Bakers gonna Bake: Where to buy your bread in Exeter during the lockdown, and how to bake your own

In a bid to help share information during the lockdown in Exeter, we are inviting people to contribute helpful articles with us on Exploring Exeter. First up, lovely local baker, Boudicca shares an easy bread recipe and how we can shop local and support small businesses who are still baking.

“We’re very lucky in Exeter that we still have access to some brilliant bakeries during COVID-19 Lockdown.

Boatyard Bakery down at Exeter’s Quayside Cafe is closed but the Bakery remains open from 8:30 am to 2 pm Monday and 8:30 am to 2 pm Wednesday to Saturday.  If you’re out exercising you can visit and pick up during these times.  Also head to their website to find out more about their deliveries and pre-order system.  

St Sidwell’s Bakehouse, in July 2019 they converted an office at the centre into a micro-bakery. The centre is closed until further notice for all room bookings, cafe and volunteering but they continue to be open for bread sales, and you can pre-order for collection or delivery. They are also currently available at the Exeter Farmers’ Market on Thursdays.  Find out more here.

My own homebased micro-bakery in St Thomas, One Mile Bakery Exeter continues to deliver to my weekly subscribers of sourdough, real bread, homemade soups and preserves.  Additionally, I am adding other regular delivery days for one-off orders and delivering to homes in St Thomas.  Keep an eye on my social media, or add yourself to my mailing list here.  

Other noteworthy doorstep deliveries:

Bake Free who make the most delicious brownies, cakes and savoury bakes free from gluten and 100% vegan.  Check out their Facebook page for ordering for doorstep deliveries.

Naturally Bread a 100% Vegan Micro-Bakery.  Now delivering Breads and Cakes to the Exeter area and across the country.

How on Earth 100% vegan, lovingly hand made range of meat substitutes.

Bake Your Own

How about if you’ve found some yeast and bread flour of your own? My aim, quite simply, is to teach Britain to bake. Nothing beats the feeling of baking your own beautiful bread and sharing it with people you love.  This very basic recipe is a great starting point as it’s very flexible.  Also, double up and leave to cool, before slicing and popping the freezer – you’ll have delicious toast every morning!

Recipe: White Farmhouse Tin Loaf

This is a great place to start baking, using just 4 ingredients to make a really simple loaf.  Also, it’s flexible recipe just add and you can add a couple of handfuls of extra ingredients (such as grated cheese or chopped herbs) and you can make a beautiful flavoursome loaf.      

Ingredients
500g strong bread flour
10g salt
7g sachet instant or 15g fresh yeast
325g warm water

Mix ingredients together, knead and leave covered for at least an hour.  Roll into a sausage shape and place in a 2lb tin.  Cover and leave to prove for 45-60 mins or until almost doubled in size and clearly risen in the tin. Bake in a hot oven for 30-35 mins until golden and giving a hollow sound when you tap the bottom.    

Helpful Hints and Tips:
1. Using inferior flour. It’s your main ingredient, so it’s worth seeking out the best, and this will only cost a few pence more.  Also, check the use by date on your bag of flour – if it’s been left open at the back of the cupboard for ages, replace.

2. Dead yeast. Make sure your yeast is still active. Tins of yeast, once opened, need to be stored in the fridge. So often, people bake a good loaf with a new tin of yeast, and then months later, the loaf fails because the yeast has declined out of the fridge. It’s what makes your loaf rise, so give it some TLC.

3. Forget about airing cupboards and proving drawers: let your bread rise at normal room temperature. Lots of baking lore comes from the days when houses weren’t heated. A slower rise at a cooler temperature gives you more flavour and the bread will be easier to digest. 

If you’d like to know more join me on one of my baking classes including a day on sourdough, all of which are suitable for complete beginners or home bakers with some experience who want to improve their skills.  I teach at home, in small groups, so you learn in the same kind of environment you will bake in, and the classes are fun, informal, informative – you get comprehensive recipes to take home along with your baking – and great value. My gorgeous gift vouchers make the ideal present and can be used for any of our classes (and are currently valid for 18 months!).

Links:

Website https://www.onemilebakery.com/exeter/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/onemilebakeryexe/

Twitter and Instagram @ombexeter

About the author: Boudicca Woodland

Boudicca moved to Exeter in 2007 from London with her partner (now husband) after making a list of requirements – a theatre, a cinema, decent Sunday lunch pubs, excellent coffee shops, and access to good food. Exeter has not let her down in the slightest and in fact has encouraged her to explore lots of different food events and also locally sourced, seasonal, food more than ever before. 

Originally from an arts administration background, Boudicca now runs One Mile Bakery Exeter from her St Thomas home where she bakes bread for subscribers and hosts baking classes. 

She has two children who have given themselves the demanding role of Chief Tasters for the bakery!

Read about our visit to One Mile Bakery here

Read more about One Mile Bakery here