Join us at the mill on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th July as we take part in York’s first horticultural festival. Bloom! celebrates the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Ancient Society of York Florists, the world’s oldest horticultural society. There are events for all ages taking part across the city. Visit their website at www.bloomyork.com At the mill you can join in with craft activities, search for and identify the wild flowers, grasses and minibeasts surrounding the mill, and learning about bees from Steve Gray, a local beekeeper and the mill’s honey supplier. Usual admission fees apply.
News – what’s happening at the mill?
‘Slow’ Cottage Loaf
This loaf is made in two stages beginning with a ‘pre-ferment’ which is made the evening before. The longer rising period helps the loaf to develop more flavour and reduces the amount of yeast that needs to be added. Ingredients 300g Holgate Windmill wholemeal flour 200g strong white bread flour ½ teaspoon fast action dried yeast 1 teaspoon salt 325ml lukewarm water 25g butter Method Stage 1: To make the pre-ferment put 150g of the wholemeal flour and 100g of the strong white flour into a baking bowl together with all of the yeast and 250ml of the water. Mix Read More …
Delicious Rhubarb Crumble Muffins
Heat oven to 220C/gas mark 7. Ingredients 175g caster sugar 175g diced rhubarb 2 tbsp sunflower oil 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 125ml milk 200g Holgate Windmill flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda Crumble topping: 50g light brown sugar 50g Holgate Windmill flour 25g porridge oats 1 tsp ground cinnamon 50g butter Method In a large bowl mix the caster sugar and rhubarb together and put on one side. In another bowl mix together the brown sugar with the flour, oats and cinnamon, and rub in the butter with fingertips, then put on one side Stir the Read More …
Chocolate Brownies
Heat oven to 180C. Line a baking tin, about 8 inches square. Ingredients 100g unsalted butter 250g golden caster sugar 75g golden syrup 275g chocolate (at least 72% cocoa), broken into pieces 4 medium eggs 70g Holgate wholemeal flour Method Melt butter with sugar and syrup. Remove from the heat, add in chocolate and mix well until the chocolate has melted. Whisk in eggs one at a time and then stir in the flour. Pour into the baking tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat, cool and refrigerate overnight. Do not be tempted to cut it before it comes Read More …
Windmill Pancakes
This recipe makes about 8 medium pancakes. Ingredients 4 oz Holgate Windmill wholemeal flour Half a pint of milk 1 medium or large egg Vegetable/sunflower oil to fry Method Mix the flour, milk and egg and whisk well, preferably with an electric mixer. Leave to stand for an hour or two as the wholemeal flour takes a bit more time to soak in. Whisk again before cooking. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a frying pan. Pour in just enough of the mixture to cover the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes, then flip and cook again Eat with Read More …
Anzac Biscuits
Anzac is a word for a soldier in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps from 1914 to 1918. Anzac Day (25th of April) is when Australia and New Zealand commemorate all the men and women who served and died whilst serving their countries. It marks the first major action fought by Australian and New Zealand troops during the First World War. Anzac biscuits were made by the women at home and sent to the soldiers abroad because the biscuits keep well and they do not spoil easily. Ingredients 100g sugar 100g butter or margarine 1 tbsp golden syrup 85g Read More …
American Carrot Cake
Line a deep 8 inch sponge tin and heat oven to gas mark 4/180C. Cake ingredients: 1 tsp butter or margarine 1/4 pint cooking oil 6 ounces soft brown sugar 2 eggs pinch of salt 1 tsp cinnamon 8 ounces Holgate wheat flou 1 tsp baking powder 8 ounces grated carrot 4 ounces chopped walnuts Topping ingredients: 4 ounces cream cheese 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 6 ounces icing sugar Method: In one bowl blend butter, oil and sugar then add eggs one at a time In another bowl mix salt, cinnamon, flour and baking powder. Stir egg mixture into flour Read More …
May Open Days
Our May open days will be Saturday & Sunday 5th & 6th, Bank Holiday Monday 7th, Saturday & Sunday 19th & 20th and Bank Holiday Monday 28th. Our special art exhibition for the month will feature work from some of the very talented artists involved with the mill. You may be familiar with their designs on cards, tea towels and bags in the mill but now you have the chance to see a wider range of their work. There will be everything from paintings to gingerbread sculptures from Bob Anderton, Paul Laugier, Michelle Hughes, Jane Dignum (see image), Trevor Fenwick, Read More …
Easter Chick’s at the Mill and our first batch of Spelt Flour.
Easter Bank Holiday Monday was not the nicest of days weather-wise but the annual Easter Trail drew a large number of excited children to the mill and they enjoyed the challenge of finding all of the numbered chicks, discovering the key word and collecting their Easter egg prize. Congratulations also to the adults who seemed to spend more time working out the key word than the kids , a real team effort and thank you everyone for coming, it was a really enjoyable day. A few weeks ago we received our first delivery of Spelt, this is a variety of Read More …
A quiet time at the mill
The last few weeks have been quiet at the Mill, not least because of the “Beast from the East ” but it has not stopped us milling as usual. The new electric drive gear has been further run in and the new Applewood teeth are wearing in nicely – we have probably milled about 75 kilo’s so far without a problem. The teeth were crafted and fitted by John Byrne who volunteered to carry out this difficult work and we are extremely grateful for his care and craftsmanship. Dave Andrews our Millwright was at the mill last Saturday to carry Read More …