Month: April 2015

#Superjosh Charity

by mrbakestone, posted in Latest News

On Friday I met the amazing Dawn Fidler at our bakery in Eccles to discuss ways in which we could help Dawn raise even more money for her work in helping families who have children with brain tumours & post surgery disabilities that need advice, support & financial solutions. Dawn’s son Joshua Wilson aka SuperJosh was a very happy normal 3 and a half year old when he was diagnosed with his tumour; lifesaving brain surgery left Joshua in a coma for 3 months before he then started his recovery in rehab – the complicated surgery due to the location of the brain stem left him with complex physical needs, epilepsy, scoliosis, joint problems and an acquired brain injury. Dawn and her husband have been through an amazing journey with their son and have learnt so much about the illness and have had family and friends help them through their worst moments,  that they want to help other families who are suffering this awful illness.

We are going to support this very worthwhile charity throughout the year with different fund raising support. First of these will be the Woodstock Bury event on Sunday May 24th 2015. Hopefully the event will be extremely well attended as it promises to be a good day with lots of local bands performing and a lot of volunteers and people giving their time to help raise as much money as possible. We will be donating the baps for the burgers and the finger rolls for the hot dogs, there will be an afternoon tearoom as well where you can buy our scones with a cuppa and also we are hoping that they raise more money by selling our Bakestone loaf, with 100% of the proceeds being for superjosh charity.

superjosh charity event in Bury
superjosh charity event in Bury

Your support and donations will help Joshs Charity improve the lives of children with brain tumours & post surgery disabilities,  through financial solutions for specialist equipment, house adaptations and advice.

SuperJosh Charity
Registered Charity No 1151518

Allied Bakeries £31million investment

by mrbakestone, posted in bread

Allied Bakeries makes £31m bakery investment17 April, 2015
By Bronya Smolen, British Baker

Allied Bakeries has made a £31m investment at its Stevenage bakery – completing its multi-million pound capital expenditure programme.

The owner of the Kingsmill brand has now finished its £210m five-year programme across the Allied Bakeries portfolio, something it claims is the largest UK bakery investment in recent years.

The company has built new bread plants in Stockport, West Bromwich, Glasgow and London, and has now rounded off the project with the new breadline which is capable of producing 9,000 loaves per hour. It has also installed new equipment.

This comes just weeks after Tesco delisted Kingsmill sliced bread from its stores. The company has also recently seen the departure of chief executive Mark Fairweather, which followed warning from ABF stating that Allied Bakeries profits would be “lower than last year”.

Nick Law, operations director at Allied Bakeries, said: “As a direct result of our investment, Allied Bakeries now has some of the most modern bakeries in the world and has a solid foundation upon which to compete in a value driven market.

“Our customers and consumers are seeing the benefits of our investment – market leading innovation, one of the most varied bakery product portfolios, and consistently high quality products. We have also enhanced the working environment for our people while significantly reducing our impact on the environment.”

A new rolls plant has been introduced at West Bromwich and a new Thins plant has also been established in Glasgow, both investments in product development.

Russell Zaple, general manager eastern region said: “The Stevenage bakery was one of the first to benefit from our investment, with the installation of our first new bread plant in 2010. We are proud to have benefited from this final phase of investment, which supports the bakery in enhancing production, developing new products, and reinforcing the high standards of consistency and quality in our baking process.”

The installation of new equipment at the site includes bulk silos, bulk ingredients systems, mixers, a tin and lid handling system, a prover and oven, a cooler, bread converyors and a slicer / bagger combo.

Allied Bakeries is a part of Associated British Foods (ABF). It also produces the Burgen, Allinson and Sunblest brands from nine production sites across the UK, as well as Kingsmill.

