• Home
  • About
  • Birds
  • Bread
  • Cakes and Cookies
  • Chocolate Making
  • Chocolate Making II
  • Chooks
  • Christmas
  • Fabulous Food
  • Family & Friends
  • Frugal Living
  • Homemade
  • In My Kitchen
  • In Our Garden
  • Jams, Preserves & Sauces
  • Musings
  • My Cool Things
  • Savoury
  • Suppliers
  • Sydney
  • Waste Reduction Plan

Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Living well in the urban village

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Mamak Malaysian Roti and Satay
Plum Crazy »

Famous

March 31, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Photo: telegraph.co.uk

Imagine how chuffed I was to see my photo of cottage loaves (duly credited) appear in Lucy Jones’ article in the Telegraph UK!

Poor old Princess Anne – I hope she wasn’t too upset by the comparison of her hairstyle to an old style bread – but I guess if it helps to bring cottage loaves back into the public eye, then that can only be a good thing.

One of the theories behind the origin of the cottage loaf was given to me by UK based Peter May, who believes it originated hundreds of years ago when it was illegal to sell underweight bread in England:

The reason for the top (the same reason as for the ‘bakers dozen’ , which means 13) was the extremely severe penalties suffered by bakers who gave short measure.  Loaves had to be sold by standard weight, thus to ensure the baker didn’t sell underweight he’d add a small dough ball on top.

Incidentally the bread laws which date from 1266 have been law right up to 2009 when the EU overruled them in the name of so called competition. Loaves had to be a full 800g (2lb) or half 400g (1lb)sizes.

I have baker friends who don’t see the sense in this, because the dough weight could be adjusted with water – why waste the extra flour?  But I do think there is some merit in Peter’s argument – the finished weight of a loaf can vary quite a lot depending on baking conditions, and if I was at risk of being flogged for a light loaf, I’d be inclined to add a little to the top as well.

Don’t forget we’re having a cottage loaf bake-off – if or when you’ve baked a loaf, please send me a photo and I’ll upload it here!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Posted in Food & Friends | Tagged cottage loaf, origin of cottage loaves | 19 Comments

19 Responses

  1. on March 31, 2010 at 1:13 am sallybr

    Oh, this is soooo cool! Congratulations!!!!!

    AWESOME!


  2. on March 31, 2010 at 1:56 am GillthePainter

    You’ve been published, how funny.
    Congratulations Celia!


  3. on March 31, 2010 at 1:58 am Nancy @ Roving Lemon's Big Adventure

    Congratulations! And in such illustrious company too! Not to mention that your bread is the *much* more attractive of the two subjects.


  4. on March 31, 2010 at 4:40 am figjamandlimecordial

    Thank you, Gill’s right, it is just too funny… :)

    Nancy, don’t be too hard, I’m quite a fan of Princess Anne, plus I think a hairdo that looks like a cottage loaf might not be such a bad thing. After all, it worked for the Bakerlite Girl in Wallace & Gromit – here’s a pic from http://www.wallaceandgromit.com – she’s almost got the same expression on her face as HRH…


  5. on March 31, 2010 at 5:35 am Gillian

    Hee hee I knew it was only a matter of time! But your bread is the star of the article. I wonder how many people bought a cottage loaf after seeing your photo …


  6. on March 31, 2010 at 6:49 am Zeb

    Yay! Way to go! Next stop the front page…. xx Jo


  7. on March 31, 2010 at 7:02 am cityhippyfarmgirl

    That’s a bit exciting! Congratulations :-)


  8. on March 31, 2010 at 7:11 am Simon Food Favourites

    congrats! :-)


  9. on March 31, 2010 at 7:12 am figjamandlimecordial

    Gillian, I wonder how easy it actually is to buy a cottage loaf these days? I’d be happy if someone actually baked a cottage loaf after the article! :)

    Jo, CHFG, Simon, thank you! Though I think it’s simply a testimony to the wide ranging power of Google images!


  10. on March 31, 2010 at 7:15 am spiceandmore

    Very cool indeed. And I agree, the cottage loaf definitely comes out the winner in that article!


  11. on March 31, 2010 at 7:39 am rayshine

    Congrats! =]


  12. on March 31, 2010 at 10:06 am foodwink

    how cool! congrats – I reckon your cottage loaves look better :D


  13. on March 31, 2010 at 2:08 pm figjamandlimecordial

    Thanks guys. Poor old Princess Anne. For all you W & G fans out there – Jo sent me something interesting this morning for those of you who’ve watched A Matter of Loaf and Death – check out this 1970s bread ad on YouTube! :)


  14. on March 31, 2010 at 6:28 pm Anna

    Wow! I read the article, saw the photo, thought it looked like your cottage loaf but didn’t actually think that it was your cottage loaf!

    Funny to see the orginal Bakerlite girl!


  15. on April 1, 2010 at 5:40 am Choclette

    Goodness Celia, well done and an excellent photo. Was it really just a random search on google that did this?

    What’s scary about that Nimble add on Youtube is that I remember it!


  16. on April 1, 2010 at 6:34 am figjamandlimecordial

    Anna, Choclette, thanks! Choclette, I really do think so re google – can’t think how the photo might have come up otherwise.


  17. on April 1, 2010 at 8:35 pm Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

    How fantastic! Congratulations Celia! What a coup :D


  18. on April 2, 2010 at 5:18 am Kitchen Butterfly

    Celia…..wow. Talent needs to microphone. I’m pleased for you……just doing what you love!


  19. on May 3, 2010 at 2:04 pm Patrick Collins

    You really are famous! Will you remember me?



Comments are closed.

  • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

  • Follow @celiafigjam
  • Recent Posts

    • Bits and Pieces, February 2019
    • One Month In
    • A Project On The Go
    • The Steam Engine, Chatswood
    • Sourdough Do’s and Don’ts
    • Happy Chinese New Year!
    • Ottolenghi Simple
    • Bone Conduction Headphones
    • Stainless Steel Bench
    • Fossil Focaccia
  • Categories

  • Archives

  • © All text and photos are copyright 2019 Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. All rights reserved. Please ask first.

    Protected by Copyscape

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: