Volume 1 Issue 1 (January 2006)

January, 2006 Volume 1 Issue 1
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Welcome to the First Pannifer’s Food-Letter!

We are Barbara McMahon and Alan Mailloux, formerly of the Woodmont Guesthouse in Stratford. We've left the B&B in the capable hands of Randi Patterson and David Spence, and relocated to beautiful Sebringville (just 5 minutes west of Stratford), where we fell in love with (and bought) a beautiful century-old building. We then had to figure out a way to pay for it! Fortunately, as many of you may remember, Alan has had lots of practice baking bread. The set-up seemed right; so, after a few minor disasters (the mixer, for one), we opened our doors in July of 2005. We offer fresh-baked bread and local, or at least all-Canadian, food products.

It’s been exciting sourcing products for the shop. We want good, honest food. The smaller the producer, the better we like it. We get to know them by name and know exactly what goes into each item. This lets us offer these things to our customers with confidence, hence our slogan: Pannifer’s: Really Good Food.

In fact, we’re so excited about all of this, we just can’t keep it to ourselves, which is why we’ve launched this food-letter – to let our friends from near and far, old and new, in on the fun.

We will come to your inbox once a month, if you let us (you can subscribe at the bottom of the page) with news from the Stratford area, stories about our suppliers and partners, a recipe and whatever else we think you might like.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy and delicious 2006!

P.S. If by chance you don’t wish to receive Pannifer’s Food-Letter, don’t worry. We sent this out to everyone we thought might be interested. If you don’t subscribe, we won’t send another. And we’ll never sell your name to anyone.


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Alan's Recipe of the Month

Dried Cherry and Chocolate Bread Pudding
Ingredients
1 Loaf of bread, good quality white or egg bread (crusts removed) cut up into small cubes

1 cup 35% whipping cream

2 cups milk

4 lg eggs, beaten

1/2 cup dried cherries (or cranberries), chopped or left whole (for a more grown-up taste, soad these in orange brandy while the oven is warming up)

1/2 - 1 cup good quality dark chocolate, chopped (or semi- sweet chips)

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt



Method
Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Generously butter an 8x8 inch baking dish or 9x5 inch bread pan.

Place bread cubes, cherries (drained of the brandy) and chocolate in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine.

Mix cream, milk, eggs, sugar and salt (and brandy, if using) together in a separate bowl. Pour over bread mixture. Mix gently.

Allow to sit for 5 minutes and mix again, allowing the liquid mixture to soak into the bread mixture. Wait 5 minutes and mix again.

After 5 more minutes, pack into the prepared pan. Distribute the mixture evenly, but don't pack it too tightly.

Place in the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, 30-60 minutes depending on the depth of the dish.

Best served warm.