This day retreat brings together two of my loves, teaching people to make delicious home made bread and all things yoga and relaxation - there's even tea and cake included in the price! 

I'll be taking care of the bread and cake side of things, teaching you in a hands on baking class how to make our award winning white loaf and pizza, which we'll eat for lunch. 

Whilst the bread proves Jane from Ince Benet (near Formby) will guide you through a gentle yoga class, and meditation, with forest bathing after your home made pizza. 

And this is an introductory offer, as we think it's going to be a regular thing! 

Get your tickets from Jane [email protected] but feel free to ask me any questions. 

(You CAN make the pizza vegan/dairy free if you wish but I need to know in advance!)

Hello Spring and British Summer Time! 

And happy Easter to you all.

As ever, thanks for all of your support for everything we do. It is thanks to you that things like our Crafternoon Tea on 26 March was such a success and we raised a phenomenal £656 to send to the Turkey/Syria Earthquake relief fund.

We’ll be announcing some new bread classes after Easter including a couple of exciting new ones. Our existing class schedule is fully booked!

Coming soon: Our SEVENTH Birthday celebrations and details of our Coronation celebration packages!

But for now, Easter is just a couple of days away, and, as a family time it is nice to share the love of baking with the ones nearest and dearest - or eat it all yourself! 

Hot Cross Bun, the history
As the mince pie is to Christmas, the Hot Cross Bun is to Easter. And I do love a Hot Cross Bun. The commercial ones are okay but just like a homemade mince pie at Christmas you cannot beat one that is homemade. Next year we should run a class but in the meantime I’ve included my recipe below. For any of you who have attended any of our classes these are a cinch, they taste great and family and friends  will be amazed at your skill.

Fun Facts:
I’ve been doing a bit of fact digging about the Hot Cross Bun, so did you know…
·        The cross on the top of the bun was originally cut into the bun (just as we do on a soda bread) and not made of flour paste
·        The cross on the top of the bun has always been symbolic – we now interpret it as a symbol of Christ, but it wasn’t always so. Crosses on buns date back to Roman and pagan times and represented the four seasons or phases of the moon.
·        Queen Elizabeth I in 1592 decreed that no baker should ‘make, utter, or sell…any spice cakes, buns, biscuits or other spice bread’ except at burials, Christmas and on Good Friday.
·        The ‘one a penny, two a penny rhyme…’ hot cross bun rhyme appeared in the 1730’s. Little chance of getting a hot cross bun nowadays for a halfpenny but a halfpenny in 1730 was worth the equivalent of 39p today.


Hot Cross Buns - The Recipe
Ingredients
·        500g strong white flour
·        75g caster sugar
·        2 tsp mixed spice
·        1 tsp ground cinnamon
·        1 lemon, finely grated zest only
·        10g salt
·        7g fast-action dried yeast
·        50g butter
·        300ml milk
·        1 free-range egg, beaten
·        200g sultanas
·        50g finely chopped mixed candied peel
·        oil, for greasing
·        For the topping
·        75g plain flour
·        2 tbsp golden syrup, for glazing

Method
1. Put the flour, sugar, spices and lemon zest into a large bowl and mix together. Then add the salt and yeast, placing them apart on opposite sides of the bowl.
2. Put the butter and milk into a jug and war in the microwave for 50 seconds (enough that the milk is slightly warm and the butter very soft or melted). Add half the tepid milk/butter liquid to the dry ingredients. Add the egg and use your hands to bring the mixture together, incorporating the flour from the edges of the bowl as you go. Gradually add the remaining milk, to form a soft pliable dough (you may not need all of the milk).
3. Tip the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 10 minutes until silky and elastic and forming a smooth ball. Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in a bowl, cover with cling film or a dinner plate and leave to rest in a warm place for about 1½ hours or until doubled in size.
4. Turn the risen dough out on to a lightly floured surface. Knock back flatten out the dough and incorporate the sultanas and mixed peel and give a light knead for a further minute or so. Return to the bowl, cover again with cling film or the plate and leave in a warm place to rise for a further 50 minutes or until doubled in size.
5. Turn the dough out again on to a floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces, shaping each of these into a ball.  – if you want uniform buns weight the dough ,divide weight by 12 and weigh each dough ball individually. Line 1-2 baking trays with paper and place the balls on the tray, placing them fairly close together and flattening them slightly.
6. Lighly oil some cling film and lay over the buns on the trays. Leave for 40-60 minutes until the buns have doubled in size.
7. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
8. For the topping, add the flour to a bowl with 100ml/3½fl oz water. Mix together to make a thin paste and spoon into an icing bag (or freezer bag and just chop off a corner).
9. Here’s a fun bit  - when the buns have risen remove the polythene bags and pipe a cross on each bun.
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes until pale golden-brown, turning the baking trays round halfway through if necessary.
11. Melt the golden syrup in a pan (or a few seconds in the microwave) and while the buns are still warm, brush them with a little syrup to give a nice shine, before setting aside to cool on a wire rack. 

