Tapa coffee & bakehouse

From the latest issue of British Baker magazine:

Research conducted by the Oko-Institut in Freiburg, Germany, has found that the environmental impact of organic bread is much less than conventional bread. The production, packaging and distribution of organic breads emits as much as a quater less CO2 into the atmosphere.

The bulk of the CO2 saving on organic bread isfrom farming, especially wheat production, with conventional farming emitting more than twice as much CO2 as wheat produced using organic farming methods.

This recipe will help you get a great tasting loaf. It might sound complex but is actually easy to make and it has just four ingredients. You will get two medium sized loaves out of the recipe or one big one. The bread is best made in loaf tins but would be fine shaped into rounds too.

You need to use good flour to make good bread. The best flour will have been grown organically and stoneground by a local miller. Stoneground flour is full of great vitamins and minerals that keep us healthy.

Ingredients

750g stoneground wholemeal flour
500g water
7g salt
6g yeast

If you want to bake the bread in the morning start the night before; if you want to bake it at night start this in the morning.

Start with a biga. This biga is not necessary to make the bread but will make a big difference in the flavour and eating quality. To make, mix together by hand:

1g of yeast
400g of cold water
500g of wholemeal flour.

It will be wet to the touch. Cover and put it in the fridge. Leave the biga there until four or so hours before you want to bake the loaves.

Once the biga has returned to room temperature (allow 1 hour), add the rest of the ingredients, but this time use warm water. Mix the ingredients together for 2 minutes, then let the dough rest for about 10 minutes to allow the flour to absorb the water.

If kneading by hand, knead for 10 minutes. If you have a machine mixer then using the dough hook, mix it on medium speed for 3 minutes. Take the dough off the hook, cover your bowl and leave to rise for 1.5 to 2 hours. It should double in size.

Turn the dough out of the bowl onto your bench. Flatten it all over with your hands. Divide the dough into two if you are making two loaves. Round the dough into balls. Leave on the bench for around 10 minutes. While the dough rests grease your loaf tins. Flatten the balls of dough into a rectangle shape, roll up tightly and place into the prepared greased tin(s).

Let the dough rise in the tin in a warm place until it has almost doubled in size, another 1.5 hours or so. Meanwhile, turn on your oven to 215C. Fill a flat oven proof dish with water. When the bread is ready to bake put this on the bottom of your hot oven.

Put your loaf in the centre of the oven. Set the timer to 30 minutes. If your oven has a fan either turn it off or turn the loaf after 15 minutes. The fan is going to make to crust a bit harder.

When the loaf is ready take it out of the the oven. Turn it out onto a cooling rack. Let the loaf cool completely before cutting it - cooling is as important as baking.

Enjoy!

Robert will be explaining how to make a yummy wholemeal loaf to Fred MacAulay, BBC Radio Scotland, 11am on Tuesday 14 April. We'll post the recipe here. If you miss the show you can listen again on BBC iPlayer.

There'll be painting fun for kids (and great coffee for their chaperones) every Tuesday at 11am, downstairs in the den at Tapa coffeehouse. The craft queens from Busy Bees Craft Studio will be hosting a painting session each week from 3 February 2009, so please come along.

You can find more information about Busy Bees at their myspace page: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=172276154

Tapa bakehouse now stocks a range of organic flours for home bakers. We stock the flours that we use to make our own breads as well as Doves Farm baking powder and baking soda; organic milk, butter and eggs for superior cakes and biscuits; and gluten free quinoa flour and buckwheat flour. We'll be expanding our range to include bread moulds and other bakers' kit.

Both the bakery and coffeehouse will be open over the holiday period.

Tapa coffeehouse, 721 Pollokshaws Rd will be open:
9am - 8pm 27th December
9am - 5pm 28th - 31st December
Open from 8am as usual from 3rd January 2009

Tapa bakehouse, 21 Whitehill St will be open:
9am - 5pm 27th - 31st December
Open from 8am as usual from 3rd January 2009

Both shops will close at 4pm on Christmas Eve and will be closed 25th & 26th December and 1st & 2nd January.

Happy holidays everyone

Tapa coffeehouse, 721 Pollokshaws Rd, hosted Glasgow's first ever coffee jam, bring together the city's best baristas to swap coffee making tips and skills. Using our fantastic new La Marzocco, they made beautiful, creamy espresso and trule impressive latte art. Some of the baristas present will be attending Barista championship shortly.

We read lots and lots of books about food. At the moment we're reading books about the economics of food. We can recommend all the books below, as well as Felicity Lawrence's earlier book, Not on the Label.
The authors' views of our future food security and state of national health range from the apocalyptic to the merely alarming. Scary stuff, though the books all reinforce our belief that good, honest food produced on a human scale from fresh local ingredients is the only way to eat. We read a lot of books about chocolate, puddings, and whisky as well as the odd trashy thriller too - there is a little more to life than food after all.

