It's always a delight to work with TV's Fabulous Baker Brothers, Tom and Henry, and I've been lucky to have met them several times thanks to my blog. Earlier this week, I was invited to attend their first monthly Hobbs House Bakery Bake Club taking place at their cooking school in Chipping Sodbury. This session is all about scones and tea!
This first session was led by Tom Herbert himself, who exuded passion for baking and their cookery school during his introduction chat. First things first, we set to work making scones! Here is the base recipe we used, and after the basic dough was made, we personalised it with various yummy goodies and experimented with different flavours.
We made four varieties in total:
1) Cheese & bacon scones, made with spelt flour
2) Plain scones
3) Run & raisin scones, topped with shredded coconut
4) Seeded scones, with poppy & pumpkin seeds
Do you think we have enough flour? This was one huge scoop!
Topping the rum & raisin scones with an egg glaze and coconut: delish!
Voila! Here are all our yummy handmade scones we made, fresh out of the oven, and ready to be taste-tested and paired with teas from Canton Tea Co, elegantly presented by Edgar.
Edgar Thoemmes (Canton Tea Co) and Tom Herbert (Hobbs House Bakery)
While our scones were baking, we were joined by Edgar from Canton Tea Co, to sample and sup some of their teas, including chai and jasmine teas.
Who else adores these clear teapots?
This was a great opportunity to try some different teas: it was also really lovely to taste jasmine tea again. I last enjoyed jasmine tea after a Chinese meal in Greece many years ago, and the smell immediately took me back to that relaxed summer evening. Edgar was contagiously enthusiastic about tea, and happily explained the different types of tea, and how it's produced.
We all giggled with Edgar when he explained the Chinese method of assessing water temperature!
Shrimp Eyes: 75 degrees
Crab Eyes: 80 degrees
Fish Eyes: 85 degrees
Rope of Pearls: 95 degrees
Raging Torrent: 100 degrees
Old Man Water: water that has been repeatedly boiled and "flat"
Here are the insides of the cheese & bacon scone (left) and the seeded scone (right)
Still warm from the oven!
A big thank you to the team at Hobbs House Bakery for inviting me to their first Bake Club! I'm so impressed, I've signed up to the next session, which is taking place on Thursday, 4th June at 6pm, and we'll be learning how to make bagels with Trevor Herbert (the brother's dad). Want to join us for £5 per person? Sign up by popping into their Chipping Sodbury shop, or call 0454 321629.
Check out Hobbs House Bakery at their website, Facebook and Twitter!
Check out Canton Tea Co at their website, Facebook and Twitter!
* I was not paid for this article. I was asked for my genuine personal opinion on their session to be published on my blog*
* If you would like me to review your product or service, please email me on jellyroseyate@gmail.com to discuss.*
