"If baking is any labour at all, it's a labour of love. A love that gets passed from generation to generation".

- Regina Brett

Can you whip up a chocolate cake with your eyes shut, make sausage rolls like a master and bake a dozen scones without a recipe?

If baking is your specialty, The Great Australian Bake Off  needs you!

Based on the highly successful BBC series, culinary icon Maggie Beer  and acclaimed chef Matt Moran are looking for passionate bakers to apply for the newest Australian TV series on The LifeStyle Food Channel. You'll be put to a series of baking tasks, and then only one will be crowned Australia's best amateur baker.

If you think you've got what it takes, then don't hesitate! Applications to be a contestant close on the 1st May, 2015. Apply ONLINE now!

We'ld love to see a Home Make It customer take out the winning title :)

 

~ MASSIVE PASSATA SALE ~ 

With the official passata season over for another year, we're making room on our shelves for all the salami-making equipment and other seasonal products. So take advantage of our 1 WEEK ONLY SUPER SALE with 40% off end of wide range of passata equipment and supplies for next year's season. You won't see these savings like this again! Sale ends 3pm on Friday 1st May, 2015. Click on our sale banner above.  Here's a sneak peek of some of the huge savings....

           

Was: $129.00  Now: $77.45    

         

Was: $67.95  Now: $47.99

     

 Was: $82.00  Now: $49.50

Was: $16.95  Now: $10.95

For more SUPER SAVINGS during our 1 WEEK ONLY end of passata season sale, click HERE.

 

~ What's On ~ 

- Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival Competition

Entries close on 6th May, 2015 for the Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival Competition. Be inspired, get involved and enter your prize winning homemade wine, passata, olives, home brew or ajvar. You must reside or work in the City of Darebin to be eligible for entry. Winners will be announced on Saturday 16th May, 2015 at the Meet the Makers Showcase from 1pm - 4pm at Preston Shire Hall. Prizes include Home Make It vouchers and gift hampers :)

 

- Sausage Making & Beer Dinner - 6th May, 6pm

James Squire Brewhouse and Home Make It have come together for a unique collaboration with a fabulous sausage making workshop, a four course dinner and craft beer matching event!

Don't miss out on experiencing this unique event; Make Sausages and Match Beer Squire Brewhouse at The Portland Hotel on 6th May, 2015 at 6pm. For bookings call 9810 0064 or visit portlandhotel.com.au

- Pizza Making Course - 7th May, 6pm to 8pm

Pizza Making Course with Executive Savoury Chef, Michele Circhirillo at our Clayton Store will be running a hands on workshop to teach you the tricks of the trade for authentic pizza making. Book ONLINE.

- Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival - 11th to 17th May 

Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival. This is a wonderful community festival that celebrates sustainable food practices and food traditions.  Check out the full program and get your diaries out!  Most of the events are free, but bookings are also essential for a lot of the workshops or demonstrations. Home Make It will be facilitating some of the events, including;

Introduction to Homemade Winemaking & Appreciation:

- Tuesday 12 May, 2015 @ 6.30pm (120 mins) 

- Preston Shire Hall, 286 Gower Street, Preston

- Free but registrations essential. Book here. 

Hot Spanish Sausage Making Course: 

- Thursday 14 May, 2015 @ 6pm (120 mins)

- Home Make It, 265 Spring Street, Reservoir

- Special price of $70  for the Darebin Homemade Food & Wine Festival (Ensure to use discount code ‘SAUSAGE’ when checking out via Paypal to receive the discount).

- Session Includes a free Sausage Recipe Kit valued at $33)


- Book your tickets at Home Make It or call 9460 2777

Home Brew for Beginners Workshop (also part of Good Beer Week): 

- Saturday 16 May, 2015 @ 12pm (60 mins)


- Preston Shire Hall, 286 Gower Street, Preston


- Free but registrations are essential.
 Book here

Make Your Own Feta at Home:


- Saturday 16 May, 2015 @ 3pm (30 mins)


- Preston Shire Hall, 286 Gower Street, Preston


- Free. Bookings not required.

 

- Salami & Cured Meats Courses - May, June & July

Home Make It will be running a number of Salami and Cured Meats Courses at our Reservoir and Clayton Stores, with Butchery expert, James Mele.

- Sausage Making Courses - August & October

Home Make It will be running a number of Sausage Making Courses at our Reservoir and Clayton Stores with butchery expert, James Mele.

 

~ Cade's Home Brew News ~ 

Hello all ,              

Busy week in beer land, with the SS Brewtech range hitting stores and now available online as well. To continue the beer making story right to the end, we now are carrying 19L Cornelius kegs instore and online to dispense all of your beer goodness. These can be carbonated with the Brewmate CO2 bottles we now carry also, how convenient!  

 

On the ingredient side of things, the hops fridge is bursting with a HUGE variety of hops, our White Labs range is extensive and our grain range is ever growing. As well as the pre-packed bags of grain we do, we will now be offering a select range of base grains in 25kg sizes for those brewers who like to buy and brew big. Please call our stores to check availability.  

 

On a personal note, I brewed a dark IPA last week that I will be entering into a speciality IPA competition in June at the Terminus in Fitzroy. Some 2Row, wheat, crystal and chocolate grains plus mountains of Summit, Amarillo, Cascade and Centennial hops went into this black beast, and will be finished off with some oak chips before bottling. This competition is the first run by the Merri Mashers, a wonderful brew club we work with. So if you’re a home brewer and do a decent IPA , round up all your hops and come along to sign up. Should be a great day!

Happy Brewing!

 

~ Vintage 2015 ~

Feedback from our team at Home Make It suggests that that 2015 Vintage has been one of the best vintages presented at our testing counters for some years. Our testing counters offer complimentary testing of juice/wine samples at all the stages of the wine making process, including crushing, pressing, racking and bottling. They attribute the high quality of samples they have analysed to our customers' purchasing good quality grapes. I'm sure you have heard members of our team preach to our customers "if you want to make good quality wine, you need to start with good quality grapes"! It seems our customers are listening, with many customers now purchasing their grapes from many of the suppliers that we have recommended as reputable wineries or grape suppliers. We would like to take the opportunity to thank the many wineries and grape suppliers that have supported our customers with exceptional quality grapes and service. Some of these wineries include;

• Morgan Vineyard, Yarra Valley
• Marcello's
• Banovac Estate, Tallarook
• Desiro Grapes, Mornington Peninsula
• The Shiraz Republic, Heathcote

Be sure to get some advice from our team for the 2016 Vintage if you are looking for great quality grapes. 

Don't forget to bring in samples of your juice/wine for analysis and advice following fermentation, during the racking process and before bottling. 

 

~ Facebook & Twitter ~

You can keep up to date with daily news from the team, recipes and events by following us on Twitter or Facebook.

Have a great weekend!