detail that was in my head, down into print, and you can find all the details if you’d like to book, jump to the page here for details:
Power to the Flour – Bread Making Course

After what turned out to be a fabulous summer, autumn is now upon us and I’ve already donned my foraging hat.  I happened to spy a couple of apple trees on the side of the road in full fruit mode and as the weather was threatening to produce a major upchuck of wind and rain, I thought it best to take action fairly swiftly.  So packing bags and a small step-ladder into the car, myself and my neighbour – also  a FoFF (Fond of Free Food) braved a downpour to gather as many from the branches as we could manage.  When I say manage, it’s all very well picking bushels and bushels of apples, but there is only so much apple crumble you can eat!  (In fact, I’ve just discovered I can’t eat crumble at all, it disagrees with me dreadfully).  So I decided to put mine into a loaf, and hey presto, the harvest Apple and Walnut loaf was born!  Even if I say so myself, it’s my favourite loaf of the month – wholly delicious and incredibly moreish.  

Ever feel like you are in a hole and the more you try and dig yourself out, the more ensconced in the weight of the earth closing in around you?  I’ve been trying to get to the bottom on my ‘to do list’ now, for the last 6 months.  And with the school holidays fast approaching, I know I am just not going to get there. I guess I just have to consider my journey through the list as one, long expedition to a place of total fulfilment and at which I shall never arrive.  Mustn’t grumble though, eh?!
Jo’s Loaves has been in business TWO years this month and I’m starting to plan a different stall to mark the occasion for Hexton Farmers Market, which is next Friday.   As a largely self-taught baker, it often takes me a while to be confident enough to venture out of my comfort zone and run with new ideas; some of those ideas have received rave reviews, so I intend to bring out my ‘hot hot’ buns, my summer [bread] pudding and possibly another newbie, which will be a surprise (mainly as a surprise to me, as I’ve not thought of anything yet….).   I’ll also be selling my crunchy Real Bread Croutons.  I was dismayed that many people at Offley thought, “Oooh, croutons; – soup!” 

As a rule, I’m more of a crusty bread fan with soup, and I tend to put croutons in a salad.  Most people are familiar with Ceasar Salad, but you don’t have to limit yourself to that.  Here is my easy peasy recipe:-
1.       Take a some washed crispy lettuce leaves (Little Gem, Romano, Cos) or any lettuce2.       Add cubes of cucumber & tomato and some sliced green or black olives (or not)3.       Shake on a few capers (or not)4.       If you have any cheese in the house (soft goats from Wobbly Bottom Farm is best) put in a few small cubes or some freshly grated parmesan (or not)5.       Tear over some fresh Basil Leaves – or shake over some dried ones – or oregano or coriander (you see how flexible salad can be???)6.       Throw in your Real Bread croutons7.       Throw in anything else you think might be nice -chopped red pepper, spring onion, sun-dried tomato from a jar (or not)8.       Dress with a dressing – make your own with some Rapeseed/Olive oil and a little wine/balsamic or cider vinegar seasoned with salt and pepper and/or dried herbs OR buy one (I’d never buy one).
Nom. Nom Nom. I think I shall be having a few of these throughout the summer, along with all the lovely local delicacies from all the little farmer’s markets that I attend.  Who needs Asda, eh?!

Where was I?  Ah yes, grumbling about all the things I have on my to do list, and behold, here I am, finishing one of them as I type.  I digress.  Before next week’s market and planning my ‘surprise’ new bread (nope, still none the wiser…) I have a weekend of bike riding so my son can practice his newly learnt de-stabilised skills and a 5K RACE FOR LIFE in Stevenage on Sunday (Please sponsor me on this link – Race For Life JoJo’s Page).  
I also have a Spa day (gosh won’t that be tough…), a haircut, and a very exciting day planned in Chipping Sodbury, to bake with the adorable Tom Herbert, or Mr “Fabulous Baker Brother” off of Channel 4 as he’s also known.  I’ve also got my ‘normal’ job (which is far from normal) keeping me busy in between.  I have a very untidy office, a tax return and a pile of receipts yet to get started and a pile of ironing the size of the shard.  So why am I still sat here????  Best hop to it I guess.   

