Vicky’s bread produces French-style artisan breads in Helston, Cornwall.
The basic range includes the classic baguette, multigrain, rustic Bordelais sourdough and spelt sourdough, with ciabatta, olive bread and other specialty breads on special days or at the weekend.
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Success at the Royal Cornwall Show
We had a fun and exhausting time at the Royal Cornwall show last weekend. I love a food fair where dogs are allowed in too!
Our stand got lots of attention, thankfully, as I had felt a bit silly during the past month, sitting in the garden with a paintbrush doodling flowers and wheat sheaves all over our ply-wood and MDF creation, complete with 3-d snail and butterfly! My lovely baby was very patient with me as I agonised over paint colours while she played in her baby gym next to me. Who knew there could be so many different gold paints available in B and Q?!
However, it was worth it in the end when it was all set up in the Food and Farming tent, complete with half our kitchen (dresser, island unit – nothing left at home, actually!) and piles upon piles of bread. We received the prize for best newcomer to the show, and a runner–up for best exhibit, and the Duchess of Cornwall came round, had a chat and liked the spelt bread, so what more could you ask for?!
So, a big thank-you to all of you who came to see us and bought our bread. It was lovely to meet you all, and to have three days of bread chat. We had so many positive comments about all the bread, but I was particularly thrilled that the new Rye was so popular, as well as the spelt, which seems to have more fans every week! We launched our NEW 100% Rye, and sold out of it every day which is great, and hopefully will help those of you persuing a wheat-free diet.
We so enjoyed being at the show, and now we have had a couple of days to recover, are looking forward to next year already.....
We use the best organic ingredients in our doughs, and almost everything we bake uses a sourdough culture, which naturally lengthens the shelf life of the finished loaf and contributes to its flavour. We don’t use improvers, preservatives, enzymes, stabilisers or any other artificial additives in our bread. Each loaf is hand-moulded, and risen in traditional willow baskets or between the folds of French linen. They are then left to prove at low temperatures to ensure maximum flavour, and baked with steam on the hearth of the oven for a shiny, crunchy crust. We hope you enjoy eating them as much as we do!
New! 100% RYE BREAD!
When?
Launched at the Royal Cornwall Show last week, our new Rye bread has proved very popular already, and we will be supplying it to the shops from late June. My poor bakers are absolutely exhausted from baking so much beautiful bread for the Royal Cornwall, that I think they need a rest, so we will start making the Rye bread next week (23rd June- ish). I haven’t decided quite how many times a week we will bake the rye bread – that will depend on demand, but you will be able to order it, so speak to your shop, or contact us direct.
What?
It is a really great bread for those people looking to avoid wheat, but also for wheat-eaters who fancy a change. Rye bread is very different to wheat bread, much denser as it has a lot less gluten, and more nubbly and Northern European. Our 100% Rye is most accurately described as a Volkornbrot (full corn bread), as it includes all the rye grain, not just the whiter middle part, and the dough is made with a mixture of coarse ground whole rye flour, chopped whole rye grains, and sunflower seeds. Around 80% of the flour in the bread is used in the sourdough culture (used to leaven it), so it keeps for days, tastes nicely tangy, keeps the loaf as light as possible, and keeps gumminess to a minimum. There is no added sugar or fat, so it is a pretty virtuous loaf to be eating! We have added a very small amount of commercial yeast to help it rise a bit more, but the ratio of yeast to flour is only about 0.1% - very little compared to the 4-8% found in mass produced wheat loaves.
How to eat and store
Rye bread keeps best in the fridge, wrapped in cling film, or in a cool part of your kitchen. It will freeze, and you can toast it, but I find rye toast is a bit hard even for a crust fiend like myself!
You can slice it very thinly, thanks to the dense nature of the crumb, so it is perfect for canapés, as well as snacks at any time of the day. Rye bread is traditionally eaten with cream cheese and pickly things like gherkins, or with pastrami New-York deli style (although they normally go for a white rye bread). My favourite is a slice topped with a mashed banana for breakfast – sounds odd but so good!
It helps to think of rye bread as a totally different pleasure from wheat bread, and to adjust expectations accordingly. It will never be spingy, soft and chewy, but it will be mouth-fillingly tangy, almost clean-feeling, full of whole grains and a chewy crunchiness, and if you’re anything like me, you will reaching for another slice as soon as you have bitten into the first one! Really moreish stuff, which is great for something so good for you.