We've just had a our new La Marzocco Linea installed, made-to-order just for us in Florence. It has double boiler technology, a bottomless portafilter and lots of other impressive bits that you can read about here: http://www.lamarzocco.com/tecnologia.html
Are you just after a good cup of coffee? Well, we now have enthusiastic & skilled baristas, freshly roasted 100% arabica coffee beans AND the most fabulous espresso machine. We make delicious creamy espresso, smooth lattes and light cappuccino. De-lish!

Visit the Tapa stall at Glasgow's third annual Organic Food Festival. We'll have some lovely new cakes and we'll be brewing fresh organic coffee. Robert, mighty master baker, will be giving a free talk and demonstration about making proper bread on Sunday, 11.30 at the Ramshorn Theatre. We'll also have our stall at the Queen's Park Farmers Market and both cafes will be open for fresh organic food and great coffee

Robert is offering 2 classes in September as part of Organic Food Fortnight. The classes will run on two Wednesday evenings (10 & 17 September) from 7 - 10pm. Each class is restricted to 4 participants and will cost £50 per head. All ingredients will be provided.

The first class on 10 September will cover Italian breads, making & using a biga and we'll make a foccacia during the class.

The second class on 17 September will look at working with sourdoughs, wrangling wild yeasts and we'll work through the various stages of making a sourdough loaf.

If you'd like to join the class, please send an email to info@tapabakehouse.com indicating which class you're interested in.

We've opened a new tapa outlet at 721 Pollokshaws Rd, Glasgow G41 2AA. It's a great site - light and airy. It has a full kitchen so we're offering brunch at the weekends and a delicious menu featuring organic fish and meats, and our tasty organic breads and cakes. Just now we're open Tuesday - Saturday 8 - 6ish and Sunday 9 - 5. We'll be open 7 days and some evenings very shortly. Tapa coffeehouse is on the east side of Pollokshas Rd, two blocks north of Queen's Park. Please come and check us out.

Glasgow's Sunday Herald magazine says "If you haven't yet discovered the Tapa coffee and bakehouse in Glasgow's Dennistoun, do so immediately. Not only are their chocolate and cherry brownies possibly the best brownies ever to pass your lips, all their food and bread - cooked and baked entirely on the premises with the best possible ingredients - is organic. So good are they at the bread-baking thing that they supply several of the city's best restaurants and delis."

Sunday Herald 8 June 2008

We have added a delicious new product to our range: Struan. It's a Scottish bread, traditionally made at harvest time from oats and wholemeal wheat flour and enriched with milk and honey. It seems to be rarely made these days but it is tasty and nutritious, and very more-ish. It is available in our shop in Dennistoun and we'll have it at the farmers' market too.

One of the delicious organic coffees that we roast at Tapa coffeehouse comes from Finca Entre Rios in Guatemala. Located in the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, its location is spectacular.


It's also very remote, as one of our intrepid shareholders (my mum) discovered whilst attempting to visit. Up, up, up a winding dirt road she went, asking for directions along the way. When eventually she reached the gates, her way was barred by a gun-toting guard. After a quick phone call to the charming Senora Wintzer, who owns the Finca, the guard was all smiles and welcomed the weary visitors in with a big smile. The Finca staff were extremely hospitable and showed them the whole coffee production process from cherries on trees to beans in sacks.
Mum reports that coffee growing is hard yakka and very low-tech; and she reminded me to appreciate every cup of coffee I drink. There are lots more photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/25669077@N02/

We adore this delicate, fragrant coffee with its hints of chocolate. It's lovely for breakfast with a fresh buttery brioche from the bakery. We roast frequently and stock freshly roasted Finca Entre Rios on the shelves in the cafe, and on our stall at the Glasgow Farmers markets .

The spring 2008 issue of Organic Farming magazine has this to say about wheat: In spring 2006 feed wheat was around �£140/tonne, in spring 2007 around �£220/tonne and now it has hit �£300/tonne...with the price of feed wheat so high it is almost not worth chasing the milling market at only �£310/tonne - unless you are absolutely certain that your crop meets the millers' specification.

Competition for grain from animal farmers is one of the many factors affecting the price and availability of some flours. The demand for grain-fed meat just keeps on rising and it's forcing other food prices up too. We've done out best to contain our costs but unfortunately have had to add 5p to the price of most of our loaves.

Want cheaper bread? Eat less meat! Or choose meat & cheese from grass-fed, rather than grain-fed animals, and try some of the delicious organic smoked tofu we stock in the shop.

Tapa will be open 8am - 6pm as usual Friday & Saturday. We'll be open from 10am - 5pm Sunday & Easter Monday. Have a great weekend everyone.

We've got some loose leaf teas from local teahouse Tchai Ovna on our shelves. Try the tasty Turkish Apple, sweet Honeybush, Gunpowder Green tea or the Mate IQ for a brain boost.