Popsicle anyone?

Well the weather may be no good for proving sourdough, but it’s perfect for ice cream!

We’re chuffed to be stocking CREAMED POPS, a brand spanking new Birmingham based, small-batch artisan ice cream lolly brand! We rally behind our fellow Brummie food brands, so we just had to have them!

CPops x5 Jordan Ish

All natural ingredients, no artificial preservatives and fresh produce, combined to create a super delicious treat! Their ‘pops’ are fast frozen, meaning their ice cream stays silky smooth, creamy and icicle-free.

1pop2pop3pop4pop

We’re currently stocking: Cinnamon Toast, Raspberry Cheesecake, Salted Caramel, Carrot Halva, Pure Origin Chocolate and fast-favourite Vietnamese Coffee.

What flavour will you choose?!

July in the Cookery School!

We’re coming to the end of June, and our July courses are filling up fast!

What better way to spend an evening or day, than learning great new cooking skills, and more importantly EATING!

dosa

 

  • Kicking off the month with our Earth Oven Building course (now SOLD OUT! But join the mailing list if you want to attend the next one!)
  • We have got places on all our super popular Flavour Geography courses though: Dosa, Sichuan & Bao.
  • Not to mention specialist evening courses on Macarons and Fish with our resident Foodist, Lap-fai Lee!
  • Finishing it off with the final places on our stellar Bread and Sourdough courses – it’s not too late to learn!

 

 

 

We look forward to welcoming you to our school!

 

 

Thursday Night is Dosa Night (30th July 2015)

For a couple of years we have run a fantastic Dosa-making masterclass with Haseen George of Pop Up Dosa, but unbelievably we have never yet run a dosa pop-up at Loaf. That all changes this Thursday. Check out the flyer below and please share widely! p.s. We have a couple of spaces left on the next Dosa masterclass on the 4th August – book online here: http://www.loafonline.co.uk/shop/dosa/

30th July dosa flyer

 

Stirchley-on-Sea This Thursday, 7pm.

All the pre-sales of lobster have gone, the mackerel are marinating, and Lap and Tom will be heading to the wholesale market first thing tomorrow morning to pick up the freshest fish they have. We’re looking forward to seeing you tomorrow – come down soon after 7 if you want the widest choice as we will sell out of some items. Check out the menu below.

Just a quick explanation of what ‘casual eat-in’ means. We’ll be serving everything (except lobster) in take-away containers but we’d love people to hang around and eat it whilst it’s hot. Cutlery/chopsticks provided. We can seat about 25 people between the bakery and cookery school dining room, plus there’s standing room for more in the bakery, so why not head to Stirchley Wines and Spirits beforehand and pick up a nice bottle of beer to wash down the delicious food. Soft drinks will be for sale in the bakery and we’ll do a chocolate brownie too if you fancy something sweet after your fish course. See you tomorrow!

2014-11-07-Stirchley-on-Sea-e-flyer

New Loaf Bakery Shop Opens – Sat 26 April

Stirchley Just Got Tastier!

At Loaf  this week there has been a hive of activity.  We have done a complete refit of the shop and are introducing some new editions – including weekday takeaway lunches, and a small selection of cookery equipment, specialist cookery ingredients and local produce to buy. We’ll also be selling  our usual selection of speciality bread and cakes . Thanks to a fantastic team of staff and volunteers the new & improved Loaf Bakery Shop re-opens tomorrow – Saturday 26th April 2014. Particular thanks goes to Tom, Sarah, Nancy, Andy, Jordan, Mike, Alasdair, Russ, Walter and Jane for all your hard work. You’re amazing!

Below you’ll find out what’s new, discover our new opening hours and salivate at this week’s takeaway lunch menu – changing every week. We hope you like the look of the new shop too, with much of our furniture made from reclaimed palettes and recycled materials….

New Loaf Bakery Shop Refit  New Loaf Bakery Refit

New Loaf Bakery Refit Tom Making Tea for the Workers

 

New Loaf Bakery Shop Opens – Saturday 26 April 2014

So here’s what we’ve got on offer. Pop in to discover what’s new….

