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Cardiff - Allen's Bakery

Posted by Unknown Thursday, April 17, 2014 0 comments

Allen's Bakery is exactly the sort of place I like to feature in this blog! I think I first read about it in another blog (Gourmet Gorro), and after finding they're also one of Rick Stein’s Food Heroes, I knew I had to visit this traditional bakery.

A lot of local people aren't even aware of its existence, down an alley near Roath:

but it's well worth hunting out. Follow your nose!

Inside the bakery:

there's all sorts of traditional bread and cakes. By now a queue of locals had formed, and everyone was recommending different things to buy. My wife likes the chocolate shortbread and, as it's Good Friday, we can definitely recommend the hot cross buns:

Allen's Bakery

Arran Place
Cardiff
South Glamorgan
CF24 3SA

Tel: 029 2048 1219

Web: http://www.allensbakery.com

Sheffield - Seven Hills Bakery

Posted by Unknown Tuesday, April 8, 2014 0 comments

Seven Hills Bakery started when Matina Mitchell, Laura Bullock and John Travers met at a bread making course at the School of Artisan Food, and then decided to start a bakery near Hunters Bar in Sheffield. Word has evidently got out about how good this bakery is, so I had to wait for the queue outside to go:

There's an amazing choice of bread, including batons, ciabatta, fougasse, roast potato and rosemary, soda bread, sunflower seed and wheat germ & honey:

Sour doughs include apricot and hazelnut, beetroot, fig & walnut, linseed, and raisin & fennel.

We enjoyed this red onion focaccia:

At the back of the shop there's a small café:

where you can have soup, sandwiches, toast, pizza and Monmouth coffee or leaf tea.

There's traditional cakes, like this Victoria sponge:

and lots of interesting items, like these vanilla bean buns:

which don't look anything special, but tasted really nice. We would especially recommend this orange semolina cake:

which was wonderfully moist and tasty.

If you like brioche, you'll also be well catered for. There's sour cherry and marzipan, or lemon and cardamom brioche buns:

and cinnamon brioche swirls:

There's attention to detail here, so the brownies are made with Valrhona dark chocolate.

This lemon almond and poppy seed loaf was wonderfully moist and very lemony (it also smelt lovely). It's also gluten free.

Seven Hills Bakery
129 Sharrow Vale Road
Sheffield
S11 8ZP

Web: www.sevenhillsbakery.co.uk

Oxford - Maison Blanc

Posted by Unknown Sunday, April 6, 2014 0 comments

No guide to fine food shops would be complete without a mention of Maison Blanc in Oxford.

I'm not big on "celebrity chefs", but I've always have had the highest regard for Raymond Blanc. Raymond is clearly passionate about everything he does, and loves and knows good food. Maison Blanc in Oxford is not far from Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, - a place I'd love to visit.

So, if you want a bit of affordable luxury, such as artisan breads, pastries, savouries, cakes and pâtisserie:

visit Maison Blanc!

Maison Blanc
3 Woodstock Road
Oxford
Oxfordshire
OX2 6HA

Tel: 01865 510974

Web: www.maisonblanc.co.uk

Cardiff - Cocorico Patisserie

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, March 26, 2014 0 comments

Every now and then I come across somewhere which is really exceptional, and Cocorico Patisserie is definitely one of those places. It's a café situated a couple of miles north of Cardiff city centre:

and well worth a detour. It's over a 140 mile from my house, so we're talking about a significant detour! It's run by a French man, Laurian Veaudour:

who came to Wales to watch the rugby world cup in 1999 - and is still here!

So you can expect good bread:

which is baked in the shop:

and nice croissants:

and amazing pâtisserie:

Laurian is a perfectionist, so he'll tell you about the farm where he gets his fruit from and all the other ingredients he uses. This cake is called a bit of Wales in the Alps:

because it's based on a Mont Blanc (a French cake), and has a sweet chestnut mousse with a dark chocolate mousse, but it's it’s laced with Penderyn Welsh whisky.

You'll need to allow extra time here, as choosing in this shop can be quite difficult with such a great choice! Do you go for an éclair or a lemon tart?

or a royal, special apple or tarte chibouste:

Our favourite was this religieuse:

choux buns filled with a lavender flavoured crème, which tasted divine! The Paris-Brest was also very good.

They do a stylish afternoon tea, and it's always nice to take some cakes back home:

Cocorico Patisserie

Niazs House
53-55 Whitchurch Road
Cardiff
South Glamorgan
CF14 3JP

Tel: 029 2132 8177

Web: www.cocoricopatisserie.co.uk

Reaseheath’s Year 9 Schools Bake Off Competition

Posted by Unknown Thursday, March 20, 2014 0 comments

Today it was an absolute pleasure to come to work, as I was helping out with Reaseheath College’s Year 9 Schools Bake Off Competition.

