Thursday 13 December 2012

Baskets for Bakers - a Loafers' Light Bulb Moment!

You know they love shopping for fine foods. Perhaps they've got a bread-maker... What to give them? Obvious. One of Darren and Sam's 'Baskets for Bakers'!

It simply ticks all the boxes even if you're stuck at the last minute (well, up 'til 20th December anyway).  A Christmas 'Basket for Bakers' is a brilliant pressie for anyone who enjoys being in the kitchen.  It even includes the just published Loafers' Puzzle Poem by yours truly. And what a great way to support your local traders and deliver something utterly unique and special to friends and family, personally.

Who's 'yours truly'? In case you can't guess, it's Liz Darcy Jones, guest blogger for today and Bromyard's 'blebsite mistress' (that's blog/web creator for those who want a really simple web solution that allows you to engage with your audience with minimum fuss or screen-time). I'm blogging while they're baking and  munching on some wholemeal spelt and yeast free French flatbread with melted cheese while I'm doing so. Just right for the cold evening and no getting bloated!  Mmmmm....

So what's in these baskets and how much will they set you back?

The list is not exclusive and you can pick and choose items to include if you wish - go and see the baskets in the bakeries, the photo didn't do them justice.

Best items (apart from the poem of course) include: beautiful baker's apron, bread tins, selected speciality flours, baking instructions, jam, a bottle of Pixley Berries to quench the baker's thirst while he or she works. Oh, and oven gloves (vital), a rolling pin to hit anyone who dares criticise the cook... not forgetting the obligatory fridge magnet! All that for £40... and a slightly smaller version for £30 (less the apron and rollling pin).

That'll be all from Loafers' until after Christmas, except to pass on a huge thank you from Darren and Sam to all their customers and suppliers. They wish you a restful Christmas and prosperous New Year. I'd like to thank them back - it's a pleasure working with you guys and I love your passion for bread!

As for the poem? It's the first item on the new Loaflets page! What's a Loaflet? Bet you can guess...

P.S. The baskets are those beautiful vintage looking ones which hold loads and will be useful for years to come.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Mary Berry Gets a Bite of Loafers!

Modelled on our Stress-free Kitchen of course!
Here's a snippet of news from the kitchen. Mary Berry's going to be eating our bread on Monday!

We're delighted to be supporting the British Red Cross by supplying a mixture of our speciality breads for a fund raising luncheon at Lyde Arundel. Walnut's definitely on the list - but at the time of writing we not sure exactly what the other nine loaves will be. Come in and try some walnut. If it's good enough for Mary...


We think the menu sounds pretty scrummy: soup, pate, gravadlax, our bread and other treats - but wonder if our kitchen would be as stress free as normal before serving it up to the Grand Dame of The Great British Bake Off! Baking breads? No problem. All the best to the catering team! It's great to be asked to help by Sarah Roberts and we hope the lunch raises lots of money for the Red Cross - a worthy cause. Thanks for the recommendation Debra.

P.S. Can't wait to spill the beans and some pics of our weekend at Flavours of Herefordshire - where Mary Berry was in such demand her talks were sold out long before the event.

P.P.S. Did we remember to tell you that we don't just have French Tuesdays at Bromyard? Sam over at Kington would be delighted to tell you all about our french flours. Try the croissants - we've been told they're as good as you'll get over the border - France that is, not Wales!

Monday 22 October 2012

Hereford's Flavoursome Weekend!

A quick alert in case you're wanting to taste some wonderful local Autumn foods this weekend...

We'll be at Flavours of Herefordshire this weekend - 27th and 28th October - see our 'Find us at...' page (just uploaded). We're sure lots of our lovely suppliers will be too so we'll be having a good old catch up and let you know how it goes.

Well, it was another manic Monday in Bromyard which was marvellous - with all breads sold out by noon.
We like it like that, although we feel like chanting the lines our empty-handed Tea Poet came up with as she departed:

Secure your bread - order ahead! 

And you can of course, by simply picking up the phone and pre-ordering. Not only does that help you, it also helps us to ensure we're baking the loaves you want.


Friday 12 October 2012

Darren and Sam have baked their first blog post!

We can't wait to share what we're preparing for you for Christmas...

Une boulangerie dans Bromyard! 
But we're going to keep our lips sealed for now! Our first post has to be a Big Thank You. Thanks to everyone who supported our First French Tuesday last week, when we added French loaves and croissants to the day's baking. Ooo la la!

Thanks too to www.bromyard.info for giving the launch a plug. We had no idea how well frequented our local information site is. We welcomed a steady stream of visitors who'd seen the item.

Do place your orders for croissants and French sticks. If the demand continues we may have to make Thursdays 'French Tuesdays'tool!

Out of the kitchen, we're discovering how to 'use our loafs' when it comes to the whole adventure of getting a website together. We're also learning how to balance on the telegraph wire that is twitter... we're @weloveloafers. By the end of day one we had a huge fan base of two followers! Actually, we're laid back when it comes to social media because it's making bread rather than tapping a keyboard that puts a smile on our faces - especially when we see it put smile on yours.

That's it for now - back to making bread, which comes before everything else (except on Sundays when we're certainly not telling you what we get up to!)

 Expect some more pictures soon. Better be careful, Sam's got her camera out.