New Loaf Bakery Shop. Designer: Kerry Leslie

 

New Opening Hours

Tuesday – Friday: 12 – 6.30pm

Saturday: 8.15am – 1pm

Tuesdays – Fridays: Takeaway lunches, from 12noon

 

Weekday Takeaway Lunch Menu

Tuesday 29 April  to Friday 2 May 2014, from 12 noon

Tuesday – Daal with sourdough;  Baked ham & mature cheese croissant.

Wednesday – Herb & mushroom Frittata with green salad;  Baked ham & mature cheese croissant.

Thursday – Rosso Pomodoro Soup with sourdough;  Baked ham & mature cheese croissant.

Friday – Spinach, artichoke & chilli goats cheese pizza;  Spicy ‘Nduja sausage, mozzarella  & parmesan pizza.

We will also have brewed coffee and loose leaf teas to takeaway.

Brewed cofee and loose leaf tea to takeaway

 

Pick up a Loyalty Card

We like to reward our regular customers with the Loaf Loyalty Card, to enable you to collect ‘Loaf’ stamps and redeem a free loaf of bread!

You’ll get your last loaf in a baker’s dozen on us

when you buy 12 loaves, you’ll get the 13th free!*

Ask at the till. Subject to terms and conditions – details on the card*.

Loaf Loyalty Card

We look forward to seeing you soon!

The Loaf Team

New Loaf Bakery Shop Opens – Sat 26 April

Stirchley Just Got Tastier!

At Loaf  this week there has been a hive of activity.  We have done a complete refit of the shop and are introducing some new editions – including weekday takeaway lunches, and a small selection of cookery equipment, specialist cookery ingredients and local produce to buy. We’ll also be selling  our usual selection of speciality bread and cakes . Thanks to a fantastic team of staff and volunteers the new & improved Loaf Bakery Shop re-opens tomorrow – Saturday 26th April 2014. Particular thanks goes to Tom, Sarah, Nancy, Andy, Jordan, Mike, Alasdair, Russ, Walter and Jane for all your hard work. You’re amazing!

Below you’ll find out what’s new, discover our new opening hours and salivate at this week’s takeaway lunch menu – changing every week. We hope you like the look of the new shop too, with much of our furniture made from reclaimed palettes and recycled materials….

New Loaf Bakery Shop Refit  New Loaf Bakery Refit

New Loaf Bakery Refit Tom Making Tea for the Workers

 

New Loaf Bakery Shop Opens – Saturday 26 April 2014

So here’s what we’ve got on offer. Pop in to discover what’s new….

New Loaf Bakery Shop. Designer: Kerry Leslie

 

New Opening Hours

Tuesday – Friday: 12 – 6.30pm

Saturday: 8.15am – 1pm

Tuesdays – Fridays: Takeaway lunches, from 12noon

 

Weekday Takeaway Lunch Menu

Tuesday 29 April  to Friday 2 May 2014, from 12 noon

Tuesday – Daal with sourdough;  Baked ham & mature cheese croissant.

Wednesday – Herb & mushroom Frittata with green salad;  Baked ham & mature cheese croissant.

Thursday – Rosso Pomodoro Soup with sourdough;  Baked ham & mature cheese croissant.

Friday – Spinach, artichoke & chilli goats cheese pizza;  Spicy ‘Nduja sausage, mozzarella  & parmesan pizza.

We will also have brewed coffee and loose leaf teas to takeaway.

Brewed cofee and loose leaf tea to takeaway

 

Pick up a Loyalty Card

We like to reward our regular customers with the Loaf Loyalty Card, to enable you to collect “˜Loaf’ stamps and redeem a free loaf of bread!

You’ll get your last loaf in a baker’s dozen on us

when you buy 12 loaves, you’ll get the 13th free!*

Ask at the till. Subject to terms and conditions – details on the card*.

Loaf Loyalty Card

We look forward to seeing you soon!

The Loaf Team

The Guardian, Country Living Magazine & New Course Dates

At the beginning of March, we were pleased to be featured in the April edition of Country Living magazine, and again in the Guardian on Saturday 22nd March. Celebrating Loaf Cookery School in their Country in the City section, Country Living magazine featured our Earth Oven Building course – and we sold out on places for our end of May course straight away! The Guardian featured us in their ‘Do Something’ supplement, mentioning our bread subscriber scheme, and our no waste bread policy (see photos of articles below). So, we’ve seen an additional flurry of interest, which is fantastic – taking the word about Loaf further afield. With such amazing interest, we’ve had to add new course dates to keep up with the demand. Coming up we have:

NEW COURSE DATES 

The Earth- Oven Weekend is great for both garden, food and bushcraft enthusiasts, and definitely for those that don’t mind getting their hands dirty. No experience is needed, we’ll teach you everything – just a willingness to get stuck in. You can cook practically anything in a wood-fired oven, from bread and cakes to casseroles and pizza, all with that unique smoky taste. And there really is nothing quite like it.

