It seems impossible to spend a weekend in London without bingeing on carbs. Here are my latest weekend findings from Shoreditch.
The Beer Bakery
Tom and Henry Herbert the Fabulous Baker Brothers and AB InBev opened a pop-up Beer Bakery on Hackney Road. You only have a few hours left to try their carb and alcohol heavy goodness, so you better run. The brothers used beers such as Stella Artois, Budweiser, Leffe, Becks Vier, Hoegaarden and Corona to make beer-flavoured bread with hop glazes and malted wheat crusts.
Pop in for an incredibly cheap tasting of bread and beer: £5.50 for bread with their special butters and a beer. I went for a Stella and their apple, walnut, barley and malted wheat seeded loaf, together with their festive orange and coriander all butter brioche. Both were perfect to try toasted with a few spreads of spiced honey butter.
Due to my low resistance to alcohol, I left tipsy at 3.30 pm, but it’s all worth it.
Hobbs House Bakery’s cornbread mix, with added fresh sweetcorn, is topped with wafer thin slices of fresh lime and sprinkled with Cornish sea salt then baked on the sole of the oven in a wooden tray.
The addition of a sprinkling of coarse maize under the bread gives each bite a wonderful crunch.
A wholemeal spelt and barley loaf packed full of fibre. The loaf is baked in a large round ‘flower pot’ tin and presented in a paper case.
Chunks of pineapple add delicious texture, and are coupled with a hops and sticky pineapple juice reduction, which is painted on as an aromatic glaze to profile some of the unique tasting notes of the beer.
A couple of slices lightly toasted and topped with a hunk of mature cheddar go beautifully with a glass of Stella Artois.
Handmade with hints of malt and raised with Hobbs House Bakery’s 60-year-old organic rye sourdough starter, stenciled with a flour ‘L’ and stone baked for a beautiful crust.
Baked in a tin, the loaf is perfect for sharing and ideal for a natural rustic sandwich. It’s also perfect with cheese and cured meats – just add a chilled Leffe Blond.
Spiced Orange and Coriander All Butter Brioche A batch of six large All Butter Brioche rolls infused with fresh coriander, nutmeg, clove, and orange peel, baked in a wooden tray and given a shiny egg glaze.
These decadent rolls are butter rich and left to raise for 24 hours for optimum flavour and a pillowy texture and delicate shell.
A small handmade tiger bread, made to Hobbs House Bakery’s famous 96-year-old overnight dough recipe, is topped with a fermented rice paste – made with Budweiser.
This striking loaf makes for a stunning New York style sandwich with salted beef and juicy pickles, and perfectly complements a cold bottle of Bud.
A malted wheat loaf made with Hobbs House Bakery’s 24-hour levain for a chewy and robust texture, and packed with dried apples and walnuts, then rolled in coarse hand-milled barley.
This beautiful and rustic loaf is perfect for a ploughman’s sandwich, or sliced thinly and well toasted, and served with gooey blue cheese and a cold glass of Beck’s Vier.
Where: The Beer Bakery, 186 Hackney Road, Hoxton, E2 7QL
Nothing brightens up your day like finding your home region’s treats in a pop up courtyard near you. The guys from Sardos Delicatessen produce real Sardinian meat, jam. sea urchins paste, bottarga, cheese and much more and deliver it to London’s best restaurants, as well as to Sardinians looking to organise a dinner like the one you have a casa.
The lovely founder, Luca, allowed me to test their typical Sardinian cheeses, meat and home-baked Pane Carasau, a crispy snack typical of the region that goes perfectly with both meat and cheese.
I left with some Pecorino, our typical sheep cheese that’s even sold on the beach, and a lot of love for my home country.
You can find Sardos Delicatessen in Boundary Street every Saturday and across many other London markets, as well as on their website here:Â http://sardosfinefood.co.uk/
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