The competition has attracted some very talented entries, from Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Manchester, Wirral and mid Wales, and I was seeing the 8 best entries!

The contestants had to produce something with a British/Royal theme.

I was hoping for a crown of lamb or turkey, with King Edward or Jersey royal potatoes, or maybe coronation chicken - but the finalists had all gone for sweeter items.

These two girls from Llanfyllin, were making fruit tarts:

and all the rest made cakes.

I was amazed to hear the students using technical terms like "bain marie" and "ganache". If this is what they're like before they come to college, we'll have some great bakers and chefs in the future.

This girl is air brushing Prince George's cheeks, to make sure they're rosy:

A girl from Grove School, in Market Drayton, got her grandfather to make a mould for the biscuits to decorate her cake:

I wish you could smell this cake:

This cake, made by two girls from Cransley School, had lemon curd inside (which they made on the day). It was decorated with pretty icing flowers, which they also made:

The Manchester High School for Girls entry had a spun sugar crown:

Here you can see the team from Stockport, who've made soldiers from icing, finishing off their cake:

If there was a prize for ingenuity, it must go to the girls who made fish and chips (which is apparently one of the Queen's favourite meals:

The fish is cake with buttercream and crumbled honeycomb toffee, the chips are shortbread and the mush peas are marshmallow pieces in a buttercream with some green colouring.

I was very relieved not to be doing the final judging, which was expertly carried out by chef Brian Mellor, Cheshire WI judge Mary Hignett, and Peter Wright, the chairman of Wrights Pies Food Group - who also sponsored the competition.

They were extremely thorough, and assessed in great detail the quality of the bake, and the knowledge and skills of the entrants, as well as the appearance of the final product.

I'm sure it was a very difficult decision, I was quite upset that they couldn't all be winners:

In the end they decided on 3rd prize to Cransley School, for the iced cake with flowers and home made lemon curd.

The 2nd prize went to Stockport for this cake:

and 1st prize to The Grove:

I was really impressed with all the contestants, everything went like clockwork (there were no accidents/cremations/spillages unlike certain TV programmes of a similar name).

I hope to see some at Reaseheath, when they've left school.

Web: www.reaseheath.ac.uk/subjects/food

Darlington - Clervaux Bakery

Posted by Unknown Wednesday, February 26, 2014 0 comments

Earlier this year I'd dash home from work to watch the latest recording of Britain's Best Bakery. I'm full of admiration for bakers, and the standards in this competition have been extremely high. When I learnt that one of the entrants did fine pâtisserie, had a café and was in Darlington - I thought that'll be Robineau (one of my favourite visits last year). However I was wrong!

So I watched and learnt about the wonderful Clervaux Bakery:

The more I heard about this bakery, the more I wanted to visit.

They make a wide range of delicious artisan breads every morning and use only the very best ingredients including organic flours and local produce:

They're listed in the Real Bread Finder, their white organic tin loaves are proved overnight to make a better loaf.

They do a cheese & onion bread, and their sourdough boule uses wild yeast and is proved slowly over 24 hours to give a distinctive flavour and delicious crust:

There's also multigrain and rye, date and pecan bread and these pretty batons:

They do a good selection of rolls:

They also make delicious croissants, scones and some really nice teacakes:

They make vanilla and cinnamon palmiers:

and there's desserts like treacle tart or double chocolate brownies.

At the back of the shop:

there's an attractive café:

We were there at breakfast time, and couldn't decide whether to go for a continental breakfast:

or the full English:

Both were really nice.

If you're there at lunchtime there's light meals like this Chickpea, Panzella Salad - with chickpeas, tomato, cucumber, pepper, croutons lemon oil & balsamic:

Or salmon coconut & wild rice salad - with garlic, lime, pepper & pepper yoghurt

Or you could have a Bishops Rarebit - organic ale and caramelised onions on cheese and onion bread served with home made chutney:

Best of all, at the very back, is a viewing window:

where you can watch them making the bread and cakes:

The bakery works with the Clervaux Trust, a local charity, supporting vulnerable adults. So not only are you eating great food in a lovely setting, you're also helping to make the world a better place.

They're also getting a new name – Olivia’s Artisan Bakery and Cafe which their other bakeries (in Northallerton, Thirsk and now also Stokesley) are already using.

Clervaux Bakery
38 Coniscliffe Road
Darlington
County Durham
DL3 7RG

Tel: 01325 351879

Web: www.oliviasbakeryandcafe.co.uk