Bread by Neil

A car full of bread heading for Stretham. Shame that the buns didn’t make it, as well as a batch of loaves, which I lost when the main fuse tripped, as the rest of the loaves are looking GORGEOUS. Still, proud of myself for keeping it together, resolving the issue, and getting back on track for the rest of the bake. Life is never straightforward when you’re a baker!

Mmm… that’s tasty. Been having a play around with something a customer suggested earlier in the year - a spiced tea loaf. Well… actually it’s a loaf made from my sourdough hot cross bun mix. And it’s worked out pretty well. 😋

There are a couple of spares from my test batch available in the bakery today if you want to try one. Otherwise look out for a random bake of them on the website.

Orders are now open on my website for next week and I’ll also be at the Stretham Food and Craft Fayre on Stretham High Street tomorrow.

Holidays are great but it’s also good to fire the ovens up and get baking again. Fortunately I haven’t totally forgotten what to do and the bakes are coming out well!

It had to happen eventually - after nearly three weeks travelling across Europe a piece of white sliced has finally crossed my path! But the curry wurst was so tasty, and the view over the swimming lake in Hamburg’s Stadt Park so good, that I could forgive this culinary indiscretion.

I’m heading home now so will be opening up orders for next week’s bread on Sunday ready to fire up the ovens again.

Last night in Scandinavia tonight. I’ll be sad to leave the land of the cinnamon bun and many other baked delights. It’s fascinating that every cinnamon bun I’ve had so far has been different (and I’ve had a few!), the shape, the dough, the bake and even the ingredients have changed - the latest featured crushed almonds on top.

And I was quite excited to find that they use Øland flour in the latest organic bakery that I’ve managed to find, an ancient strain of Swedish wheat that is just starting make a comeback and is especially well suited to sourdough bread.

All is not lost though, Hamburg next and then a night in Holland before we get home at the weekend.

Sadly the Finland leg of the trip is about to come to an end as we head back to Stockholm tomorrow. But it’s been a week of great discoveries, interesting flavours and a lot of emotion - this stunning landscape had me welling up a few times.

Rye bread in many forms (including sourdough), but also buckwheat and lots of spelt loaves, interesting variations on the custard tart, wild blueberry buns, and of course, a lot more open sandwiches. And who’s have thought that one of the highlights would be liquorice ice cream! Plenty of ideas to bring home with me.

We’ve made it to Finland! And there’s been plenty of bread sampling on the way. Somehow I managed to book an Airbnb a couple of doors down from an organic bakery in Lubeck that grinds its own flour (they had some very interesting apple and spelt rolls), and the pastries in Copenhagen really are as good as they say.

Another week in Finland before we head back through Sweden - rye bread and knackbrod are now featuring heavily in my diet, with plenty of pickles on the side.

Off to Ely Markets Farmers Market today!

Unfortunately a mixer breakdown yesterday caused a few problems so there are no cinnamon or lemon buns. Bread’s looking amazing though!

It’s been hot in the bakery this week! Having to work at speed to avoid over proofed dough, then waiting nervously as the poor fridge tries to pull the temperature down for the overnight re**rd is a sourdough bakers lot in the summer.

But this morning it wasn’t as hot as I’d like it to be - only one of the ovens had fired up on its overnight timer. I managed a temporary fix to get the bake out but it made everything a bit of a juggling act to get all the bakes through in the right order. Now to find out if the timer was at fault, or if, as I suspect, the power socket had given up the ghost.

Bit of a sourdough tangzhong burger bun frenzy in the bakery today. After the dust had settled (and after a cooling swim in the river) I had mine with mortadella, pepperoni, gherkins, radish and black garlic mayonnaise. Not a burger in sight!!

I’m not sure which was a bigger highlight this week, the perfectly fried egg on a slice of Pumpernickel’s Cousin I ate in the cool garden early this morning while the second batch of the day’s loaves baked in the oven, or the mole that crawled into my pocket on a trip to see an old colleague in Norfolk on Wednesday.

Or maybe it’s the fact that I’ve now left the day job and have become a full time baker. Whichever, it’s been a pretty awesome week.

As I’m now full time I’ve increased the quantities available on the website, so hopefully won’t be selling out of the most popular loaves every Friday as I have been recently. There’s also a batch of tangzhong burger buns available both days next week.

It was good to turn the ovens off today - it’s been red hot in the bakery and it’s only going to get warmer this afternoon.

Don’t forget, I’m closed on Wednesday next week, but back baking as normal on Friday.

If I was any good at sound recording I’d have filmed this loaf and called it “Bastard serenaded by a Goldfinch” as a Goldfinch was merrily trilling away in one of my trees as I took this photo.

What a wonderful way to start the morning.

But the reason I was taking the picture was actually because I’d sold out of Bastards today and hence was really pleased they come out so well. Very proud of my little bread babies today.

Three freshly baked brioche loaves ready to be made into Honey Butter Toast for the Ely Markets Farmer’s Market tomorrrow. There’ll also be lemon curd buns and babkas, masala buns, bread pudding, Malty Bostock, the Don, the Bastard, Umami, the Hug, the Sunshine loaf, the Parmy and the Pumpernickels cousin.

See you there!

Loving the Umami loaves at the moment. I’d been struggling with them recently and whilst the crumb and flavour were excellent the shape was a little flat. But after a few tweaks to the recipe and process they’re back to where they should be.