To find out more and to book visit: Earth-Oven Building Weekend

Join Loaf and fish expert Lap-fai Lee for a hands-on evening learning the art and science of fish preparation and cookery. This three hour workshop aims to take the fear out of fish and give you the knowledge and skills to go home and start enjoying preparing fish in your own kitchen. It’s actually pretty quick, easy and fun when you know how! Related courses include our equally fantastic Seafood Two: Shellfish course, if you fancy taking your culinary skills that extra step.

To find out more and to book visit: Seafood One: Fish

Country Living March_April 2014

Country Living, April 2014. Photo courtesy Mike Satterthwaite

Guardian 22 March 2014

Guardian, 22 March 2014. Photo courtesy @Lauralarue

Treat Yourself

Kitchen Essentials: Illustration: www.walternewton.com

Alongside our forthcoming Forage and Cook course, we have a fantastic selection of other Loaf Cookery School courses coming up in April to whet your spring cooking appetite. Go on, treat yourself.

April 2014 Courses

Cooking Meat – Tuesday 8th April

Butchery: Perfect Poultry – Tuesday 15th April

Forage & Cook – Wednesday 16th April

Handmade Pasta  – Tuesday 22nd April (one place available)

Knife Skills – Wednesday 30th April

Why not?! Find out more here: www.loafonline.co.uk/cookeryschool or call Nancy on 0121 458 7682

Welcoming Spring – Forage & Cook

Forage & Cook Course with Tom Baker at Loaf. Photo: Jane Baker

With a glimpse of sun and warmth, bulbs are emerging from their winter sleep, buds are forming on hedgerows and trees, and blossom is bursting into flower. The seasons are changing and with spring come’s the first of our Forage and Cook courses for 2014.

Illustration: www.walternewton.

April: Wednesday 16th
May
: Tuesday 6th (one place available), Wednesday 7th (one place available)
June
: Tuesday 3rd, Wednesday 4th

 

Foraging isn’t just a countryside past-time, it can be an urban adventure too! Join us for a delightful evening wandering the urban wilds of south Birmingham in search of edible treats, before returning to Loaf HQ to turn them into some fabulous seasonal dishes. This course is aimed at those with little or no experience of foraging, and covers all the practicalities, legalities, and safety aspects of picking wild plants to eat. By the end of the evening you will be able to confidently identify several readily available wild foods, know how to properly prepare them, and be eager to get out there on your own adventure.

To find out more and to book visit: Forage & Cook

Welcoming Spring – Forage & Cook

Forage & Cook Course with Tom Baker at Loaf. Photo: Jane Baker

With a glimpse of sun and warmth, bulbs are emerging from their winter sleep, buds are forming on hedgerows and trees, and blossom is bursting into flower. The seasons are changing and with spring come’s the first of our Forage and Cook courses for 2014.

Illustration: www.walternewton.

April: Wednesday 16th
May
: Tuesday 6th (one place available), Wednesday 7th (one place available)
June
: Tuesday 3rd, Wednesday 4th

 

Foraging isn’t just a countryside past-time, it can be an urban adventure too! Join us for a delightful evening wandering the urban wilds of south Birmingham in search of edible treats, before returning to Loaf HQ to turn them into some fabulous seasonal dishes. This course is aimed at those with little or no experience of foraging, and covers all the practicalities, legalities, and safety aspects of picking wild plants to eat. By the end of the evening you will be able to confidently identify several readily available wild foods, know how to properly prepare them, and be eager to get out there on your own adventure.

To find out more and to book visit: Forage & Cook

Loaf is Changing

Shop Changes

After a successful first year on Stirchley high street Loaf has outgrown the bakery and is expanding to keep up with increasing customer demand for delicious bread & cakes. Thank you to Stirchley Stores volunteers, our customers, bread bond holders, bread club members,  our landlords, Loaf directors and staff for making this success possible. At the end of April 2014 Loaf will be taking over the shop from Stirchley Stores in order to meet our growing customer demand. The new bakery shop will be run & managed 100% by Loaf staff.

