Good afternoon everyone, Sometimes the lot of the content creator can be cruel. This week just passed, your correspondent's plan to write up team Hamblin's trip to Sparkenhoe Farm was stymied by unforeseen circumstances, namely the requirements of the Covered Market shop, so that pleasure must now be deferred for seven more days. Suffice it to say that seeing with our own eyes, and listening with our own ears to the passion of the Clarke family, keepers of the flame for raw-milk, farmhouse Red Leicester, has only increased our love and admiration for the wonderful cheeses they make. As well as the aforementioned Red Leicester- mellow, juicy, buttery - we have their Sparkenhoe Blue - creamy and moreish in the extreme. We also...
Good afternoon everyone, As we approach the final week of January, it feels like the 2026 is well and truly underway, with Semla Bun season is upon us. We like to keep these traditional; a cardamom-spiked enriched dough, which once baked is sliced open across the top, the middle crumbs scooped out and blended with our homemade almond paste. This heavenly mix is then placed back into the hollow bun, topped with lightly whipped vanilla cream, and the bun lid replaced. Not the most straightforward item to eat whilst strolling down Iffley Road, but we celebrate risk-takers and optimists. And will provide napkins on request. Look out also for a new cake from head of pastry, Valentina, an almond sponge topped...
Good afternoon everyone, Just a quick one this week. Whilst we wait patiently for our supplier to pick the first of their forced rhubarb, an estimated three more weeks, we are making the most of what is peak right now in terms of citrus by candying and curding to our heart's content. We somehow managed to make almost the perfect amount of marmalade last year, in the region of 600 jars, the last of which was sold this week. The shelves will be empty for a couple of weeks before the marmalade marathon begins again in earnest. In the meantime we are candying as many Seville oranges as possible, its thick peel and pith making it the superior orange for such endeavors...
Good afternoon everybody, Good afternoon everyone,Thank you for a galvanising start to 2026. This week we have a special newsletter for you, written by our prodigal baker Auriol who recently returned from the trip of a lifetime, with a beaten-up carrier bag containing a kilo of precious vanilla pods, direct from the farm in Madagascar on which they were grown. As per the farmer's instructions, we've stored them in sugar, and we will be celebrating them this week in several products. They will of course be used in our whole vanilla bun, plus we shall be making rice pudding (to Anna Higham's recipe). Then we will finely chop the pods and incorporate them in a hazelnut and chocolate cake, a...
Good evening everyone, And a very Happy New Year to you all. We hope you all found some moments of peace and joy over the festive period, and that you managed your stocks of bread better than the Thurston / Hamblin household. Not a crust or crumb left in sight round here...perhaps Kate should snap out of holiday mode and make a loaf or two. Meanwhile, at the mill, David, who is a stranger to the concept of a holiday, has redressed the mill stones ready for another year of grinding the best flour we could wish for. Fortunately for those bare cupboards we are back baking from Thursday this week. We imagine sub-zero temperatures await us at the bakery when we start prepping tomorrow,...
