Forthcoming Attractions: End-May 2021

Vintage miniature Lixo rubbish bin

Even though 2021 seems to be flying by, we’ve somehow found the time to update our web shop three times this month! With everything slowly opening up here in Wales and over in England, we’ve been heading out on buying trips to both old haunts and new territories.

Here’s a small selection of the freshly-picked vintage items that we’ve listed online this week. Click on each image to be taken to the individual product page.

Louis Hudson studio pottery vase Trio of tiny pottery owls
Pair of Royal Doulton 'Sheerlite' pottery lamp bases Vintage wood & brass washboard

Forthcoming Attractions: More for May 2021

Original vintage Colin Ruffell impasto painting

Thursdays on our blog are usually given over to sharing a recipe. This week, we’ve been so busy with listing new stock in the H is for Home online shop that we’ve not had the time for much else!

Below, are just a few of the many vintage bits & bobs that we added yesterday and today. Simply click on each image to be taken to the individual item.

Vintage enamel daisy coffee pot Vintage Cathrineholm Lotus coffee pot
Large vintage ICI tin Mid century modern tea storage tin

Chocolate brown vintage Prova desk lamp Vintage gold Maclamp
Vintage E J Arnold & Son 'Children of the World' plaques Vintage set of Beefeater steak plates

Cakes & Bakes: Bara gwyn

Bara gwyn with 'farmhouse' imprint on its side | H is for Home

We bought this fab farmhouse loaf tin in an antique shop this week; I love it so much, I wanted to make use of it ASAP!

Vintage farmhouse loaf tin | H is for Home
I looked in my new favourite Welsh cook book for a simple, rustic loaf recipe and quickly found one for bara gwyn which translates as, ‘white loaf’. The directions – as I have found previously with this particular book – can be on the sketchy side. It states that you should bake the loaf in a ‘moderately hot’ oven for ‘1 and a half hours’.

I found that my oven cooked my loaf in about 50 minutes. A ‘moderate’ oven to me is around 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4. I suggest you keep an eye on your loaf and pull it out when it’s a lovely golden brown on the top and the bottom sounds hollow when you give it a tap with your knuckles.

Wet & dry bara gwyn ingredients | H is for Home Bara gwyn dough ball | H is for Home

I’ve bought fresh yeast in Morrisons – it’s available in little trays of 4 cubed portions – too much for one baking session, but it can be successfully frozen and defrosted as and when needed. I’ve also seen it for sale on Amazon and eBay. If you can’t get hold of any, I’ve included the amount of dried yeast you should use instead.

Bara gwyn proving in a vintage farmhouse loaf tin | H is for Home

I was in two minds if I should score the top of the loaf before putting it into the oven. I decided not to, this time. I really like the natural blow out that occurred.

Baked bara gwyn | H is for Home

The notes that accompany the recipe explain:

On bread baking day, some housewives would keep a little dough and bake a small batch on the bakestone or griddle. This batch loaf would be eaten fresh for tea on that day. It was known as bara planc (Cwm Gwuan), bara mân (Bryn, Port Talbot), picen ar y lychwan (Tonyfrefail), adopting the Welsh name used for the bakestone in specific areas. Bara prwmlid was the name given to it in Pen-prysg, near Pen-coed.

Similarly, small batches would be baked on the floor of the oven. Their sizes varied and the Welsh name by which these loaves were known again differed e.g. bara bricen (Pen-gwyn), cwgen (Brynberian), torth gwaelod popty (Rhydymain), torth ar fflat y ffwrn (Ystalyfera), torth ar llawr y ffwrn (Kenfig Hill), sôts (Dowlais) and hogen (Bwlch-llan)

Save this bara gwyn recipe to Pinterest

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Bara gwyn with 'farmhouse' imprint on its side | H is for Home

Bara gwyn

Welsh Fare: A Selection of Traditional Recipes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Bread
Cuisine Welsh
Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients
  

  • 530 g/ 1lb 3oz plain flour
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • tsp sugar
  • 285 ml warm water
  • g/1⅓oz fresh yeast or 3g instant yeast / 4g active dry yeast

Instructions
 

  • Put the salt and flour into a warm mixing bowl
  • Cream the yeast and sugar and pour into a well in the centre of the flour
  • Cover the yeast mixture with a little of the flour and leave in a warm place until it becomes frothy
  • Proceed to mix the dough, adding the warm water gradually
  • Knead well for about 10 minutes until the hands and sides of the bowl are free of dough
  • Cover the bowl and leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled its original size
  • Turn it out on to a floured board and mould into a loaf according to the size of the tin
  • Put the loaf into the warm, greased tin and leave to rise again for another half hour
  • Bake in a moderately hot oven for approximately 1 and a half hours, according to size
Bara gwyn ingredients
Keyword bread, loaf

Some new feathered friends

Vintage Cadburys Bournville birds tin | H is for Home

We found our first example of this tin 10 years ago – and we loved it so much that we couldn’t part with it!

Vintage Cadburys Bournville birds tin | H is for Home Vintage Cadburys Bournville birds tin | H is for Home

Well, some new lovely feathered friends have arrived.

Vintage Cadburys Bournville birds tin | H is for Home

We picked up another one of these gorgeous tins produced for Cadbury in the 1960s. If there’s anyone out there who loves it as much as us, you’ll be pleased to know that this one is for sale. The bird illustrations are fabulous. They remind us very much of the work of Charley Harper.

Vintage Cadburys Bournville birds tin with tea and biscuits | H is for Home

We find vintage tins both decorative and useful. There are an endless number of products that can be stored in a good tin. Our own version is used to house biscuits and cakes – so obviously used on a regular basis!