That’s the thing when working with UK grown stonemilled flour, every batch is different so you have to constantly fiddle with your recipes to stay on top of the game. It’s both infuriating and the reason I do this, after all, who wants to be a robot 🤖?

The latest in my occasional series of Bread by Neil by You is a gorgeous looking slice of last month’s Village loaf with tomatoes, feta and basil from Natalie. I really enjoy that loaf but it is nice to have a break from destoning olives, wrestling with a kilo at a time starts to get a bit wearing after a while.

This month’s special (the Sunshine) has flavours from the other side of the Mediterranean - sun dried tomatoes, harissa and cheddar. OK, Somerset isn’t very Mediterranean right now, but occasionally I allow myself a little artistic license with my bread descriptions 😂

Buns… before and after baking. Taste much better once they’ve been baked 😂

I’ll be making a batch of lemon curd for the new lemon buns today - assuming I don’t mess it up there’ll be some samples in the bakery on Friday.

Next week’s a new month which means a new loaf on the menu. Well, not totally new, one of the favourites from last year coming back for another month.

The Sunshine Loaf is packed with sundried tomatoes, cheddar and Harrissa, fragrant with sunshine and hope for a good summer. Orders now open for next week at https://breadbyneil.co.uk

I’m loving the sourdough spelt loaves at the moment. It’s good to work with a dough that feels so different to the standard wheat sourdough, and fascinating to learn its moods and how it reacts to different weather conditions. Yesterday in the warm humid air the dough was really fast, just galloping along, and I think it’s made a lovely loaf.

As well as a picture of the loaves I’ve attached a little graph to show how the combination of spelt flour and the sourdough process makes it a suitable loaf for those following a low fodmap diet. I find it fascinating how complex our gut is, and that choices are not as simple as gluten or gluten free.

Although… I’m not sure why I’m singing this loaf’s praises, I only produce it once a fortnight and it sold out again!

New oven in action! First test loaves baked successfully. Interestingly with the same temperature on the dials as my original oven it bakes a little cooler, so I’ll turn it up a notch on Saturday morning for the market bake.

I love the fact that baking is a mix of art and science. The numbers are important but so is the soul.

It might only look like a little gap, but there’s just enough space for my new oven that’s arriving early tomorrow morning. Very excited that this will give me the flexibility to try new bakes, as well as an extra hour in bed every now and then.

It’s good to see this story that’s been rumbling on for a while make it into the National press.

My loaves may not always be exactly the same shape as each other but they’re all handmade from scratch (don’t I know it!), baked by me in the oven that you can see when you pick your bread up, and 100% real.

Four major UK supermarkets accused of misleading ‘freshly baked’ bread claim Real Bread Campaign makes trading standards complaint over marketing by Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Lidl and Co-op

Reminder - closing early at 2.30pm today.

Excited to be launching another new loaf - a 100% organic stoneground white spelt flour loaf. This one’s been a bit tricky to master as the gluten levels in spelt flour are lower than wheat, and it’s much more fragile needing careful handling. But the flavour make it all worth it!

This also might be of interest for anyone who’s following a low fructan diet (also known as low fodmap) as spelt is naturally low in fructans and the sourdough process lowers the levels even further. Recent research has shown that many people who are non-coeliac gluten intolerant are actually sensitive to the fructans that coexist with the gluten rather than the gluten itself.

I’ll be baking this one once a fortnight on Wednesdays for now.

The first of this month’s special enjoying their spell in the tanning salon! They’re the Village Loaves, a Cypriot style bread with olives, halloumi and mint. Still a few left for Friday although the Dons have just sold out.

It’s a new loaf next week, the return of the Village Loaf, a white sourdough with all the flavours of Cyprus - halloumi, olives and mint.

You can order online at https://breadbyneil.co.uk to pick up from my house, or wait until later in June and find it Ely Markets Farmers Market on 22nd June.

But I’m also an excited about giving my sage bush a haircut, as, despite continual snipping to provide leaves for the Charles and Sage loaf, it still managed to take over half my garden. Thankfully order is now restored.

That’s a brioche nestled between the loaves. This one won’t stay as a brioche for long - I have big plans for it! Might make a batch for the next market though.

When camping there’s only one thing to do - toast a malt loaf and marshmallow kebab over an open fire. Oh, and eat the most amazing sweetcorn and sausages too. And get woken up by the birds at 4.30am. The perfect baker’s weekend away 😂

And just when I thought life couldn’t get any better along came a dollop of clotted cream on top of a Bun. A truly decadent baker’s snack. It’s been a busy week though so I’ve earnt it. No guilt at all.

And don’t forget, if you’ve ordered bread today, I’m closing at 2.30pm.

A double shot in this week’s edition of Bread by Neil by You. A Parmy bacon sandwich and a perfectly poached egg perched on top of a slice of Don. Making my mouth water. Thank you Dan and Jo!

When Dan sent me the picture he said “You should give up your day job - this is lush.”

Well, I just have! I’ll be baking full time from September. Exciting times ahead 😅

The view through the bakery window this morning, with freshly baked and glazed buns on the counter and a full load of bread in the oven. Some of the buns are going to be making their way to Ely Grazing Company, the rest are orders for pick up from the bakery.