Blue Monday? It’s the Small Things that Help
Last Monday was Blue Monday, the so called ‘most depressing day of the year’. For me, the weekend before was way worse than the Monday itself. For no apparent reason I found myself in a real malaise. Getting through the weekend was a challenge; everything was irritating, nothing seemed worthwhile.
Though I manage my depression and anxiety fairly well, there are still days like the weekend before. My family and friends have been super supportive, and I owe them a lot. But baking has helped me to be more mindful, and baking helped me to feel better on Monday. Having to bake, feeling the dough develop in my hands, delivering complete loaves to The Hive and having a chat with Lara. These things really helped me. For many in the community, any day is a potential Blue Monday; but doing something physical, something with others, talking, can be of real help. It’s the small things really.
Curious About Our Bread? Now You Can Try.
We’re really happy to announce that we are supplying Curiosity Kitchen & Deli on Richardson Road. They’ll have some of our bread available to buy; so if you can’t wait until Friday for some Stoneham Bakehouse bread, then you can pop down to Richardson Road and grab yourself a loaf. Nick, the owner, will also be using our bread with some of his food.
We continue to supply The Hive with our seeded malthouse to accompany their delicious soups, but we’re also supplying our brioche style buns for their Korean Pulled Pork buns this week. So if you’re curious about our breads, then get yourself to The Hive and Curiosity Kitchen & Deli, and try some.
How to Shape a Batard
I came across this video in our Instagram feed. A quick demonstration of one method of how to shape a batard.
January Update
2016 has started and the year is already in full swing. After a great break for all the bakers, we’ve started back baking bread in the Poets’ Corner area of Hove. The year ahead promises to be an exciting one, as we step up the search for a place to call home, and look to do more baking with community groups as the months go by.
Our popular Everyday Bread workshops continue at The Hive in the new year. We’ll cover the basics of fermentation, kneading, shaping and baking, with all participants leaving with breads they’ve produced and enjoying a light seasonal meal. If you’re interested in learning to bake, we’ve got places left on our Everyday Bread workshops for Mondays FebruaryΒ 15th, and March 21st between 6-10pm. You can book via the workshops section of the website.
A lot of the work we do in the community is funded through grants from different funding bodies. I mentioned before Christmas that we secured another grant from the Healthy Neighbourhood Fund to continue our work with Happitots Preschool. This will enable us to deliver a series of healthy food and bread workshops to the children at this local preschool. We’re also very excited to announce that we’ve recently be awarded some money from the Hedgcock Bequest to run a series of follow-up sessions to our successful Bread Talk workshops at Hop 50+ on Palmeira Square. This time they will be open to both men and women, and will have a focus on both breadmaking and wellbeing.
Our bread is on The Hive’s menu, and we’re looking to develop this wholesale side of the business. As well as enjoying our bread when out, you can buy bread for your own table in the following ways.
- Order bread during the week and collect itΒ from The Hive on Friday afternoons and alternate Saturdays.
- Buy bread at the Hove Farmers’ Market on the third Saturday of each month – they’re taking a couple of months break, but will be back in March.
- We’re also looking to do a Wednesday bake in the coming weeks – more information to come soon.
If youβre interested in buying bread from us then we have an order form in the Hive, or you can email orders to us on orders@stonehambakehouse.org.uk, or phone/text 07786927110. To see when we’re baking, and what you can order, you can visit our Buy Bread page.Β We’re also still trialling an online order form. Visit our Buy Bread page, or go direct through this link.
You can now pay for your bread in a variety of ways. We continue to take cash, but in addition we can now take payment using Barclays PingIt, Paypal, and direct bank transfer or standing order. If you’re interested in these new payment methods please do get in contact. info@stonehambakehouse.org.uk
We’ve got lots of dreams and lots planned for Stoneham Bakehouse over this year, but what are your ideas? We’re in the process of analysing the results of the annual survey conducted before Christmas, and hope to make it easier to get our bread in the coming months. However, if you have any ideas or skills you would like to share with us we’re always open to ideas. It’s your community bakehouse, so we want you to help us shape its future.
Learn to Bake in 2016
Last night we had the last of our Everyday Bread workshops for the year. We had a great group of people learning the basics of breadmaking, enjoying a chat and having a light supper together. During the session, amongst many things, we covered fermentation, shaping and scaling dough, and some basic techniques for kneading. The workshop was not only a chance to learn these skills which will help you make good bread everyday, but it was also an opportunity to meet other members of our community and to make connections.
loved the relaxed atmosphere…it gave me the tools to progress. Β Β Β RS
We’re pleased to announce that we have a few new dates for this popular workshop. Hosted at The Hive once more, they will be on Monday evenings from 6-10pm (18th January, 15th February, 21st March). In addition to this basic breadmaking workshop we’re looking to schedule some workshops with specific foci. As a Community Supported Bakery, we want to offer what the community wants, so it’s over to you. What breadmaking skills would you like to learn and develop, when would you like to do it, is there a bread you’d really like to make? LetΒ us know, and we’ll do our best to get a workshop booked in for 2016.
If you’d like to buy someone the gift of a breadmaking workshop, where they’ll learn to make fabulous bread, you can always buy a voucher from our site. Valid for six months, the vouchers can be used to pay for one of our workshops.
