An Edible Voyage

July 2021 Cycling along the stunning, if hilly(!), coastal road from Ballycastle to Giant's Causeway, distracted by the arc of white sand against the sparkling turquoise sea that is White Park Bay, I almost didn't spot Bothy.  But something about the cosiness of the word must have registered with my brain so I stopped to investigate.  From the name, I was expecting small and eclectic.  Bothy is surprisingly large, although definitely has the eclectic factor, with a conservatory as well as a covered outdoors, complete with wood fired pizza oven. Taking inspiration from mountain bothies, they aim to recreate the comfort of "a roof over our heads; a shelter from the weather; a place to rest, eat and warm up; a haven". They want people to be able to " wander in, settle back and unwind. Curl up and read a book, or just enjoy the solitude". I found it a little busy for that - it's definitely a very popular pit stop. They roast their own coffee (bags of bea...

March 2021 Bakergirl. “If you know, you know” they say, and I think this perfectly sums up what has become quite the Oxfordshire institution.   Starting life as a farmshop café at Wykham Park Farm, and baking flavoursome sourdough loaves, cheese and marmite scrolls, and all manner of cakes, pastries and buns, they appeared in the old thatched post office in the quintessential Cotswold village of Great Tew following a brief hiatus.   At both venues, no matter the time or day, queues of locals as well as those who’d travelled from a afar for the legendary cinnamon buns, snaked out of the door and around the farm/ village green. Deciding to switch things up so as being able to maintain their baking dream whilst minimising the unsociable baker’s hours, they moved fully to their bakehouse in Wroxton to focus on pop-ups.   Sourdough pizza Saturdays, with home made salted caramel gelato and ‘sides’ of loaves of sourdough, milk loaves or whatever else takes their baking fancy...

June 2020 A couple of years ago I went a pizza oven building course.  Not because I actually had any intention of building one, but because I thought it would be a fun day out - at the time, I lived in a flat so there was no opportunity to build one anyway.  Then I moved to a house with a garden, albeit it very small, and I begun to think about whether I should )and could!) build one.  When lockdown happened, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.  Due to lack of space and funds, I decided to build it at ground level.  I also had no idea how much clay to order - 125kg sounded a lot, potentially too much even! Actually I could have probably done with double. My brother was the guinea pig and the first one was almost inedible - we had to finish it off in the kitchen oven and ended up just eating the topping... I've definitely learnt a lot since that first pizza.  From how to heat the oven (instant light BBQ bags are my new best friend), how to stop...

March 2020 Haddie and Trilby, a bakery in Leamington Spa, does some of the finest pizzas going.  The handmade dough is soft and chewy, with crispy edges, I could eat the base by itself!  The weekly changing toppings are always exciting combinations of quality produce.  Despite usually being against tomato-less pizzas, I particularly enjoyed this one with zesty lemon cutting through the richness of the Tomme cheese, flavoursome meaty salami, and nutty artichoke. Find it at Haddie and Trilby's weekly Pizza Club in Leamington Spa