They say that necessity is the mother of invention and lockdown has provided Ipswich-based chef Richard Podd with a brand new skill – that of a baker.
He opened his café ‘On The Huh’ in St Peters Street, Ipswich, in January 2020 offering All-Day-Breakfasts, hugely popular Sunday roasts and tea and scones. Then came lockdown which stopped everything in its tracks.
Things eased in the summer when he supplied diners with an outdoor pizza experience but the latest lockdown has Richard wanting to do something other than spending hours downloading the latest Netflix series.
He said: “Lockdown has been a bit of an adventure. Every two or three months I have found myself doing something a little different.”
Now he is perfecting his skills as a baker and offering a Friday night delivery service to people living in Ipswich. He is experimenting with speciality breads as well as the modern traditional loaves.
As he is a one-man band during lockdown he is asking that orders are placed at least 24 hours in advance.
Richard said: “I made fresh bread to go with the meals when I first opened but when ‘Lockdown 3.0’ happened I wanted to do something, something that would add to my skillset and some friends asked if I could bake some bread that they used to be able to get from their supermarket, with walnuts and berries in it, and I said I would give it a try and it developed from there.
“Now I have tin loaves, focaccia, stone baked country rounds, sourdough, rolls, plus one or two different speciality breads each week. I like to experiment and see what works and how things can be improved – also there’s nothing quite like fresh bread.”
As with the ingredients for his meals, Richard uses local suppliers for his flour, using three types which he blends. Some of his favourite flour comes from the Pakenham Mill charity which uses the profits to keep the historic mill working.
If lockdown eases in the summer Richard is looking to introduce fish evenings and antipasti, along with the bread and the Sunday roasts. “The exact timing with, of course, depend on how quickly normality returns.”
Further details about Richard’s freshly baked bread and delivery service can be found on the ‘On The Huh’ café Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/onthehuhrestaurant)
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