Allendale Bakery

In response to popular demand, Carrie has developed a possible schedule for our Breadmaking Courses during 2020. Since we are retired bakers now, these courses are dwindling off a bit, and they won’t be offered forever! Every year that passes might well be the last, but we’re hoping to enjoy these sessions still.

This is a tentative list, and is subject to change depending on demand, but these nine offerings are our first approximation, anyway:

• Saturday 21st March, 2020: Breadmaking for Beginners [Now fully booked]

• Saturday 4th April, 2020: Celebratory Breads (Just in time for Easter)
• Saturday 25th April, 2020: Sourdough Techniques

• Saturday 9th May, 2020: Middle Eastern Breads
• Saturday 30th May, 2020: French Breads.

• Saturday 4th July, 2020: Breadmaking for Beginners [2 spaces left]
• Saturday 18th July, 2020: Sourdough Techniques

• Saturday 8th August, 2020: Italian Breads
• Saturday 22nd August, 2020: Sourdough Techniques

These courses are a joy to offer. We limit participants to 5 to fit comfortably into our bakery kitchen, and we keep the prices low. To help us maintain this strategy, we do ask applicants to commit to their desired date when booking, with full payment expected at least 6 weeks before the course. Otherwise, our course details are the same now as they’ve been for the past decade, and preliminary enquiries to info@allendalebakery.com are very welcome. We do offer gift vouchers, which are very popular in the run-up to Christmas.

Looking forward to presenting the very best value breadmaking courses in 2020!

Spring & Summer  

Although Allendale Bakery has ceased production, after a decade of breadmaking (at various times on a daily or weekly basis), we’re still eager to help train aspiring bakers.  Anyone can make bread, but just a little bit of friendly advice in a course situation can make all the difference between leaden bricks and a light, satisfying crumb.

So, after an autumn of travel and settling down to retired life, and an extended interlude while winter blocks us in up in the fellside of Spartylea, we’ll be more than ready for some formal courses, and Carrie has now picked her dates and subject matter.  Enquiries are already rolling in, with some courses half-full already, so don’t hesitate to contact her by email (info@allendalebakery.com).

The day-long courses kick off with coffee and introductions at 8:30 in the morning, followed by dough-making and loaf forming throughout the next few hours.  Lunch is offered at around 1pm, and baking commences thereafter.  Usually by about 4pm all the freshly baked bread is stacked on cooling trays ready to wrap up for each participant to take home.  These baking course days are an ideal gift, of course, and we’re delighted to provide vouchers in advance.    Course fees range from £95 to £110, and we ask kindly for payment in advance.

Please note that we keep our course fees low by trusting participants not to let us down by cancelling or attempting to re-book a different date at the last minute;  each course is limited to 4 participants.

So, with all of the fine print out of the way, our course offerings for 2019 are as follows:

Saturday 9th March, 2019: Breadmaking for Beginners (weather permitting) [Fully Booked]

Saturday 23rd March, 2019:   Sourdough Techniques (weather permitting) [Fully Booked]

Saturday 6th April, 2019: Middle Eastern Breads [1 space went unfilled]

Saturday 27th April, 2019: Sourdough Techniques [Fully Booked]

Saturday 4th May, 2019: Italian Breads [Cancelled]

Saturday 18th May, 2019: French Breads [2 spaces available]

Saturday 15th June, 2019: Sourdough Techniques [Spaces available]

Saturday 13th July, 2019: Italian Breads [Fully Booked/1 reserve]

Saturday 27th July, 2019: Middle Eastern Breads [Spaces available]

Saturday 3rd August, 2019: Sourdough Techniques [ 2 spaces available]

Saturday 31st August, 2019: Breadmaking for Beginners

Saturday 7th September, 2019: French Bread Techniques

And that will be the extent of our offerings for the coming year, as we ever-so-effortlessly glide into retirement proper.

Now baking in her own premises, Alice’s Artisan Bakery is nicely established in Hexham, and can be contacted conveniently by phone (07944) 013192 or email alicesartisanbakery@gmail.com

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Earlier post:

Over the past year, we at Allendale Bakery have been delighted to work with a lovely and enthusiastic young baker, Alice Pope, who has learned many of our recipes and protocols in that time.

Now that we’ve ceased production of our own, we’re so pleased that Alice has begun production of her own, from our facility, carrying on a tradition of real bread baking.  Look out for Alice’s Artisan Bakery labels on bread that is definitely her own, which also has some provenance from Carrie’s careful instruction.

We’re wishing Alice all the very best as she develops her own lovely business, while we happily grow older and less stressed with the production line.

You can find Alice’s Artisan Bakery on Facebook, and she also has an Instagram account.  We’ll try to update this page with appropriate links, as they come in.