Enjoy and remember to tell us what you think of them, with pics!

Spring is just around the corner, and we're ready to celebrate its long  awaited arrival with our crafternoon tea with Limetree flowers. 

It's going to be a sensory experience with delicious floral aromas, then sumptious cakes to tickle your tastebuds (plus sandwiches, savouries and plenty of tea!)

If you'd like to join us we'd love to see you - and if it is a gift (Mother's Day is the week before) then we'll do a gift voucher to present. 

To book please drop me a line on our contact form:  Easy as that!  Contact

Room Forty’s Orange Mincemeat
Unlike making a jam or chutney, making your own mincemeat for mince pies is a cinch. The only skill that you need is the ability to mix ingredients together - it is that easy.

Personally I find commercial mincemeat sometimes rather heavy and solid. This is our recipe which we think is far lighter and fruitier. Unlike most commercial products it doesn’t contain any suet.
This will make about 1.3kilos or about 3 large jars full
Ingredients

• 225 g apples (preferably a sharp apple like a Bramley or Cox)
• 1 x large orange (unwaxed)
• 1 x lemon (unwaxed)
• 225g currants*
• 110g raisins*
• 110 g sultanas*
• 110 g candied peel
• 110 g unskinned whole almonds
• 50g ground almonds
• 110g demerara sugar
• 75ml brandy, or whisky, or port or Cointreau, or orange juice

*The raisin/sultana mix is interchangeable. Dried fruit is expensive so as long as you have about 450g of dried fruit that’s fine.

Instructions:
Wash and pare the rind off the lemon and orange, then shred the rind finely.
Simmer the rind in boiling water for ten minutes in a pan. Remove and put it aside.
Juice the lemon and orange and pour the juice into a bowl

Wash, peel and core the apples, then chop them into chunks, as you do so chuck them into the lemon/orange juice (you don’t have to do this but it will slow the apple browning and keep it whiter)

Mix together the apples, juice, currants, raisins and sultanas in a bowl, then taking small quantities at a time give them a quick whizz in a food processor to break them up a little.

Chop the candied peel and coarsely chop up the whole almonds.

Then in a large bowl add the apples, juice, currants, raisins and sultanas that you prepped before then add the ground almonds, rinds, candied peel, chopped almonds, sugar and the alcohol (or orange juice if you prefer) and give it all a really good stir.

And it’s done! Pot up into sterilised jars and seal them up, or just leave in a plastic tub in the fridge. You can use it straight away but given a week or more for the flavours to mature it’ll be even better. It’ll keep in the sterilised jars for about three months.

And if you want to join us on our baking class where we'll make them, join us on 14 December at Weaverham 6pm-9.30pm.

We always like to think that we're going the extra mile with every single tea that we make. This wonderful review came in just after we'd helped a family to say farewell to a very much-loved mum. 

It is wonderful for all our team to know that the effort that they put in, really translates into the experience that people have at our events. 

If you would like to find out more about our services please do get in touch. We're available 7 days a week for funeral teas. 

Room  Forty are finalists in the Enterprise Vision Awards and we need your help - to cast your vote. 

The awards are for women in business across the North West and we've been shortlisted with judging for the final 6 in the hospitality category going to public vote. 

PLEASE could you spare a moment to vote for us, it would mean the world to us. We'll let you know if we were successful on 23 September at the awards ceremony!
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