Let there be bread (and lots of it!)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a bread pilgrimage demands of its pilgrims an almost total devotion to baked goods.

In true dedication to the task at hand we have, in the past seven months, consumed obscene amounts of bread, croissants and assorted bakery goodies. We have scoured the bakehouses of the Australian East and the Californian West for bread with depth, with texture, with TASTE. We have eaten good bread, great bread and mediocre bread in farmer’s markets, in bakeries, in holes in the wall, in homes.

Acme Bread Company, Ferry Plaza, San Francisco

Bub v. Bourke St Bakery baguette, Sydney

Bread, and our journey to learn the craft of baking, has been the catalyst for conversations and invitations on both sides of the Pacific. It led us to California and the San Francisco Baking Institute, to Sonoma and the incredible hospitality and chardonnay of Gene and Cathie (@ Alexandra’s Plaza Suite), to pretzels baked in a wood-fired oven on the back of a trailer and the dizzying heights of the Tartine Olive Loaf.

It has been our constant companion as we have travelled through Victoria, learning, working and eating.

Let there be bread…

a pilgrimage of sorts

We at this little piggy … bakes+cakes have a confession to make. We love cake but we love bread more. Not the kind of bread that screams ‘I AM SOURDOUGH!’ though. The bread of our dreams has a thick, slightly blistered crust of burnt caramel. It’s interior has many pockets of varied size and a flavour that is complex and creamy, balanced by a slight acidity. This bread does not diminish with age but offers different possibilities - from fresh-from-the-oven vehicle for pools of melting butter, to toast with more butter and slatherings of homemade jam, and perhaps Pappa al Pomodoro. This bread has just three ingredients: flour, water and salt. It’s unique character is shaped by the co-mingling of wild yeast and bacteria. It is, as all produce treated with respect and care should be, a flavour-full expression of place.  

Our experiences of this bread have sadly been few and far between. There was a baguette carried faithfully in a backpack and carved from with a swiss army knife many years ago, a time when we lived near a bakery that almost served the bread we were searching for and our own not-quite-there-yet sourdough made by hand with our homegrown starter, Walt. 

In just under three weeks time, this little piggy will temporarily hang up our market aprons and hit the road in search of inspiration, training and the artisan bread of our dreams. We are pretty sure we will be the only campers travelling with 25kg of stoneground, certified organic flour, Callebaut chocolate and an esky dedicated to our starter but there’s some things you just can’t live without.

It will be, well, a pilgrimage of sorts.

happy happy 2011

A super-sized, happy happy 2011 to everyone we have met and most especially of all to those who have stopped by our stall to say hello, or to sample our lil bakes + cakes. Thank you for your support and inspiration!! We have been absolutely blown away by the incredible welcome and generosity of our new home! 

We also want to send out an extra special thank you to a couple of people whose passion and produce have continued to inspire us to create and bake! Felicity Watson, our fellow Valley-changer and photographer extraordinaire (see more of Flick’s beautiful work here) whose insightful feedback, incredible palate and creative ideas have helped our cakes become more than we ever thought possible; Paul, our neighbour at the Grafton Farmer’s Market, whose organic produce has us dreaming up new recipes; and Danny and Jill of Espresso Botero whose passion for coffee (hands down, no contest, the BEST cup of coffee we have ever had) equals our passion for cake – a perfect combination!

We look forward to continuing the bakes+cakes adventure in 2011!

Ren + Ads

this little piggy @ Lennox Head market

Last Sunday saw this little piggy travelling north for our first Lennox Lakeside market. With a magic location and beautiful weather, it was a great way to spend a market Sunday!

Thanks to all who stopped by to sample our little piggy wares! We can’t wait to be back lakeside in a couple of weeks…

chocolate brownie + cheesecake = ULTIMATE heaven (final)

I have just baked my last batch of chocolate brownie cheesecake. Replaced on the this little piggy … bakes+cakes menu by a fudgey chocolate coffee cardamon cake, it is a sad sad moment for a dedicated lover of chocolate and cream cheese. 

After our search for the perfect chocolate brownie cheesecake (see chocolate brownie + cheesecake = heaven part one and part two) resulted in a harmonious blend of rich APTE cafe style brownie and creamy cheesecake, it had become one of our best-sellers. This brownie was slowly but surely gathering its own fan club. But with the coming of spring, it was time for a cake range change and the chocolate brownie cheesecake is now celebrating a short retirement .. well, until autumn 2011 … after an illustrious career at the top of the this little piggy menu.

