Thanks to those who have commented on my humble beginings, I wasn't sure if I'd be interesting enough to read about! In response, We have several well established farmers' markets in our area, some more subscribed to by sellers than others. Some are of the type where produce must be made within 30 miles anbd others do seem to be more general. I have found a distinct lack of good bread being sold in the area and although there are those who sell some smoked products there is no charcurerie to speak of. After a recent article in Delicious magazine and on the Radio 4's Food Programme I do believe there is a nationwide gap in the charcuterie market with a handful of producers scattered around the UK. I know that with a few brief conversations with market traders so far they have showed great interest in what we intend to do, especially from home.
So, what have I been up to? Apart from being a mum to a 5 month old (a job in itself) I have been attempting to bake bread at every opportunity when he has let me. No fancy stuff yet but I am a perfectionist and want to do the basics brilliantly so as I can develop my reputation as soon as possible for quality and taste. This is crucial as real bread is enevitably more expensive to produce than Chorley-Wood pap so will cost more to sell. I'm using organic ingredients wherever possible and avoiding additives at all costs. So far I've had mainly yummy noises from those doing the eating, which is a good sign!
However, there have been some disasters. Some my fault - over proving as more loaves are ready at once than I can get in the oven, woops! Some the fault of my terrible oven. The underbaked sourdoughs at the Patronal lunch at church were embarassing.Our initial inspection by environmental health was a success. We've been given a thumbs up for baking, once we're level 2 Health and Hygene approved and we've had the sign off visit. However, as meat is high risk we need to do a few things before we can get cracking with curing. Few jobs for the hubby then - like moving the shed into the veg garden and building a outhouse! So, we'll open for business with bread and a few bits and bobs like stocks and sauces and the meat will come in later.
I have been worrying however about one aspect. How on earth would I be able to bake enough in 1 day to sell?! So, being resourceful, google to the rescue. I had a shufty round and found a perfect day course. A company called Love Loaves who claim to have the smallest bakery in the world (2m x 2m) run a course called the mini bakery blueprint. You bake bread with the wonderfully named Dragan and soda bread with Penny and they provide help and resources to help you to set up you own business from home. And yes, they have solved the quantity issue. Simple - bread tins! 8 in at a time instead of just 2 and that'll do it. I'm not a huge fan of tin loaves but untill I've room for an extension to fit in a bank of ovens then it'll do fine. They helped refine my shaping and I came home with 4 loaves of beautiful bread, a folder of recipies and advice and the promise of future help at the end of the phone and e-mail.
So, with much more confidence than before I now have a new oven ordered (as recommended by Dragan) and a business name registered with Companies House. Introducing The Rustic Kitchen! With the Preserving and Smoking course next week at River Cottage HQ and the Health and Hygene course this weekend I'm sure that my next update will be just as packed :)
