Sextons Bakery Blog

Only In America 2!

philip.nospam@nospam.sextonsbakery.co.uk (Philip) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:13:00 -0400

Just to re-ignite the blog here is a shake of the head website, very amusing and could only be American.

Their strapline reads where butch meets buttercream!

http://www.butchbakery.com/

Hot Cross Buns available now!

philip.nospam@nospam.sextonsbakery.co.uk (Philip) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:39:00 -0400

Hot Cross Buns are back for the run up to the Easter Holidays, but what is so special about ours compared to the Large Mutltiples offerings?

Our Hot Cross Buns are produced with a fermented dough process, this is for two reasons -

For a fuller, richer flavour
To enable a much higher percentage of fruit to be added to the dough

This lenghty production process and high ingredient cost obviously makes the product more expensive than the supermarket fare, but the flavour and consistency more than make up for the additional cost, in fact to be honest we feel the Large Mutltiples version of a Hot Cross Bun is so poor it has ruined many peoples opinion of the product.

The Large Mutltiples produce a flavourless, hard, sometimes almost bullet like version lacking in fruit and body, and to mask the bland nature of their product they are generally over flavoured with bun spice, and of course they have been available to buy from the these outlets it seems since Christmas, making a travesty of tradition.

What are they and where are they from?

Hot cross buns are small festive breads eaten on Good Friday in Britain; a few bakers (see below) still use old-fashioned production methods.

What is their heritage?

No-one knows when the tradition began, but in 16th-century England, bakers were limited by law to occasions when these special doughs could be made. Good Friday was one; “cross buns” marked this holy day towards the end of the Lent fast. (Convincing evidence has yet to be produced for speculations about pagan origins and sun symbols.)

The rhyme “one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns” recalls the habit of selling them warm from baking. In the 18th century, huge quantities were produced by the Chelsea Bun House, causing large crowds to gather. Until recently, hot cross buns were only sold on Good Friday. Like too much British baking, they have become a travesty through the use, or more accurately, misuse of the Chorleywood industrial baking process.

What do they look and taste like?

A good hot cross bun should be round, 7 – 10cm in diameter, well-risen (not squarish and squashed) and highly glazed, with a cross on top (this is usually made with flour and water paste, although strips of marzipan or cutting a cross are alternatives). The crumb should be fairly pale, not too soft or sticky, and have a light flavour of sweet spices and/or candied peel and dried fruit.

How are they used?

Eat warm or split, toasted with butter for breakfast, tea or a snack; make bread-and butter pudding with leftovers.

Where can I buy them?

Finding hot cross buns made to "Slow Food" principles can be quite difficult. Here at Sextons we still adhere to the traditional production methods.

The Traditions of Easter

As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication.

Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.

The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.

It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

The Date of Easter

Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

The Lenten Season

Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday. It begins on Ash Wednesday.

Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is a celebration, sometimes called "Carnival," practiced around the world, on the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to "get it all out" before the sacrifices of Lent began.

The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit, a symbol of fertility.

The Easter Egg

As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

A bit of Historical Education !

philip.nospam@nospam.sextonsbakery.co.uk (Philip) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:20:00 -0400

Here are some interesting facts. A bit of historical education regarding common expressions used in everyday conversation and also some food facts thrown in!

In the 15th century most people took their yearly! bath in May. Because they still smelled pretty good by June this was the common month for marriage. However, because they were starting to whiff a little, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water.

Houses had thatched roofs, as it was the only place for animals to get warm all the dogs, cats and other small animals lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying It's raining cats and dogs.

The floor was bare earth, only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor.

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh but then it would start blowing outside so a piece of wood was placed in the doorway. Hence the saying thresh hold.

So what does this have to do with food, nothing so far, but keep reading……

In this era they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over a fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot and then replenish the next day. This is where the rhyme, 'Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old' comes from.

Sometimes they were lucky enough to eat get hold of pork. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.

It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter and food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing death by lead poisoning. This happened often with tomatoes, so for the many years tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status, workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Ale or whisky was taken from lead cups, the combination would sometimes knock the drinker out for a couple of days!. They would often be mistaken as deceased and prepared for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

As the villages started running out of places to bury people they took to digging up coffins and and taking the bones to a bone-house, and then re-used the grave. When opening these coffins many were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realised they had been burying people alive. They then started to tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell, thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.

