Hello my lovelies! I’ve been hanging out with people who make bread. I’ve been making bread for others. And later this week I’ll be spending time with the woman who taught me to make bread! It’s taking over my life and I’m cool with it.
So I went to chat with Zoltan at Doppio last week. They moved to NZ from Hungary a few years ago and originally started up in Nelson before moving to Wellington. Zoltan used to be an economist before giving it up to do something with his hands that gave him genuine satisfaction. He and has wife run the kitchen and make everything themselves. And it is delicious. You can tell there is total love of the craft in everything. It was lovely to talk to them and see the passion for making the best possible products and making people happy. I cannot recommend this impossibly good looking couple and their impossibly delicious food enough. You must try the poppy-seed pastry. And everything else.
After talking bread with Zoltan, I spent Saturday making bread for one of my favourite get-togethers. I have talked about Toast and Jam before. Organised by my friend Lauren it’s a group of lovely ladies who get together for some toast and donate to food related charities. This month I was providing the carbs. Toasted sesame baguette. Multigrain sourdough. I got to use most of my toys to make them. And I got to take my bread efforts out into the world and share them. While I don’t think I can handle the routine of running a bakery, there is something so satisfying about taking someone bread. I am in love with my flax-linen couches btw. They aren’t even expensive. And they are truly magical.
On the topic of Toast and Jam. This month we had added yoga. It was a fabulous start to the proceedings. I used to do a lot of yoga when I was younger. I practiced every day. In retrospect it was clearly helping a lot with the strength of my joints. I really enjoyed the session yesterday and it reminded me how much my body likes yoga. I have a few tight muscles in my shoulders today. But that’s just a reminder that I wasn’t using them. I think I will develop a 30 minute daily routine and see how I go.
My parents are visiting me this week. They make an annual trip around this time of year. My Facebook memories have been reminding me of their past trips in the last few weeks. Among the many amazing things my mother has done for me; she taught me to make bread. It’s interesting to think how different my baking would be if she hadn’t. I’ve never had a fear of yeast. I’ve been frustrated, no doubt. But it’s always just been a different thing that’s totally doable. It feels like a bit of a mission for me to spread the good word. I am by no means an authority on bread. But I think I can help get people to give it a go. I have a “gateway-drug” recipe coming up this week. You’ll be hooked on dough before you know it.
Make bread. Spend time with friends. Do yoga. Look after each other.
xx
