Breadsong by Kitty & Al Tait

 

"It was like Jenga, pull one block out too fast, too soon, and my whole tower toppled".

Breadsong by Kitty & Al Tait is an inspirational hybrid of genres: part-memoirs, part-cook book.

This is the story of Kitty, a 14-year-old girl with a bubbly personality, who began suffering from anxiety and depression, and withdrew from the world to the confines of her home. The family has been trying everything to help her, but it felt like she was slipping further away.

If someone you love suffers with mental health issues, it might be not so easy to read the pages of Kitty's memoirs. You can feel her torment as she is descending into depression. 

Kitty's parents tried out many activities to provide her with some kind of distraction. Gardening, TV, crafts, sewing, painting... until one day Kitty watched her father mixing flour, water and salt in a bowl to make a dough.

"There was nothing planned about it. I just asked Kitty if she wanted to have a go herself. There was no hallelujah chorus or a blinding flash of light... I had no idea just how important that moment was, and I still didn't when Kitty asked to bake that bread again".

For Kitty it was pure alchemy of breadmaking that fascinated her. "Something so dull had transformed into something so brilliant. Like the girl who could spin straw into gold, I could do it too. And so I did it again and again and again".

Baking was taking over. Two weeks in, the family started sharing their loaves with the neighbours. The new routine was developing, with bread being delivered to the happy recipients in their street. The demand for the bread in their street has soared, and soon orders started to come in for more loaves.

The subscription service was born.

The recovery wasn't immediate. As Al writes, "I'm not sure initially I was any help to Kitty apart from just being there. I spent a lot of time barrelling into verbal cul-de-sacs thinking that maybe I could talk her out of the sadness she was lost in".

Delivering bread came with the interacting part. "People were genuinely excited to receive Kitty's bread. The buzz of handing over a warm loaf to a grateful customer lit a spark within her".

The next thing they needed was a name. Starting with Breadheads, they eventually chose The Orange Bakery because of Kitty's favourite orange dungarees.

The bakery has become Kitty's salvation.

"The bakery was a place that soothed my brain and made me feel safe. I knew what I was doing there, and my anxiety never roared away. It was just a really happy place".

Reading Kitty's story brought back some painful memories of referrals to CAHMS. I cannot fault the commitment of the medical staff working there, but everything takes ages. If you need help urgently, it takes forever. There is also no consistency of care. People leave, new people appear in your life, and at times it feels like you are re-starting from the beginning again and again.

I'm only saying that as to stress the point, that you might find Kitty's story too upsetting to read at the beginning. It might trigger strong emotions, though you might also find it inspiring and helpful.

Baking could be a therapeutic activity for some people, even if it is not a universal cure. 

I nod my head in agreement, reading that when a family member has mental health issues, the whole family is affected. "The needs of the rest of the family had to play second fiddle for a while", says Al. For us it's our reality. Our family life is centred around the needs of our older son. My younger one never knew anything different, and he accepts the situation with grace. 

The book also made me smile, as it brought back memories of making my own sourdough starter, and failing most of the time. I also had jars and jars of sinister grey unappetising liquid. I did manage to make a decent starter a couple of times and even used it in a few recipes, but then it died a natural death from lack of use.

Al's voice has a distinct touch of sarcasm. "Sourdough pizza, sourdough crackers, sourdough breadsticks; these are the high-class, artisan versions of their peers. The prefix sourdough somehow means that it's okay to charge twice as much". That is so true. I do love sourdough, but agree there's a whiff of the Emperor's New Clothes about it. Despite being an ancient technique, it has become so trendy, especially during the lockdown, that now almost everything is sourdough.

The second half of the book is a cook book of Kitty and Al's recipes.

You will find chapters on Bread (including miracle overnight white loaf, overnight focaccia, Challah, Biga bread, soda bread, Guinness soda bread and more), Sourdough Bread (including a step-by-step on the sourdough starter, recipes for Ultimate sourdough bread, sourdough focaccia, Ulla's rye bread, Fika buns, Next level Chelsea buns - which I hope to try baking one day), Pastries (including Cheese straws, Eccles cakes, Pasteis de Nata, croissants, pains au chocolat and many more) and finally, Cookies and Cakes (Cheddars, Stem Gingernuts, Ultimate brown butter choc chip cookies, vegan nut butter and banana cookies, blondies with a Marmite glaze etc).

Kitty's creative approach to classic recipes is original and inspiring.

For example, she adds chunks of sweet and salty miso fudge to her Ultimate brown butter choc chip cookies. I have followed the recipe quite closely, but knowing my guys, didn't risk with a miso flavour, adding standard fudge pieces to the cookie dough.

Pasteis de Nata or Custard Tarts are our family favourite pastries. One of our local cafes sells pretty good pastel de nata, and I do often buy frozen ones from Waitrose.

However, if you buy a ready-made puff pastry, you can quickly make a batch of your own custard tarts.

Kitty's twist on the classic recipe is to add a pinch of garam masala to the custard. I added a little bit of garam masala to two of the pastries, as I wasn't sure how much we'd like it. 

The pastries are delicate and wonderfully creamy. 

I also tried a recipe for savoury biscuits - Cheddars, made with strong Cheddar. This is an eggless recipe. I wasn't sure how well I can roll the dough, it looked pretty crumbly, but a dash of water was all that was needed. 

Very tasty biscuits, they didn't last long.

Totally delicious with a dollop of chilli jam.

I have bookmarked a few recipes from the book, which I would love to try.

This book tells a beautiful, uplifting story of a courageous girl.

You can check out Kitty's Instagram @kittytaitbaker for delightful baked goodies and inspiration.

Many thanks to Kitty and Al Tait, Bloomsbury and Tandem Collective UK for my copy of the book! I enjoyed taking part in the Readalong and looking at everyone's bakes.