20th-25th April 2014: Shop closes for refurbishment
End April 2014: New Loaf Bakery shop opens

——————————————————————————————————————————

The new Loaf Bakery shop will sell:

Our usual selection of delicious bread & cakes
Fresh takeaway lunches & hot drinks
Specialist cookery school equipment (e.g. preserving equipment)
A limited selection of specialist cookery ingredients (e.g. 00 pasta flour, yeast)

——————————————————————————————————————————

sourdough

A Special Thankyou

To Stirchley Stores volunteers for your hard work, passion & energy this year. You have brought the community together, &  proven that local people are really keen to see positive change on their high street & to see better access to healthy, affordable, & ethically sourced food. We wish you every success in moving forward with new options in the future and hope to see you continue as a co-operative in Stirchley.

Keep an eye on the Loaf website for future shop updates
www.loafonline.co.uk

How do you turn a kitchen novice into a fantastic cook?

We can’t claim to be able to turn you into Michelin star chefs. Sorry.

Illustration: www.walternewton.Often, we meet neighbours, friends and Loaf customers who’d love to shake up their culinary skills and become better home cooks. Most people’s concern is how to work with ingredients to turn them from bland, same-old set dishes, to an endless repertoire of flavoursome meals that they would be proud to serve. Basically, what’s the magic?

And it’s my concern too. I may be married to Tom, but I don’t share the same culinary experiences, and therefore skill or knowledge (even though most people think we share the same brain!). I’m good at Marketing – but I also love eating good food from around the world, and watching the joy it gives others. So i’m slowly starting to learn too. I’ve done the Bread: Back to Basics course and i’m booked on the Dosa and Handmade Pasta courses.

My culinary wish list is as follows:

  • Understanding flavours – I have a great sense of taste, and grow my own fresh herbs, but I’d love to grasp making fantastic flavour combinations, to transform a dish with a few simple touches.
  • Building Blocks – How do I make the classic stocks and sauces from around the world extra special? (béchamel to improve my Italian cooking; tasty vinaigrettes to lift my salad, tomato-based sauce to die for;  a good solid home-made mayonnaise, and classic French and Asian stocks).
  • Preparing ingredients and utensils – Sometimes my timing goes awry or i’m slowed down by not knowing which utensil to select, or how to use it well for the job intended.
  • International Cuisines – I grew up eating classic British meat and veg dinners, which I love. But i’m also blown away discovering international cuisines from Asia, Europe and Africa, and I simply how I can make them too.

So,  i’m upping my game and booking on some Kitchen Essentials courses , to tick my culinary wish list boxes. Stocks and Sauces, Beans, Pulses and Grains and Knife Skills to start. Fingers crossed.

Kitchen Essentials: a series of evening cookery courses

Led by Loaf Baker and trained chef Dom Clarke, this series of short workshops are designed to help create more adventurous, faster, efficient home cooks. They cover a wide range of skills, and work well as single courses or as a whole set. Each once does what it says on the tin, teaches you a new and essential kitchen skills. Once you’ve learn the magic they’ll be no turning back. All with an evening meal included, cooked by you! Coming up:

Kitchen Essentials: Illustration: www.walternewton.comKitchen Essentials
Knife Skills: Tuesday 18th March
Stocks and Sauces: Tuesday 18th February
Cooking Vegetables: Tuesday 25th February
Herbs & Spices:  Tuesday 11th March
Beans, Pulses & Grains: Tuesday 1st April
Cooking Meat: Tuesday 8th April

To find out more about each workshop visit: Kitchen Essentials. £30 per person per workshop (except Cooking Meat – £40).

www.loafonline.co.uk/cookeryschool

Jane Baker

 

Happy Christmas & Thank you!

What a year!

It’s been fantastic. Thank you to everyone that has made 2013 a real success. We’ve grown from strength to strength over the year, increasing our staff  team, taking on new directors, extending our selection of bread & cakes, developing new courses and pop-up events and meeting lots of new faces in the cookery school, bakery & on our local high street in Stirchley.