How times have changed, but some of the sayings and traditions have stayed with us.

Introducing Low Gi Bread

philip.nospam@nospam.sextonsbakery.co.uk (Philip) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:13:00 -0400

Developed with your waist in mind, low Gi means the digestive process happens slower resulting in your hunger being supressed longer.

Great with cottage cheese and peppers or if specific sport training why not have a banana sandwich on Gi bread.

Great taste and a great healthy option.

Available now!

Only in America!

philip.nospam@nospam.sextonsbakery.co.uk (Philip) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:17:00 -0400

FORT PIERCE, Fla.

Authorities say a Florida woman called 911 three times after McDonald's employees told her they were out of Chicken McNuggets.

A police report said 27-year-old Fort Pierce resident Latreasa L. Goodman told authorities she paid for a 10-piece last week but was later informed the restaurant had run out.

She says she was refused a refund and told all sales were final. A cashier told police she offered Goodman a larger portion of different food for the same price, but Goodman became irate.

Police say Goodman was cited on a misuse of 911 charge.

A McDonald's spokesman says Goodman should have been given a refund, and she's being sent a gift card for a free meal.

Only in America!

Irish Pork

philip.nospam@nospam.sextonsbakery.co.uk (Philip) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:02:00 -0400

We at Sextons would like to confirm we do not and never have used Irish Pork in our range of pies and savouries.

We have always used the finest British Pork sourced for us by a well reputed wholesale butcher.

We are proud of our policy of always using the finest ingredients in our products, we hope you see how this policy also ensures you, the customer, are not put at risk by the use of inferior ingredients to cut costs, thus reducing quality.

We will leave that to the large retailers and manufacturers, I hope that gives you 'Food for Thought' !

Below are details of the latest 'Food Scare'

Recall of Irish pork

Tuesday 9 December 2008

The FSA has today published a list of the meat processors in the Republic of Ireland affected by the pork incident and also meat companies in England that have received pork products from these companies. The risk to consumer health from these pork products remains very low, as the Chief Scientist highlights in his recent blog (see link below).

The Agency has been working since late Saturday 6 December to gather information to identify both the processors and the companies involved. To date, five processing plants in the Republic of Ireland that have received the contaminated pork have been identified. In addition, 12 processing plants in Northern Ireland have been identified as potentially receiving contaminated pork from the Republic of Ireland and investigations are ongoing. It has been confirmed that no pigs in Northern Ireland have been fed contaminated feed.

The FSA has been in regular communication with local authorities, and has today formally issued a Food Alert for Action.

As new information becomes available regarding traceability, the Agency will issue an updated food alert.

There is generally good traceability in the UK food supply chain. Most major retailers and caterers have already traced their products and removed any affected products. We've asked retailers to work with us to agree a date this week when we will be able to say with certainty that consumers can now buy Irish pork unaffected by contaminated feed.

For the time being, shops, manufacturers and caterers that can trace the origin of their products, whether they be meat joints or ingredients of mixed products such as sausages, directly to a farm that is unaffected by the contaminated feed, are able to continue selling their products.

If consumers have any doubts or concerns about the source of any pork products they have bought, they should contact the shop at which they bought them.

Food alerts

If there is a problem with a food product that means it should not be sold, then it might be 'withdrawn' (taken off the shelves) or 'recalled' (when customers are asked to return the product). Food alerts are the FSA's way of letting local authorities and consumers know about problems associated with food and, in some cases, providing details of specific action to be taken. They are issued under two categories:

Food Alerts: for Action
Food Alerts: for Information

Customer Comments - Your feedback is invaluable

philip.nospam@nospam.sextonsbakery.co.uk (Philip) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:39:00 -0400

Please let us know how you felt about your product and service.

Your feedback is most welcome.

Just click on the comments button at the bottom of this blog and leave your feedback.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Philip

Welcome!

philip.nospam@nospam.sextonsbakery.co.uk (Philip) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:30:00 -0400

Welcome to the new Sextons Bakery website, we hope you will find this a useful and informative addition to our retail outlets.

The blog will contain news, views and reviews. We would love to hear from you and all feedback will be greatly appreciated.

We will soon have a facility for you to join our online community, which will give you the ability to review your order history and also you will receive special offers and discounts.

We look forward to hearing from you, online!