FOOD Freshly Baked
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reating yourself to quality baking, whether sweet or savoury, will brighten up any grey day. The tantalising aroma of freshly-baked bread alone can be enough to tempt you into a bakery. For a taste of what you can get in Sheffield, take a look on Instagram. You can enjoy artisan gluten-free bakes from
AESTHETE COFFEE + KITCHEN
The Suited Baker, beautifully-crafted Danish rye bread from Gerry’s in Walkley and classic Portuguese custard tarts from Forge Bakehouse. To celebrate all that is baked, we spoke to Mark from Roses The Bakers and Alexa from Aesthete Coffee + Kitchen to hear more about their passion.
Aesthete
348-352 South Road, Walkley What do you love about baking? It’s probably a cliche but it’s true: baking is very therapeutic. The whole procedure is calming and takes my mind off the daily struggles - as long as it goes according to plan. When it doesn’t, it’s stressful! Nevertheless, it always excites me. When I know I have a baking day, I cannot wait to get out of bed and start baking. Some mornings I find myself wide awake at 4am thinking of the ultimate cake combinations. What are your favourites to bake? At Christmas time, I was reminded by a family member about a bake I’d made a couple of years ago and was dumbfounded by the obvious question: Why did I ever stop making this epic bake? The Nutella Baklava consists of layers of sticky, crispy but also buttery filo pastry, lashings of Nutella and finely-chopped roasted nuts, all baked in the oven and then soaked in a honey and cinnamon syrup. It’s the traditional Greek dessert, modernised. Layer cakes are my forte. I always strive to find the most unique combinations. I believe this is appreciated by my lovely customers, who try them and often order them as celebration cakes. What are your top tips for home bakers? Practice really does make perfect. As a self-taught baker, I look at past bakes and laugh at my lack of experience. Do not give up. That’s the worst thing you could do. Start off by finding a trustworthy recipe. If you are an amateur baker, or even an experienced one (it certainly has caught me off-guard plenty of times), please, for the love of the baking gods, avoid Pinterest at all costs! If you follow the instructions from a trusted cookbook or a passed-down
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family favourite recipe, there’s no way it won’t turn out delicious. Where are your favourite places to go for sweet bakes? As a baker, who bakes roughly seven days a week, when I do want to treat myself to a sweet delight that I haven’t actually made myself, I tend to indulge in something completely different to my own bakes. Chatsworth Farm Shop is excellent. They have a beautiful display of the freshest scones, cream horns, fruit tarts and cheesecakes. They’re more traditional English delights that bring back childhood memories and they are the sort of bakes I don’t typically create myself.
