One Mile Bakery Hale

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Last week, I was lucky enough to get an invite through my lovely blogger friend Sophie of Sophie’s Scran to attend an ‘Introduction to Baking Bread’ with One Mile Bakery Hale.  Now, I’m no whizz in the kitchen at all and cooking bores me to death but I do fancy myself as a Mary Berry when it comes to baking (except my cakes aren’t as pretty) so I was really intrigued to see how I’d fare with bread.

I’d heard a little bit about One Mile Bakery and seen them about on Twitter but I was a little unsure how they operated and where from…and that’s how I found myself, on Friday morning at 10.25 am (you read that right, I was early) outside a residential property just off Hale Road.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4352″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Basically, One Mile Bakery Hale is a fantastic little business run by the lovely Matt out of his own home kitchen.  Aside from running baking classes during the week (and there’s a fab selection to choose from), every Wednesday evening he also goes out on his bike and delivers handmade artisan loaves, seasonal soups and preserves to customers within a mile of his home.  It’s a concept originally dreamt up by Elisabeth Mahoney, journalist and passionate foodie, in Sheffield and grew from a desire to provide fantastic bread that could be paired simply with delicious comfort food.

As I say, I was really excited to take this class as I’ve always found the prospect of making bread a little scary.  There’s too much that could go wrong, in my opinion, and I know little-to-nothing about what flour I should be using.  With the kneading, the rising and the proving, it felt like a series of complicated steps I’d be sure to mess up.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”4353″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”4354″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4355″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Despite my little love of baking, I must admit I’m a quite lazy too and it was great to see that every ingredient (and there aren’t many!) had been pre-weighed out for ease.  Armed with our trusty (and I’m sure appropriately named but for the purpose of this blog and due to my lack of memory I’m going to call them…) scrapers, we set to work making our first loaf.

Over the course of the day we would make three loaves and Matt spent a lot of time at various points telling us a little about them and the flour we’d be using, as well as some general tips and tricks for making the perfect bread.  Mind blown, my favourite tip from the day was that when you have a wet, mushy mess of dough in your hands don’t be tempted to add more flour to dry it out – just roll with it!  Amateur bakers are seemingly obsessed with drying dough out and a good loaf of bread that does not make.  The three loaves of the day were a seeded spelt loaf, a pain de Campagne (French country bread) and some classic wholemeal bread.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4356″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]There were only three of us on the course – Matt never likes to have more than around five – and we had a really good giggle whilst mixing our ingredients together and getting to grips with perfecting kneading.  I truly embarked on the day thinking I’d be a little bit rubbish but with demonstrations from Matt and a little dose of confidence, we were all scraping and rolling away at our doughs like little pros.

A happy bonus was that the five-hour class was interspersed with some lovely food and it wasn’t long before we were breaking off to have some tea and (handmade) toast whilst our dough rose.  I think tasting what our bread could potentially turn out like really whet our appetite for what was to come – and the handmade rhubarb jam went down a hit too![/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4359″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4358″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4357″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]My favourite part of the day had to be adding extra ingredients into the bread before popping them into the proving baskets (or bannetons).  With a whole array of ingredients available, I was in my element throwing a lot of olives (shock horror) into my breads with addition of seeds, sundried tomatoes and nuts.  It’s a chance to get creative and really personalise your bread before you embark on the difficult task of folding it into itself, shaping it for the basket and flipping it over all in one go![/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4360″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Much to our delight, we had a soup starter before our lunch and, as with all the courses, this had been made by Matt too.  It was a really nice touch to have the food so thoughtfully put together and it was great to get a chance to all sit around the table and get to know each other, as well as learning about Matt’s background.  The lunch itself was a lovely little spread of bits to pick at – salad, halloumi, homemade hummus and buttermilk-soaked bread.  It was delicious.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”4362″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”4361″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Bread proved and all there was left to do was slash it Norman Bates-style and put it in the oven.  Me being me, I went for a traditional straight line and cross on two loaves before attempting a delicate – and, obvs, incredibly well executed – crown using scissors.  I don’t mean to brag here but I’m pretty sure I can now add artisan bread designer to my CV but I’ll let you be the judge of that.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”4363″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]As expected, thanks to Matt’s overseeing, our loaves turned out beautifully after around 30 minutes in the oven.  Risen to perfection, wholesome and exceptionally artisan, I think we all felt like they were mini works of art.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4366″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4365″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”4364″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]If baking is your thing – or even if it isn’t! – and you’re considering giving a class a go then you won’t find a better than what’s offered by One Mile Bakery.  Not only can you have an ‘Introduction to Bread’ but you could also attend one of Matt’s other upcoming classes too:

• Introduction to Sourdough
• Italian Baking
• Breads of the World
• Bread & Beer

and you even get some recipes to take away with you.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”4368″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”4367″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

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