Corporate Bespoke Events

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Thinking of running a summer workshop, a team building event or just treating your staff to something fun and enjoyable?  The Bertinet Kitchen can provide you with a bespoke cookery workshop to suit your needs. The event can be tailored to suit your requirements and can be as challenging as you like. You can even sit down for a rewarding lunch with wine when you’re done and sample everything you have made.

Contact us on 01225 445531 to have a chat about all the exiciting options available.

Summer Kitchen Closure

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THE BERTINET KITCHEN COOKERY SCHOOL & SATURDAY MORNING BAKERY WILL BE CLOSING FOR THE SUMMER BREAK ON MONDAY 16th JULY AND WILL RE-OPEN ON SATURDAY 11th AUGUST

Our bakery shops and office are open all summer

1 New Bond Street Place Monday – Friday 8.00am to 5.00pm, Saturday 8.30am to 5.30pm

Brunel Square Monday – Friday 7.30am to 7.00pm, Saturday 8.00am to 5.30pm, Sunday 10.30am to 4.30pm

Office Monday – Friday 9.30am to 5.30pm Tel: 01225 445531

Granite baking stones

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In both Dough & Crust I recommend putting a baking stone in your oven before pre-heating and baking directly on the stone.  I use granite and often suggest that people use a granite chopping board (examples are available very reasonably from Morrisons and Asda and it is a convenient size and thickness).  We have never had any issues with any of the pieces of stone we have used but one customer contacted us recently to say that they had used a granite slab from Asda and it had shattered in the oven during use.  As I said I have never had any problems so in order to make the use of granite boards as safe as possible here are my recommendations for using a board in this way…

  1.  Place the granite slab onto the bottom shelf where you have any exposed electric elements or onto the base of the oven where this is safe (for example in an Aga although in an Aga you can also bake directly on the floor of the oven);
  2. If you use one of the granite chopping boards, place them into your oven the wrong way up – i.e. bake on the rough side;
  3. When creating steam only use a misting spray. Some people recommend throwing water into the oven or placing trays of water or ice cubes into the bottom of the oven but I have to say I don’t agree.  Where you use larger quantities of water you are much less likely to get the steam you want and if you are using an electric oven it seems to me you can only be creating a safety hazard.  Misting sprays are easy to buy from garden centers and kitchen shops and we will be introducing them to our online shop soon;
  4. Don’t worry if your slab simply cracks – this often happens – indeed many of the pieces of stone I have in my ovens have cracks in them.  It will not make any difference to your bread.

If you have had any problems with baking stones do let us know.

Founding Member of the I.C.S.A.

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The Bertinet Kitchen is very proud to be a founding member of the Independent Cookery Schools Association (ICSA). In the autumn of 2014 some of the most outstanding cookery schools in the Uk, including the Bertinet Kitchen, came together to form the ICSA. The ICSA is the only independent, non-profit, regulatory body for cookery schools in the UK. The mission of the ICSA is to assess, promote and advise cookery schools of excellence and help and encourage students in choosing quality schools in the ICSA group. Our members are assessed and accredited to the highest standard so you can be confident that you are receiving the best teaching in a professional environment. An ICSA school is a GREAT school.

Richard Bertinet named BBC Food Champion of the Year

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We are absolutely thrilled to be able to tell you that yesterday Richard was names as the 2010 BBC Food Champion of the Year.

Richard was nominated by listeners of Radio 4’s Food Programme who were asked to pick an individual who had inspired them to think differently about food and who had used their work in the past twelve months to give fresh insights into the food we eat, bringing about a wider passion for good food, demystifying great cooking or the food world in general.

The BBC Radio Food & Farming Awards 2010, now in their eleventh year, are chosen by a panel of 12 experts (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/ffa/2010/judges/) consisting of high-profile chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and nutritionists, including Angela Hartnett (Chair of Judges), Mark Hix, Charles Campion, Sheila Dillon, Rose Prince, Simon Parkes and Kath Dalmeny. As Food Champion of the Year, Richard was presented with his award at the BBC Radio Food & Farming Awards 2010 at the BBC Good Food show on Wednesday 24th November in Birmingham.   The awards ceremony was hosted by Sheila Dillon of Radio 4’s The Food Programme.