Thank you to all our customers, friends, colleagues & families. Special mention also goes to our:

  • Bread Bond Holders – without whom none of this would have been possible – thank you
  • Bread Club members – for returning to the bakery week after week to pick up baked goodies!
  • Loaf Directors – Matt, Michelle, Russ… and former directors Tim & Ria
  • Loaf Staff – Andy, Dom, Jane, Nancy, Sarah & Tom
  • Cookery School Guest Tutors – Haseen, Lap, Lizzy, Mohini, Rachel & Steve
  • Everards Brewery – our landlords who have helped us grow on Stirchley high street
  • Stirchey Stores Members – for sharing the Loaf love by selling our bread & cakes in the shop
  • Creative & green fingered friends – Clare, Fraser, Jack, Jacob, Kerry, Mike, Paul & Walter
  • Fellow Food Lovers – Brad, Carl, Chris, Krishan, Lap, Nico, Nick, Vic
  • Fordall Farm – a community owned business who are a real inspiration to us.

And many, many more… there are just too many to mention!

Loaf in Lights - Christmas 2013

Have a very Happy Christmas and promise of a wonderful new year.

We look forward to developing new & exciting projects in 2014 and hope you will join us for the ride!

From the Loaf Team

x x x

* Christmas Closure – The Loaf Community Bakery, Cookery School and Stirchley Stores will be closed from Wednesday 25th December, re-opening on Thursday 2nd January 2014. Bread Subscribers – we will be baking for you again on Friday 3rd January.

 

Christmas Goodies from the Bakery

The mincemeat that we made back in October is maturing nicely, and quite frankly we’ve held off long enough. Now December is upon us, we’ll be unleashing glorious mince pies on you every day in the bakery. We have a deliciously rich mincemeat, which will be stuffed into our own sweet shortcrust pastry and baked fresh daily.

PRE-ORDER STOLLEN – This year reserve your Christmas Stollen (for collection in the shop on 23 – 24 December only). We do not offer a postal service. Our usual selection of bread produced in the Loaf Community Bakery will also be available to buy as usual in the Stirchley Stores co-operative community shop.

Christmas Stollen

CHRISTMAS OPENING HOURSThe Loaf Community Bakery, Cookery School and Stirchley Stores will be closed from Wednesday 25th December, re-opening on Thursday 2nd January 2014.

STIRCHLEY BREWHOUSE – We’re taking a small break from Stirchley Brewhouse throughout December. It’s all hands on deck in the bakery instead in the run up to Christmas. The smell of seasonal dried fruit & spices is amazing. Brewhouse will be back again in early 2014.

CHRISTMAS OPENING HOURS @ Stirchley Stores:

Tuesday – Friday     2 – 7pm

Saturday                8.15am – 2pm

Monday 23rd December      2 – 7pm

Tuesday 24 December    8.15am – 2pm

Closed 25th December – 1st January.

Re-opening on Thursday 2nd January 2014, 2 – 7pm.

 

 

Coming up next week… our Shellfish course

Seafood Two: Shellfish course

This Wednesday 23rd October – 6.30pm to 9.30pm.

Being one of the furthest cities in the UK from the coast it’s not surprising that so many of us in Birmingham love seafood but don’t know where to start when it comes to shellfish preparation. It’s a forgotten food skill that our coastal ancestors would have passed down through generations, but in recent years we’ve begun to lose.

Seafood Two: Shellfish. Photo: Jane Baker

Here’s how the evening will look…

Shellfish Masterclass

  • Clean, prepare, and cook a range of shellfish such as crabs, oysters, and lobster.
  • Master how to cook beautiful Asian & European style shellfish dishes.
  • Take away tips and recipes to create the magic at home in your own kitchen.
  • Under the expert guidance of fish expert Lap-fai Lee

Evening Meal included
Enjoy a fantastic shellfish feast such as crab linguine, dressed oysters, and chargrilled squid, at the end of the evening.

Receive a Loaf Loyalty Card for future discounts on Real Bread in the shop.

Seafood Two: Shellfish. Photo: Jane Baker

Afterwards why not take a visit to to the fantastic wholesale fish market in Birmingham city centre brimming with a wide range of fish and shellfish, and begin to create the magic again at home.

For more info and to book click here Seafood Two: Shellfish

And if f you like the sound of this why not try our Seafood One: Fish course two