Judge Bread Earns His Crust

by mrbakestone, posted in Debate

Wow, just wow at Warburtons mega advert staring the one-and-only Sylvester Stallone. It’s just brilliant! Not seen it? Here it is below…

It got us thinking here at Coultons Bread… ‘bloody hell, that must have cost a bit!’ No seriously, what a coup and a fantastic idea, we’re taking our baker’s hats off to Warburtons – but have any other celebrities fronted bakery adverts before.

We’ve dug deep into the archives and the answer is yes! None quite as big as Judge Bread, but some come mightily close.

We’ll start off nice and early and see if anyone can remember this ad from the 60’s starring the glamorous Dusty Springfield in a Mothers Pride advert where she’s a happy knocker upper!

The only other old advert we could find was this from over the pond, where American baseball player Carl (Yaz) Yastrzemski endorsed Yaz bread by Arnold Bakers. There’s literature out there saying that people bought the bread because they wanted to be just like Yaz! Although, we are unsure of the claim of it being ‘special fitness’ white bread!

Carl_Yastzemski

Which moves us onto another pair of sports stars, arguably more famous than Stallone as well! Latin bread giant BIMBO did something which no one else in the world has done before – signed both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo! They managed to get the superstar duo to front their new calcium rich milk bread back in 2013. People will be arguing who eats their bread better next!

The only other sports star that we could find endorsing bread was of double Olympic Gold medallist Victoria Pendleton MBE. She’s seen here recreating perhaps the most famous bread advert Britain has seen.

Victoria_Pendleton_Hovis_breadjpg

Now we have picked a couple out who you may or may not recognise – they both starred in bread/bakery ads before they were famous, albeit on different levels.

Drew_Barrymore_cookie

Do you know who ET it is? Here’s the Ad if not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AVzJDSEMyQ

Chesney_Coronation_Street_Bread_Ad

This one’s a little easier. He can now be seen earning his crust on the Nation’s longest-running soap.

Surely everyone remembers his ad:

We predict that after this blockbuster by Warburtons and Stallone that there are going to be more and more big-name celebs fronting the bakery world, and that’s great!

Do you have a favourite? And are there any that you remember that we have missed off?

Hot Cross Buns

by mrbakestone, posted in Buns

Why do we eat hot cross buns?
A traditional hot cross bun is a yeasted sweet bun that’s lightly spiced with cinnamon, and studded with raisins or currants, then marked on top with a cross that’s either piped with a paste or etched into the dough.

Hot cross buns are now sold and enjoyed throughout the year. they used to be only sold at Easter
There isn’t a main reason why Hot cross buns exist, Here are a few of the stories that are told about hot cross buns.

English folklore includes many superstitions surrounding hot cross buns. One of them says that buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil or grow mouldy during the subsequent year. Another encourages keeping such a bun for medicinal purposes. A piece of it given to someone ill is said to help them recover.
Sharing a hot cross bun with another is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year, particularly if “Half for you and half for me, Between us two shall goodwill be” is said at the time, so some say they should only be cooked one at a time. Because there is a cross on the buns, some say they should be kissed before being eaten. If taken on a sea voyage, hot cross buns are said to protect against shipwreck. If hung in the kitchen, they are said to protect against fires and ensure that all breads turn out perfectly. The hanging bun is replaced each year.. A 12th-century monk introduced the cross to the bun.

The origins of hot cross buns may go back as far as the 12th century. According to the story, an Anglican monk baked the buns and marked them with a cross in honor of Good Friday. Over time they gained popularity, and eventually became a symbol of Easter weekend.

Towards the end of the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I passed a law limiting the sale of sweet buns to funerals, Christmas, and the Friday before Easter. The English were deeply superstitious, believed the buns carried medicinal or magical properties, and were fearful of those powers being abused. Some even believed that buns baked on Good Friday would never go stale.

As a way to get around the law, more and more people began baking these sweet buns at home. Not only did they grow in popularity, but the law became too difficult to enforce and was eventually rescinded.

Anyway, what ever you believe or read on the subject do you like them? or do you loathe them?