13th July 2020
Hello
I've got lots to fill you in on this week so if you're only really here to find out what this week's specials are (and when the next Sunday Bunday will be) then in a nutshell... Roasted Garlic Sourdough and Heritage Grain & Malted Wheat Tin (this is so popular it's becoming more of a regular than a special, but I feel it important to still highlight it'll be on the shelves on Saturday as I know it's popular). And Sunday Bunday will most definitely be back - Sunday 26th July. 11am. Pop it in your diaries. Ok, you are now excused.
And for those of you still with me, you are about to be rewarded. But I have this annoying ability to forget everything I need to tell you so quickly, for my benefit more than yours, a quick agenda:
The Estate Dairy
Dough Knives
Pre Orders
Duchess Farms
Sunday Bunday
Specials
I know there was something else. See what I mean? All week I'm like 'I must update everyone on X, they might like to know Y' and now's the time to update you and it's gone from my mind. I know, I know I should make a note when it comes into my head so I don't forget (can you believe I used to be a super organised Event Manager), but I don't, because what usually happens at that precise moment is a child asks for a snack, which happens on average about every 20 minutes. Or Jeff asks me what I fancy for dinner (I'm not complaining. Not only can he make great bread, he is also the Head Chef in this household) or one of a million other possible distractions that mean 10 seconds later the thought has passed. So whatever it was I thought on Wednesday last week that I must include in this week's blog has now disappeared into the lockdown-chaos ether.
But I have plenty that I have remembered so let's crack on. First up, The Estate Dairy. I've been interested in this small, independent dairy for a while. They're right up our street producing high quality, non-homogenised dairy products in Bristol, made from the milk of some very happy and spoilt cows in Somerset. We ordered a selection of their products last week to see whether their products might be something we'd like to offer you guys and I can say without a moment's hesitation that yes, we need their produce in Saffron Walden. So this week I will be ordering some of their whole milk, which is possibly the nicest milk I've ever tried. And I'm not usually a big milk fan. Oh and also it comes in these beautiful, glass bottles that you can re-use (I'm a sucker for good packaging). We'll also be getting some of their greek yoghurt, which we ate far too much of with our homemade, caramelised sourdough crunch and their new product - Iced Cold Latte. I love an iced latte and having a high quality, iced coffee on hand to pour over ice at the drop of a hat was such a treat. All being well we will have The Estate Dairy produce available from Friday this week, but what would be really helpful would be to know which of these items you might be interested in buying. I won't hold you to it I promise. But I'll be placing the order on Wednesday morning so to gauge some idea of demand would be helpful. Thank you. Oh and you'll notice in the picture above, they also offer cream. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but I'm not so convinced about the demand for this. My theory being that the other items are more 'everyday' and/or you can enjoy them on their own without having to buy anything else. Cream, unless you are like my late Father-In-Law who used to have cream on cream for pud, requires another ingredient. Although this particular cream is so good that I would not judge you for eating the entire contents straight from the jar. So if cream floats your boat let me know and I'll order some of that too.
Ok, next. Blimey this isn't a 'to the point' blog is it. I'll speed up.
Dough knives. Thank you to all of you that have bought one of our MMB dough knives. I think we have just two left if anyone was considering purchasing one. Let me know if so and if demand is still high then I will order some more, but there will be a bit of a wait.
Moving swiftly on, pre-orders. If you want to order any Walden Whites to collect on Thursday then get your orders in now (email me at info@minimiss.co.uk). And, as hoped, this week we are offering an additional option to pre-order (Dad, are you there? My go-to grammar expert? Is it preorder, pre order or pre-order?). We will be doing 10 of our Heritage Grains with Malted Wheat Flakes Tinned loaves. We need to know if you want one of these by 5pm on Tuesday, so RSVP if you fancy bagging one. You have until 5pm on Wednesday to preorder/pre-order/pre order a Walden White or two.
Duchess Farms is up next. Jeff and I went for our first visit to Duchess Farms today, home of our crowdfunding MMB: Soil to Sourdough fields of grains. For those of you that have joined the project, I will write to you separately about our visit so as not to bore those of you that are less geeky about ancient vs modern grain. But suffice to say we had such a great day. And not just because it was our first child-free day in four months! It was brilliant. And I feel so fortunate that visiting these forward thinking farms, and the people behind them, IS OUR JOB. We are very lucky. So keep an eye on your inboxes if you pledged. I'll be in touch very soon.
And before I sign off I'd like to thank everyone that turned up for Sunday Bunday. We honestly had no idea what interest there would be, being a Sunday which is a funny old day in Saffron Walden. But wow! You people have missed your buns. We made 160 buns and they'd all sold out within 45 minutes. I am so sorry to those of you that so patiently queued only to be told we'd sold out. I get it. That's rubbish. And at some point we hope to find a way to ensure everyone who wants buns, gets buns. But without going into all of the logistical lockdown reasons, right now this isn't possible. I feel there is a 'movement' (can we call it a movement? Is it significant enough in the grand scheme of world events to call it a movement? Or is it just a craze? A cinnamon bun movement - let's go with it). And so the next Sunday Bunday will be Sunday (obviously) 26th July from 11am. We will do our very best to make more buns if we can but all I can say is that if you don't want to be disappointed, make sure you're in that queue by 11am. Maybe even 10.30am. And pray for lovely, sunny weather.
Right. Enough Megan. I know at this point I'd usually return to this week's sourdough line up. But I feel like I've kept you for too long and I've already highlighted the, er, highlights of our offering this week so, enough is enough. I should mention that we hope to have a few Walden Whites available for walk ups on Wednesday and Friday in addition to the Saturday surge. Keep an eye on social media for confirmation. Or email me if you're heading into town and want to check what we may have on offer.
Don't forget to let me know what, if any, of The Estate Dairy produce takes your fancy. You can read more about their story here. And finally... oh for goodness sake. It's gone. ARGH! You know why don't you? Because a small person just asked me for a snack.
I'm off to rummage in the cupboards. Dry cracker anyone?
Have a good week.
Megan x