NEWSLETTER
Another week and another stint for Kate at a London bakery, this time
@quince.bakery in Islington with superstar baker, published author and dear friend
@anna.atthetable and her fab-u-lous team. It’s the only other bakery we know of to have
@bbcstrictly magnets adorning the prover-retarder. The menu changes weekly and has a steadfast focus on seasonal fruit and vegetables. Highlights this week were the flakiest plum and vanilla custard pie, almond layer cake with damson buttercream and roast squash and ricotta quiche. Anna is also making beautiful, characterful bread using flour from our mutual friends
@landracemilling , including an outrageously good batch bread enriched with lard. Anna’s strength is truly letting the grain come to the fore in all of the bakes, be that in a buttery puff pastry, a crumbly cookie or an aerated country loaf, they all have a sweetness and depth which comes from knowing how to guide the flour along its way. The space is full of joy and humour, as the team work steadily hand laminating pastry and assembling sandwiches, whilst exchanging anecdotes across the central wooden work bench. And how fortuitous to not only be there for the first week of the new Strictly season, but during the quince season itself- many dozens of kilos were peeled, poached and pureed and baked over the two days, as Anna prepares to make her famous quincemeat for Christmas pies.
Like Helen at Eric’s, Anna is the sole owner of the business, and knowing how much there is to navigate at Hamblin between the two of us as a business partnership we are simply full of admiration for these exceptional women doing it on their own. Both bakeries have been hewn from sheer force of will, and both reflect the very best qualities of the women behind them.
Special thanks also to
@fifitzpatrick for the fluffy sponge glitter ball birthday cake emblazoned with one of the Hamblin mottos Always Be Candying. Pure gas. Love you all.
