My Tour of London Bakeries

David Hall and me at London Bread and Cake Company

I have just spent two great days in London finding out about the bakery industry.  It was organised by David Hall, who invited me to London as I won the Young Baker Category (12-17years) at the World Bread Awards. The first day was spent at the London Bread and Cake Company with David Hall.  At the beginning we chatted about my aspirations for the future.  He gave me some ideas of where I could do training to be a baker.  He gave me some books and leaflets to look at and ideas of organisations to join.  I have recently joined the Craft Bakers Association but am now going to join the Real Bread Campaign.

David showed me around his amazing bakery and showed me all the different machines that make his tasty bread.  Some of the products we saw included brioche, bloomers, bread rolls, bagels, Sicilian lemon cake, Russian cake, Eccles cakes and croissants.  David explained the difference between puff pastry and Danish pastry.  David explained how recipes were adapted to suit the needs of various customers.  I had a go at slashing a bloomer and I learnt why these cuts are important.

We saw convection ovens with steam especially for crispy bloomers and saw convection ovens for cakes.  I helped roll some chia bread and slashed the bloomers. I helped with some Sicilian lemon cake that would be served as to first class passengers on an aeroplane.

  

We enjoyed a freshly baked croissant with some of my Ave Maria Sensational Seville Marmalade. This got the thumbs up from David! I had a fantastic day and was looking forward to the next day

 

 

For my second day in London I was pleased to be invited to Dunn's bakery in Crouch End.  This bakery was on the programme Victorian Bakers which was a programme I watched recently and really liked.  

When you walk in the shop you are amazed at the range of delicious cake and bread that is available for sale.   We were shown around by Lewis Freeman who was is a sixth generation baker. We saw buns, seeded loaves, frangipane tarts, cakes, chocolate Easter bunnies, eclairs and mincemeat being made. 
 
We were able to see the equipment used on Victorian bakers including a really old food mixer that is still used today.  Lewis said this takes longer than modern machines but is more gentle, mimicking the action of the hands. 

 
We also saw the oven they used in the programme.  To create steam in this oven, they spray the oven with water to create steam like I do at home. 

 


This oven will be replaced soon by a brand new oven.  We saw a Hobart mixer and another machine which presses dough flat then rolls it up - we had also seen this same type of machine at the London Bread and Cake Company.  As well as these machines we also saw new mixers. Despite the technology it was great to see a lot of processes done by hand. 

It was a very friendly place and we chatted to several of the staff as we went around.
When we had finished, we bought cakes and bread to share with our family who loved them.  

 

 

We called into Budgens when we had finished in the bakery and it was good to see that they were supporting Dunn's bakery by stocking lots of their bread.

I really enjoyed my two days in London.  It has given me knowledge of all the different processes that go on in a bakery and all the different equipment involved.  It was good to be able to compare the things I do with my baking at home with what happens in a bakery business.  I have had lots of ideas of things I would like to do in the future.  Everyone I met was very kind.  I am especially grateful to David Hall for arranging this and to Lewis Freeman who looked after me at Dunn's.

Christopher Freeman, me and Lewis Freeman receiving some of my marmalade for his bread!

Jammy Bakers' review of the year

Cook 5 - Leon
We started the year with a challenge - to cook 5 dishes within the course of a year.  All three of us managed to do our five dishes and have really enjoyed the challenge. We even visited Leon Restaurants earlier in the year and had some very tasty food.






Jampionships
As a prize for Christopher winning the Junior Jammie section of the World Jampionships last year, we were invited to stay in Blairgowrie for a few days.  We were looked after really well by our hosts Eileen and Bill McBain from the Old Stables, Alyth in their wonderful self catering accommodation.  Christopher and Charlotte addressed BEPTA and gave away some tips on how to make the best jam.  We also were also delighted to go to Bamff House and went on a beaver hunt and saw a beaver for the first time.

Northampton Produce show
The Northampton Produce show was re-launched this year and we loved taking part in this.  We did well with various classes and Christopher's cupcakes won him best in show. Christopher was pleased to enter his homegrown onions in the show too.

Making cakes for food parcel project 
Christopher took part in a community challenge in which he baked lots of loaf cakes, and sold them to friends.  Christopher then spent the money on food for the food parcel project.

Sandringham Food Festival

We were so pleased to go to Sandringham Food Festival and meet the Fabulous Baker Brothers: Tom and Henry Herbert.  They gave a very funny demonstration on meat and sourdough.  Shelina Permaloo also demonstrated some delicious food.  At the end of the show we had a lovely chat to Linda Hewett from Fulbeck Bread.






Wellingborough Bake Off 

Christopher did not enter the Welllingborough Bake Off this year.  However Charlotte rose to the challenge and was "Star Baker" in the children's section with her Owl cupcakes





Show and Tell at the Cake and Bake Show

We had a great time at the Cake and Bake Show. Christopher took his harvest wheel bread on the Great British Bake Off Stage.  Jo Wheatley complimented Christopher on the flavour and texture of the bread.  It was a cheesy herby bread and included mice and mini loaves of bread

World Bread Awards
We returned again to the World Bread Awards and were greeted as friends, by many who we had met last year and during the last year.  Again we were treated to a lots of lovely food and then it was the awards.  Christopher was a finalist again this year, having entered two of his breads into the competition.  He was called as runner up for one of his breads...and then winner of the Young Baker 12-17 years category for his other bread! Both of the breads were given "Gold" certificates.

KitchenAid sponsor the children's section and following the awards, Christopher was delighted to receive a Kitchen Aid Artisan Food Processor which has been put to good use for bread, soups and chopped vegetables.

WI - Jam demonstration
Christopher and his Mum demonstrated jam making to the local WI, with Christopher again taking the stage to share more jam making secrets.

BBC Good Food Show
The BBC Good Food Show was a great opportunity to hear excellent speakers and taste fantastic foods.  Christopher was pleased to meet Paul Hollywood who said Christopher will be taking over from him next! He also met Mich Turner who gave some handy hints on what to study at school.



Christmas baking
We had a lot of fun with Christmas this year. We always love to make stollen as presents and decided to try three different recipes.  We tried an award winning recipe by Emmanuel Hadrianjeou which was really zesty and tasty and everyone loved.

We tried a Baker Brothers recipe that was very quick and easy and included chocolate, which was different.  Christopher took two of these into school to his German lesson and they were enjoyed by everyone.  Charlotte made a few too and added some pink marzipan for a girly twist.

We finished the year with Baker Mike's stollen recipe and it was these we made for our family as gifts as they had enjoyed them so much last year and kept well.

We followed two fruit cake recipes this Christmas: one by Dan Lepard and one by Charlotte White.  Christopher turned Dan's recipe into the most wonderfully dark treacly cake and topped it with some sugarcraft decorations he had been inspired to make at a local sugarcraft class.

Charlotte used Charlotte White's Ruby Red fruit cake and turned it into a beautiful 50th wedding anniversary cake.  This was very fruity and delicious.

Well that was 2015:  next year? Lets hope for lots more new recipes to try and interesting people to meet.        

Love from the Jammy Bakers xx