So sbreadable

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens. Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. With bread all sorrows are less”

– Sancho Panza speaking to Dapple, his ass, in Don Quixote.

Crumbs… who’d have guessed there are so many names for bread rolls?Bap, Batch, Bun, Cob, Stottie, Roll ?

Go into any bakery or café today and try to order a cheese roll. Or a bacon roll. If you don’t use the correct local term, there’s a good chance you’ll be corrected or even given the wrong item.I’d certainly never heard of a batch before, until I came to Coventry as a student.White bread is made from flour which contains only the endosperm, or central section of the grain (about 75% of the whole grain). White flour is fortified with calcium, iron, niacin and thiamin.

Wholemeal bread is made from the whole of the wheat grain with nothing removed.Brown bread is made from flour from which some bran and wheatgerm have been removed and represents about 85% of the whole grain.

Wheatgerm bread is bread containing added cooked wheatgerm of no less than 10%.Granary breads are brown breads made from special Granary(R) flour (a trademark of the Hovis brand), which includes kibbled and whole grains of malted wheat.

Malt breads are made with high levels of malt flour to give a distinctive texture and flavour.

Sourdough breads are made from the fermentation of dough using a leaven, they are mildly sour to taste.Whatever your chosen bread, ingredients, style, structure – imagine the tasty variations your snackwich will develop using our sauces and chutneys.

It’s so good and original, I actually have Spiced Mango Chutney sandwiches … with nothing but bread and chutney!

Let me clarify – you don’t have to ‘do the magic’, we have already done that for you. Each little Jar of Joy, or Bottle of Beauty contains Stokes Magic.Our passion, our love, our absolute refusal to compromise on the quality of the natural ingredients we use. That’s magic.

You provide the bread of choice and inspired fillings – and let nature take its course.

Even dippy eggy soldiers can be lifted to make a meal of the occasion – or turn the occasion into a meal:These brave we lads (and lasses) have been spread with Goat’s Cheese, topped with sliced red onion and dotted with Stokes Chilli Jam before grilling (or Air Frying), slicing and assigned to their duties.

Dunk away !A slice of Rye, ciabatta boat, toasted sourdough – all wonderful bases for creative Tapas.

DID YOU KNOW?

‘Tapas’ actually means – to cover – and now translates culturally as small plates of food, light bites. The origins lie in Spanish bars, whose guests asked for ‘small plates’ to cover their glasses (to keep the flies off).[Hoisin Duck Bruschetta with a spread of spicy shop-bought red pepper hummus, topped with shredded duck and crispy onions bound in our Hoisin Sauce.]

Switched-on bar owners popped a little something to eat on the plates as a welcoming gesture, and Tapas was borne. Another great pairing for Goat’s Cheese is our Fig Relish. Its sweet fig with a slight tartness comes from it brimming with dried figs (60%) and the skillful addition of cider vinegar and molasses.

This offsets the grilled cheese and sits well together on toast – here with a sweet garnish of red peppers and light olive oil. Go extra cheffy with a sprinkling of Nigella Seeds. A Croque Monsieur can be made with our Classic English Mustard, but is represented here as a Croque Madame using (appropriately) our Dijon Mustard.

DID YOU KNOW?

Do you know the difference between a Croque Monsieur and a Madame – literally, she has the egg.

Freudian, biological, innuendo, risqué ? Or just French humour … je ne c’ait pas.

RECIPE: So, ‘Marry Me’ is very last week (Valentine’s Day) but the sentiment is right.

Bread ‘n’ Butter Pudding

Who wouldn’t want to hug whoever put this on the table. It’s a classic, but Andy’s recipe lifts it yummability factor up a few notches on  the ‘wow‘ scale.

Enjoy the RECIPE – HERE.

What? Didn’t know we made Jam … technically we don’t, we make what’s called EXTRA Jam, having an above average content of fruit, fine fruit, in our little Jars of Joy.

No Choking, we’re Only JokingYou can tuna piano, but you can’t tuna sandwich.

Life’s too short for boring sandwiches. Go big or go hungry.

Q: What’s a sandwich’s favourite movie? A: “Breadator.”

Lettuce be honest, sandwiches are the best lunch possible.

Q: Why did the sandwich go to the dentist? A: It had poor fillings.

The early bird gets the worm… the late bird gets the breakfast crusts.

It’s that witching hour – can’t loaf around here all day.