Tags
baking, bread, flour, mill pond, mute swans, Pakenham Water Mill, tea shop
For the past couple of years I have been making almost all the bread we eat using a bread-maker. If I had the time and strength in my hands I wouldn’t use the bread-maker as much as I do but would knead my own dough. However, needs must and so I use the machine. Bread-makers don’t make perfect loaves but the bread is so much nicer than most shop-bought loaves; the texture and the taste especially. We know what goes into the loaves – there are no hidden ingredients – and I try to use the best flour available to me. For white flour I use Marriage’s Strong Organic and until November I used Pakenham Water Mill Flour for my wholemeal flour. Since November I have not been able to buy Pakenham’s flour as the farm shop I used had to close down. The mill itself isn’t open at weekends during the winter and I can’t get there on Thursday mornings when it is open. I have been using Marriage’s Strong Wholemeal flour instead. The results are not the same. The bread is heavier in texture and the loaves don’t rise so well as when I use Pakenham’s flour. I am looking forward to Easter when the mill re-opens for the summer.
We have visited the mill a couple of times for a tour and these photographs were taken last summer.
They make all their cakes, bread and scones using their own flour. The flour is made from locally grown wheat and is milled twice to make it as smooth as silk.
Please try to click on the link to the watermill if you have the time. It describes the working of the mill and its history (briefly!) better than I could ever do.
Jill Weatherholt said:
Your bread looks like a piece of artwork! Mine typically sags in the middle, Clare. Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos…such a lovely place.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Jill. The breadmaker does a very good job. My hand-made bread is not so good-looking!
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Aggie said:
The mill pond is so beautiful! How lovely to have the mill!
I have learned a way to make bread, Clare, where you don’t have to knead, and it is the best textured crusty French bread I’ve ever had. I will try to remember to find online instructions and send to you. You just fold it every 15 minutes.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Aggie! That sounds wonderful.
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Kate Happenence said:
One of the worst things about leaving home was that I no longer had my dad baking fresh bread for me all the time. He loves making it, and does it all by hand. Anything shop bought just doesn’t taste right.
The mill is such a treat to have nearby. Lovely photos.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Kate. Home and hand-made bread is very special. My mother has always made her own bread too.
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fodrambler said:
Lovely. For years I made all of my own bread but I never liked bread makers, it is easier to do it yourself. Good bread depends on having a good oven though. Back in the day I had a Smeg A1 range and it had two ovens, one made a perfect loaf and the other just couldn’t. The little thing in my rented flat today won’t make bread. Kneading the dough isn’t that difficult and it is good for fixing shoulder problems. The hard bit is shaping the bread so that it doesn’t sag or collapse. The best thing about bread is the crust and you don’t get a good crust if you use a bread maker or even if you use a tin, you have to learn how to tension the surface of the bread so that you can shape it and lay it on a piece of grease proof paper to rise. That is the best bread. You should try it, it is a wonderful thing to bake good bread, I always thought that one day I would teach my son how to do it, girls love that kind of thing in a man, he was never really interested though. I expect that he will end up with a frumpy wife because he had the wrong values but what can you do? Lovely post Clare.
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clarepooley33 said:
That last bit about the frumpy wife really made me laugh! The breadmaker we have actually does produce quite a nice crust. I have tried to make my own bread a couple of times but haven’t yet produced anything very good. I have arthritic joints and find it difficult to knead for as long as the bread needs and our oven isn’t too good either. My mother still makes her own bread despite her arthritis but she has always done it and is used to it. Now she is on her own she only makes small quantities. Perhaps when I have more time I will have another go. Thank-you Colin.
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Julie said:
Really lovely post Clare, I think I may have seen a documentary on the mill as it felt familiar – I followed your link as a well. We eat far less bread than we used too, but did use a bread maker because like you value the control over the ingredients. Aggie’s French bread recipe sounds interesting too, I would like to see that.
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clarepooley33 said:
We probably eat more bread than we should because of the breadmaker! I am looking forward to seeing Aggie’s recipe too! Thank-you, Julie.
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quietsolopursuits said:
There’s nothing better than freshly baked bread right out of the oven, no matter how you make it! I found the mill very interesting, I hope that you are able to return for the good flour.
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clarepooley33 said:
I am sure we will be able to get the flour in just a few weeks time. There are other outlets where we could get the flour but most of them are quite a long way from us. We love fresh bread and we now eat too much of it!
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
I love fresh bread and you couldn’t get much fresher than yours, by the sounds of it. I can’t think of anywhere in this entire state where you could by real milled flour, so you’re lucky to have the mill. It looks like just the kind of place that I’d like to explore.