In the meantime, can I just recommend a fabulous gift for yourself or a loved one, to attend my Better Bred Bread course at the Novelli Academy Cookery School (in other words, his house)! Click this link to find out more details.  Happy summer everybody! x

The trouble with me, is that I get bored.  Easily.  Which is probably why I ended up started my little micro bakery in the first place.  The minute I get used to doing something, i.e. it becomes less of a challenge, I have a tendency to chuck in little obstacles that I have to overcome and to raise my stress levels so it all starts being more exciting again.  It usually begins with putting things off until the last minute, or prioritising the fun jobs over the ones which are necessary.  I’ll give you an example. 
I have Hexton Farmers’ market this coming Friday;  it’s my absolutely favourite, the

organisers and other stallholders are incredibly friendly and the customers are charming; they often want to stop and chat for a bit, which I am more than happy to oblige.  Anyway, I digress.  (as I often do…) so on with the  example.  I have planned far too many loaves that will sell on the market and it’s going to be more hard work for me, but feel I need to bake them all so that my repertoire is fully represented.  I usually mix a lot of my dough on Wednesday evening;  it then get’s shaped at some point on Thursday and then baked either on the Thursday evening or Friday morning depending upon what it is (sourdough has excellent keeping qualities and in my opinion is just as delicious if not more, the day after it’s baked).  So I have all this to do including all the pre-weighing, preparing ingredients, such as roasting garlic, chopping tomatoes and picking rosemary leaves.  I also have to eat and prepare food for the men in my life for when they return home.  I have a present to wrap for a party that my son is attending tonight, and another tomorrow night for that matter.  And I am taking on some more work from my ‘proper’ job, which thankfully, I can do at home.

So aside from the procrastination of all these tasks, with the obvious fact that I am also currently writing this blog, I have also well and truly rejuvenated the sewing bug in me and started to make myself a lovely summer dress to take away with me on holiday.  I am at the ‘sewing the darts’ stage and my machine keeps calling me to it to get it finished.  I do believe, I have the recent BBC programme “The Great British Sewing Bee” to blame for all this.  It’s a good job Mr Hollywood isn’t having any influence on me, that’s all I can say. 
12:45pm you say?  That’ll be lunchtime then, I’ll start some weighing after that…. 
Before I pop off, please come and see me at Hexton Church this coming Friday, from 1 until 4pm.  I will have loads to sell, including a range of sourdoughs, baguettes, focaccias, my new garlic and herb flutes AND Raisin & Stilton loaves.  Please prove me wrong and make it a sell out!

Truth is, I have had so many crazy ideas and material to write into this blog of late, that I’ve just been dazzled by which bits to write about; and then of course, there’s the question of when I am to fit it in to my busy life.  I am currently in the throws of school holidays with I think, the rest of the the week now is pretty much mapped out, I should be able to relax a bit.  (Just a figure of speech, I never relax, you all know that).

I had Offley Farmers’ Market last Friday and massive thanks to my mother-in-law who was able to take Bruce overnight so I could get everything done.  I introduced a new loaf to the event – Roasted Garlic and Herb Flute; this was a big hit and despite attendance numbers at the market being well down, I sold out of these within about 30 minutes.  Sadly, myself and the other stallholders had a really bad day overall; we were not sure if it was the persistent cold weather, the lack of signage in the week running up to the event, or just the fact that it was school holidays that kept people away.  I am hoping things will improve for next time!

Anyway, I have to keep this post short, as I am writing this at the same time as doing some paid work, plus I want to be finished by 9 to watch Broadchurch, (won’t even mention that I am missing Paul Hollywood!)! So with a puffed up chest, slight trepidation but immense excitement, I would like to quietly announce that I will be teaching Real Bread Baking starting this summer, at the Novelli Academy in Tea Green, the home of the very charming, Jean-Christophe Novelli.  I have been a guest Chef there 3 times now and enjoyed every minute.  I am looking forward to planning the first course which is Better Bred Bread on the 3rd July; you can book through the Novelli Website.

Better Bred Bread – New Course for 2013 at the Novelli Academy

Please note the excellent photography skills of Jim Barker who managed to capture a fantastic picture of me (those who no me personally know that I tend to gurn and act the fool at every opportunity!) and also some lovely bread close-ups from my wonderful friend James Berry who has been a supporter of me from the start and was the first to take some great shots for my website in 2011, which I am ashamed to say, is still not built!