  

It wasn’t the prettiest, nor the lightest of cakes. It was dense, dark and rich. It was the cake that people came to our market stall to chat about or to stock up on. It was, quite frankly, the kind of cake that you miss enough to spend an afternoon writing a blog post about its virtues …

In honour of the original slice that spawned the chocolate + cheesecake movement, here is the Australian Women’s Weekly recipe as copied into a now dog-eared exercise book many many years ago. Some of the details such as the number of grams for each ingredient and the size of the tin to use were lost in translation – sorry! – but the following should be enough to bake one fine example of a marbled chocolate cheesecake slice.

Marbled Chocolate Cheesecake Slice

185g butter

1/4 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup plain flour

250g cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar (I have used caster, white and even raw sugar here at one time or another… this is a very forgiving recipe!)

1 tspn vanilla

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a tin (I no longer have the size specified by the original. I usually use whatever size/shape tin is at hand, even loaf tins, with great results).

Melt the butter and cocoa in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove and add the sugar and two lightly beaten eggs. Stir in the flour and beat until smooth. Pour into the greased tin.

Beat the cream cheese with sugar and vanilla. Add one egg and beat until smooth. Pour over the chocolate mix and swirl (from memory the recipe specified using a fork for this but we always used a knife to create a chunky marbling effect). Bake for 40 minutes or until you can’t wait any longer!

 Happy baking!

 

this little piggy @ Gate to Plate, Grafton

In the shadow of the Grafton Showground Barn, this little piggy … bakes+cakes plated up for our first Gate to Plate market. A gathering of passionate food growers and producers, the Gate to Plate is a wonderful showcase of the abundance on offer in the Clarence Valley region.

 

The Gate to Plate was also the first day out for our spring bakes+cakes. No more chocolate brownie cheesecake or carrot cake. Instead, we are baking an orange poppyseed cake, a macadamia hummingbird, a decadent chocolate coffee cardamon cake with locally roasted espresso BOTERO coffee and a white chocolate and macadamia cookie with a rosemary and sea salt twist. 

Thank you so very much to all who stopped by to sample our new cakes and spread the word about our old favourites. See you Thursday!

this little piggy @ Ballina markets

Last Sunday saw this little piggy travelling to Ballina for our first community market. Despite the grey and drizzly conditions, many locals arrived and sampled our wares …

Thank you to all who braved the rain and bought cake!! We’ll see you in a month…

this (spring) market week

Many, many thanks to Felicity Watson for these brilliant photos of our this little piggy stall in Grafton this week. For more of Felicity’s terrific photography, tasty recipes using local produce and commentary on the burgeoning Grafton/Northern Rivers food scene, check out her blog she loves cheese.

happiness is custard-filled corn bread

I can almost hear the calls of disbelief…’custard-filled corn bread?’ you say… but you just have to believe me when I say that this breakfasty cakey something is nothing short of a revelation. Move over pancake and step aside french toast, syrups of the maple and golden kind have a new flavour friend.

How to describe this treat? It’s savoury yet hinting at sweet once drenched in the compulsory syrup downpour (an absolute must!); its foundation is cake and crumb yet its centre is custard and air; it is, quite simply, something you have to try for breakfast, reheat for morning tea and oh, joy of joys rediscover for dessert!   

 The recipe for this breakfast masterpiece is courtesy of Molly Wizenberg, creator of the Orangette blog, author of A Homemade Life – stories and recipes from my kitchen table and fellow lover of maple syrup.

Custard-filled corn bread

3 tbspn unsalted butter

1 cup plain flour

3/4 cup polenta

1 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn bicarb of soda

2 large eggs

3 tbspn sugar

1/2 tspn salt

2 cups full cream milk

1.5 tbspn white vinegar

1 cup heavy cream (I have also used pure pouring cream with good results.)

Preheat the oven to 180C and butter a 24cm square cake tin. Put the buttered tin in the oven to warm while you make the batter. Melt the butter and allow to cool slightly. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and baking soda. 

Add the eggs to the slightly cooled butter and whisk to blend well. Add sugar, salt, milk and vinegar and whisk well. Whisking constantly, add the flour mixture. Mix until the batter is smooth and no lumps are visible.

Pour the batter into the preheated pan and pour cream into the centre of the batter. Do not stir! Carefully place the pan back into the oven and bake until golden brown on top, about 50 minutes to 1 hour.  

Molly mentions that the corn-bread lasts up to 3 days when covered and refrigerated. It hasn’t lasted that long in our house just yet though …

this little piggy @ the Grafton Farmers Market

On a beautifully balmy spring morning, this little piggy travelled to Grafton for our first Farmer’s Market. Based in Market Square, this market has a small but growing selection of organic and non-organic produce, flowers, bakes, preserves and crafts on offer.   

Thank you to all who stopped by to welcome us to Grafton, to say hello and to sample our little offerings. The bake of the day was our new little something - cookies with chunks of organic milk and dark chocolate (more on these soon!) 

We are looking forward to another beautiful Grafton Market morning tomorrow – see you then….