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clarepooley33 said:
It is a wonderful place with a number of old machines they used over the years to try to compete with the large factories. They lost the battle in the end but through the hard work of a number of hard-working volunteers it was brought back to life and now has financial help from the Suffolk Building Preservation Trust. How sad that you can’t get fresh-milled flour. It wasn’t possible to get in this country not that long ago but there has been a bit of a food revolution and there are more and more places where fresh produce can be obtained.
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
They might have milled flour at the natural foods store, now that I think about it.
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clarepooley33 said:
It is possible. Also if you have farmer’s markets or similar, flour may be sold there.
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New Hampshire Garden Solutions said:
Good idea! We have them in the summer months.
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tootlepedal said:
I certainly enjoyed the mill visit. The pictures were very good. My breadmaker bread has not been as good as usual lately and I wondered if the reasonably priced flour that I was buying might be the culprit so I looked for some higher quality stuff but as it cost over three pounds, I will stick to the cheaper stuff.
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clarepooley33 said:
Over three pounds is a lot to pay for a bag of flour. 1kg Marriage’s flour £1.94 here so not too bad. It has gone up in price recently as they are stopping supplying 1.5kg bags and I assume think we won’t notice the cost difference.
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colorpencil2014 said:
Lovely photo’s! And your bread looks so jummy as does the spread in the cozy tea room! I enjoyed a little vacation in this post, xo Johanna
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Johanna! the food in the tea shop is very nice indeed. As soon as my husband read this post he said we must go back as soon as it opens for the summer, buy lots of flour and have a meal in the café!
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Charlie@Seattle Trekker said:
I love your advice on bread making which is something I want to do and the watermill visit photos were really special; such an enjoyable post.
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Charlie. Bread making is extremely satisfying even with a breadmaker machine. The watermill is a very pleasant place to visit.
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Aquileana said:
That baked bread sounds and looks delicious dear Clare… a beautiful post and I love the photographs, particularly that one of the river at the back of the mill.
All the very best to you ⭐ Aquileana 😀
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you for your kind comment dear Aquileana. I hope you are having a happy weekend. Best wishes, Clare 😀
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Christy Birmingham said:
I enjoyed coming to visit and seeing the swans was lovely! 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you very much,Christy. I liked the little swan family too. 🙂
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Cynthia Reyes said:
What a pleasant tour, Clare. Fresh bread, and a fresh view!
Thanks for sharing these lovely scenes.
And I can almost smell that yummy loaf!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you, Cynthia. I hope you are well?
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Elizabeth Melton Parsons said:
Loved, loved, loved this post, Clare. So many beautiful photos and that one of the tea and scones, as well as the description how they make their cakes and breads made me hungry. 🙂
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you Elizabeth. I think my most favourite meals out are ones like this!
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Gallivanta said:
What a wonderful mill. I am trying to imagine silky smooth flour….how excellent that would be. I use a breadmaker. The better the flour the better it works, I find. I also use the breadmaker to knead dough which I then place in baking pans and bake in the oven. Some of the bread recipes work better that way and by letting the breadmaker do the kneading I take a huge load off my hands. I expect you have tried that method too.
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clarepooley33 said:
I have tried using the breadmaker to just knead the dough but not often and not recently. The flour is so smooth it can be used (mixed with white flour) to make cakes and scones.
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Gallivanta said:
My grandmother would have approved. She and my grandfather had a small bakery./ tearooms and their bread, cakes, pies etc were much sort after. She was particular about the flour. I am about to make some bread in the breadmaker. As it will be a loaf with basic ingredients I will cook it in the breadmaker. I have made some lovely fruit bread recently using a combo of breadmaker and oven.
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clarepooley33 said:
I do love fruit bread.
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Jane Thorne said:
I can smell your bread from here Clare. Xx
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you, Jane! xx
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Jonathan Caswell said:
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
ALL FOR THE NEED OF SUPPLYING BREAD!
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clarepooley33 said:
Thank-you so much for the re-blog!
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Lisa Whitehead said:
Hello Clare,
I am a volunteer at the mill. It is such a special place, as a New Zealander (we have so little history) it is wonderful for me to go in each week and help mill flour, while my kids are at school, something I could not have done if still in NZ.
And thank you, what a wonderful article about this lovely place! We do sell flour over winter in the Pakenham shop, and have just expanded in to some of the local Co-ops – quite exciting for us all, as we are all volunteers.
We now have a circular walk which is new this year, and fresh paint, so I am sure you will enjoy your visit even more when you next call in.
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clarepooley33 said:
Hello Lisa,
I am pleased you liked my post; thank-you for visiting my blog. We love visiting the mill and hope to be there very soon. It must be wonderful to work at such a special place.
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