Our Patch APRIL 2016
year-old, Fiona… as well as
the occasional picture that
her daughter has done at her
Hammersmith nursery.
FAMILY TRADITION
The intensity of the chocolate
is simply superb. Another line is
cinnamon buns – the aroma of which
always pulls in the yummy mummies
as they’re pushing their youngsters
to the park. And let's not forget the
marmalades, jams, honey and olive oil
from specialist producers that she sells.
EASTER DELIGHTS
Easter promises novelties. “It’s as big
a festival as Christmas in Romania,”
said Raluca, who strolls to the shop
each day from the family home in
Thorpebank Road.
“In terms of baking we do a sweet
dough bread filled with cocoa powder
and crushed walnuts. However, my
husband says that there’s no such thing
as a sweet dough unless it’s filled with
Turkish delight.”
Raluca’s Easter offerings include a
kind of hot cross loaf, filled with spiced
currants… a bit like Italian panettone,
but perhaps not as moist. The dough is
similar to brioche, enriched with sugar,
milk, butter and eggs.
“We also make a sort of cake with a
plait of the dough filled with a sweet
cheese, sour cream and raisins.”
Everything is kneaded by hand
(Raluca may be pint-sized, but
she has impressive upper
body strength capable
of lugging the 25-kilo
flour sacks around)
in the micro-bakery,
decorated with framed
pictures of her three-
Yet Raluca never set out to be
an artisan baker. She did
a marketing degree at
university, then a masters in
PR before working in telecoms
for 11 years. It was only after
she took redundancy that she swapped
keypads for oven gloves.
“My grandmother baked, and I used
to help and watch,” she said. “And
I remember my great grandmother
baking in a tiny oven, producing dense
loaves over a wood fire.”
She was eight when the revolution
came, and remembers seeing the
tanks in the streets. But it was an
era when home-cooking dominated
domestic life in Romania. “Everyone
was cooking, stewing and souping, and
we’d eat loads of bread, using it to mop
everything up.”
Her interest in artisan baking has
prompted her to read more widely
about traditional cooking and breadmaking. “I realise now that we were
eating quite well,” she said. “Half our
food was fermented, which is now seen
as very good.”
Baking takes 24 hours. “I started this
morning at 7am, and that dough will
be baked tomorrow morning at 7am,”
she explained, adding that she finds it
amusing if she runs out of one type of
bread and is instructed by a customer:
“Well bake some more, then!”
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
So, come on. Why October 26? “Well,
the official answer is that it’s my
birthday,” she said.
“But my half-sister was born 10
years after me, on the same day. And
my mum died on the same day too,
so it’s significant.
“It’s a good conversation starter.”
And with that settled, I leave Raluca
to continue her batch of baguettes; a
cloud of steam and smoke engulfing
her as she opens the oven door.
The October 26 bakery is
located at 153 Askew Road,
Shepherds Bush. It is open
Monday-Saturday. Visit
www.october26.co.uk or
email Raluca@october26.
co.uk
EXPERT OPINION
WHY BAKE YOUR
OWN BREAD?
Loaves and tins
ready for the oven
at October 26
We buy our daily bread wrapped in
plastic bags, without noticing that
the list of ingredients includes high
fructose corn syrup, ammonium
chloride and more... But with
sourdough bread, Raluca Micu
returns to the traditional method of
baking using just flour, water and
salt to make bread. Here’s why:
1 Only three ingredients
A good sourdough bread will only
ever contain flour, salt and water
– while seeds, grains, nuts, fruit,
spices may be added to taste.
2 Friendly gluten
The long fermentation a sourdough
bread should go through breaks
down the gluten strands, making
the bread easier to digest.
3 Happy guts
The long fermentation also breaks
down the grains releasing most of
the nutrients and vitamins that
otherwise will not be accessible. It
also produces a number of good
enzymes that give us a happier
digestive system.
4 Fewer calories
Sourdough bread has fewer calories
than your shop-bought loaf because
a plain loaf should not have any
added sugars or syrups, and because
the fermentation breaks down the
carbohydrates as well.