Date:17/04/14
Location: Shelton (OCIS Café)
Interviewer: Hilary Hughes
Permission given to use interview for website, exhibition and Staffordshire archive: YES
Question asked “What do you remember about bread or bread baking”.
I live in Trentham, come here on the bus, on my own. Bread, well yes, me Mum used to make bread and she started me off. I used to make it by hand at one time, but I can't 'cos I've got arthritis in my right hand, but I have got a breadmaker. I need someone to help me with it, I did have a support worker but she's gone over to Revival, so I've got no one to help me, it's just the measurements I get stuck with. I've got a pasta machine as well, haven't tried to use it yet. I used to make coriander bread. You mix with fresh seeds of coriander, they have a lovely aroma like oranges and I've done with buckwheat. I have to be careful now, I have a wheat alergy, celiac, so I have to have special bread mix, if I had somebody to help me with the measurements I could make me own.
Me Mum made it with fresh yeast, we used to get the yeast from the supermarket or the local shop. We used to make bread in loaf tins and round ones like a bun loaf. I liked the crust, those were the days, in the 1960's when me Mum made bread. I started making me own bread pretty soon after me Mum died, she died in 1999, in March. My friend makes bread as well, she's got a bread machine. First in the bread machine I made buns, they were successful, second time I had more success I made it with coriander. It's just the measurements I get stuck with.
It's easy to make chapatis, you want 8oz of flour, a pinch of salt sometimes I'd add curry powder, or mixed herbs. You put them on the frying pan. Use a rolling pin, make little round balls then roll 'em out. I watched a cookery programme and got the idea off them. There's two types actually, one you use olive oil and deep fry it. Eat them with stir frys.
Making bread you have to knead it with your hands, knead it three or four times, otherwise it won't rise. It takes a long time to make it rise. Me Mum cooked the bread in loaf tins and round ones for bun loaves, sometimes we made rolls as well, bread rolls, put them on a baking sheet like scones. I think we had a Mrs Beatons, a big thick book, I've still got it. All this talk of bread it's making me hungry.
We used to have, Wrights bakery down at Trentham, at the bottom of Hanford roundabout. There used to be a bakery but they've gone now, closed down. We've got another little bakery now, The Bread Basket that's the nearest one now.
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