An introduction to Mayfield Farm

Mayfield Farm, Sheering Road, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0JP

I literally could not be happier to finally be able to post about somewhere vaguely close to my hometown of Harlow, Essex. The town could easily be described as a culinary wasteland - saturated with supermarkets, chain restaurants and cafes - with nowhere suitable for a lazy breakfast or a decent coffee.

However... I have recently been made aware of Mayfield Farm Bakery & School (& cafe). I'll let their produce do the talking...

We popped in quickly one Saturday morning and I was absolutely bowled over that this little gem has been around the corner all the time! The breads are understandably incredible (head baker Nick has been doing this for 30 years) but the amazing pastries, cakes and local produce were unexpected!

There's all your traditional loaves as well as several variations of sour dough and flavoured breads - cheese & onion, stilton & raisin and beetroot to name a few. We had about three loaves as well as some fresh croissants and I'm going to make it my mission to come back for more each time I stay at my parent's!

Compared to the same quality produce in London, the prices are REALLY competitive so there's no excuse not to fancy-up your weekend with some artisan fare.

If you want to learn how to make bread you can sign up to their Bakery School - it's a bit pricey but I'm sure the four and a half hour session is worth every penny. Class sizes are small (15 people) so you're likely to get plenty of focussed tuition.

I'm not sure why I wasn't aware of this place before. When I mentioned it to some of my friends they seemed to know about it - maybe it's one of those well kept secrets everyone wants to keep to themselves? No matter their marketing strategy, it seemed busy enough when we were in there so seems like the word is out (or it is now anyway..!).

We didn't have time to stay for a coffee and something to eat so I'll visit the cafe next time I'm home (around Easter) and do a follow up post with details of the menu etc. CAN'T WAIT!

Mayfield Farm Bakery & School have a website, they're on Facebook and Twitter.

Bashing out bagels

Having finally mastered bread, I got a bit lazy and sat on my laurels enjoying loafs and rolls and not bothering to branch out for a bit. Until, that is, the Great British Bake Off graced our screens for the third series and I was abruptly snapped out of my reverie and reminded that there's a whole world of bread-related goods out there. One of the contestants is actually trying to make this whole world of breads it seems - Brendan to win!

Suitably chastised, I took some inspiration from episode 2 and had a bash at bagels. I didn't use their recipe, as I wanted to start off with some plainer varieties than the ones shared on the Bake Off website. Instead, I found this BBC Good Food recipe which is really straight forward and gave me splendid results (if I do say so myself).

You'll need to be vaguely familiar with bread making, and confident in your kneading technique as you need a rise from the dough to get the right texture. But if you are a relative novice  it's still worth giving them a go. What's the worst that can happen (seriously - if you mess these up I want to see pictures).

I prepared the dough, whacked it in the airing cupboard while I went to the gym for an hour then came back, shaped, steamed and baked them in about 40 minutes.

Plugging for plain bagels with fennel seeds sprinkled on the top, as well as some cinnamon and raisin ones I was pleasantly surprised by the taste and texture. The shape was definitely a bit 'rustic' but I reckon that's the best way (or you might as well get them from the shop...).

Having mastered bagels I now feel I can rightfully claim myself as a 'proper' east ender. If you don't know why, watch the 'short history of bagels' bit 45 minutes into episode 2.

A recipe for... bread

I’ve always been very nervous about bread-making. Cakes? Yes. Muffins? No problem. Bread? Much too scary. However, I recently went to a friend’s for dinner and was more than a little impressed when she whipped out a homemade loaf in that Blue Peter, ‘and here’s one I made earlier’ fashion.

Asking what her secret was, my friend (quite rightly) had no shame in admitting that she uses a supermarket bought bread mix and the bread hook attachments on her food mixer to ensure a reliable result every time. The different varieties of bread mix on offer these days and the simple method of ‘just add water’ means there’s no excuse for not giving it a go. So I did.

Opting for Wright’s mixed grain bread mix I spent a very pleasant afternoon mixing, kneading and waiting for the bread to prove and then bake. The process was more labour intensive than cake making, even with the readymade bread mix, but the results were stunning (see image above) and we literally polished off half the loaf within an hour of it coming out the oven.

So, part one of bread-gate over, I felt I had proved to myself than I wasn’t a completely useless baker. However, I am one of those people that find it hard to stop at the halfway point. Initial success is often enough to spur me on to more and more ambitious projects which most often do not end well....

However, in this case I surprised myself. I already had some strong bread flour left over from recent pizza making and topped it up with some plain flour to form the basis of my first loaf from scratch. This is how it went (recipe based on one from The River Cottage Family Cookbook):

200g strong wholemeal flour
300g plain flour
Salt, 2 teaspoons
Fast action yeast, 1 sachet
Olive oil, 2 tablespoons
Honey, 2 teaspoons
Warm water, 300ml

1.    Mix the flour salt and yeast together in a big mixing bowl
Pour the oil and honey into a measuring jug and top up with warm water from the hot tap up to 300ml, stir together
Pour the water mix into the flour a bit at a time mixing it together with one hand as you go
Keep going until all the water is in the bowl and the dough has come together (add extra water if too dry and extra flour if too wet/sticky)

2.    Flour a work surface and knead the dough on it by pushing down and away from you – you need to squash it and stretch it at the same time – for about 10 mins or until it feels smooth
Shape the dough into a ball, put it back in the bowl and cover with cling film. Put it somewhere warm and sheltered from drafts.

3.    Leave until doubled in size – 40 mins to an hour, grease a loaf tin while you’re waiting then have a bath, or read your book, or make some muffins to pre-heat the oven

4.    Take your dough out of it’s warm hidey-hole and squish the air out of it with your fist
Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for 30 secs then shape it into a sausage and place in your loaf tin

5.    Leave to rise in your warm place again with a tea towel over for 30 mins (eat a muffin and have a cup of tea) Pre heat your oven to its highest temperature

6.    After 30 mins the dough should have risen and look more loaf shaped, put it in the oven at top temperature for 20 mins then take it out, tip it out of the tin and tap the bottom. It’s cooked if it sounds hollow.
Cool on a cooling rack for 20 mins and then have a slice with some butter on while it’s still warm. Try not to eat the whole loaf at once.