One week on

I can't believe it's been just one week since I made the move from city to country and office to bakery. The past seven days have been a whirlwind of activity getting the last bits of equipment in (often easier said than done) and checking in with the plumbers and electricians as they get us ready for action.

Our lovely Tom Chandley oven

And our mighty fine mixer

We also had our first flour delivery from Shipton Mill.

This gave me my first experience of a baker's own rise in the morning.

Cycling to the unit in the pitch black was quite an eerie experience, but a lovely starry sky shone overhead which helped to calm my nerves.

Luckily that morning I got to go back to bed. No such luck from now on.





After a good day's sweeping, scrubbing and mopping on Friday, Peter Cooks Bread was starting to take shape. Yesterday saw us get in and do a first couple of test bakes.

Today was assigned a day of rest, and we couldn't have picked a better one. Clear blue skies, lovely warm sunshine and a local farmers market to go and check out. I set out on my bike slightly wary of the hilly country lanes I was going to face after a long winter of wet and windy short commutes on the flat city roads. However, thankfully my legs held up well. It felt so good to be back in the saddle careening round the winding country lanes with the sun on my back. I can't wait for the spring bloom to set in and fill the bare bushes and trees that currently line the lanes.

My destination was the Teme Valley Market, held once a month outside The Talbot in Knightwick. It's in a lovely setting by the river Teme and was packed to the rafters with folk wandering round with wicker baskets and hessian bags, which by the time they left were bulging with the wonderful local produce on offer.

They were overlooked by lots of others who were soaking up the sun with a pint of Real Ale. I couldn't resist a sneaky half before getting back on the bike for the journey home. Not to mention the tasty looking sticky prune and date mini-loaf cake tucked away in my pannier.

So, all in all, so far so good. Herefordshire has given me a very warm welcome and I'm starting to feel right at home. Tomorrow sees us back in the bakery for some more Real Bread baking action as we finalise our initial bread range and get some samples ready for delivery.

Wanted: a life in the hills with a daily dose of Real Bread

So, it's been a while since my last post. In that time, I have of course baked, and baked some more, led workshops, spent a wonderful three days at the School of Artisan Food on their Advanced Bread Making course and looked into every opportunity I could find to make my rural bread making dream come true. And here we are...

I still remember my very first tweet:

'Wanted: a life in the hills with a daily dose of Real Bread.'

It was retweeted by the Real Bread Campaign to their (at that time) 12,500 followers. It got me thinking 'I couldn't be that mad, surely?'. And so my journey began.

One year on I received a tweet from Peter Cook, an award-winning Head Baker at S C Price & Sons in Ludlow. I'd already seen that he was setting up a new bakery but he was looking for a pastry chef so I didn't give it another thought. However, he tweeted to ask if I was still looking to make the move from London and become a full-time baker. He'd come across me and my mission through my write up of the Real Bread Get Together last January - where we'd clearly both been in the same room. I confirmed that this was most definitely the case.

He followed up by email talking me through his plans to set up a Real Bread bakery in Ledbury. He'd already put in a proposal for a 17th Century barn just off the high street to convert it into a bakery / workshop / community space. My heart soared, it sounded idyllic. He went on to say that he was looking for someone with a) a flair for confectionery and b) a passion to put the bakery at the heart of the community. And here is where I had to put my reality hat on. Confectionery was not where my passions lay. It wouldn't be fair to him or to me to say any different. I wrote back to say that I most certainly had the same vision in setting up a bakery and school to be established at the heart of the community, but despite a life long dream of setting up a cake shop in the hills, it was only since I had discovered the joy of baking bread that I realised I'd found my true path in life and I wished him all the luck in the world in his new venture. The next day was a Monday and off I went into work feeling glum but trying to think that someday one of these opportunities would be the one.

I saw I had an email back around 11am that day but I couldn't face reading it until the evening as I was pretty sure what it was going to say. However, he had responded to say that this was not a sticking point and that the bakery would very much be focused on all things bread to begin with, focusing largely on wholesale, and that other lines would be developed once the high street outlet was in place.

He'd also sent through his proposal to the Council for the restoration and development of the barn. After reading this through I couldn't believe just how much this mirrored my own proposal I'd put together for a space in the Lake District back in June.

He asked if I'd be willing to reconsider joining him on this Real Bread adventure.

What else could I say?

We arranged to speak the following weekend, and after a promising chat, I took the train to meet with Peter and see the town of Ledbury for myself a couple of weeks later. I went with a clear head, I had to be sure this was right for me. Would we get on? Could we see ourselves working side-by-side, day after day? And what about Ledbury? When I'd first set out I'd pinned my dreams on Abergavenny, surrounded by hills, with an established food festival and growing cycling festival. It's where FuelStopBread was born. However, upon visiting the town I quickly came to realise that this was not the place for me. I just couldn't see myself living there. Would Ledbury be the same?

On arrival the market town was bustling with people on what appeared to be a thriving high street full of local producers and independent retail outlets. The vibes were much better. We chatted, walked about the town and met up the following day to explore the area some more and look at a couple of potential sites for the wholesale unit.

I went away with my mind full of possibilities. Thankfully Christmas was just around the corner so this gave us both some time to think everything through. We'd talked openly about what each of us would be looking to achieve through the bakery and how we saw it developing. I couldn't believe I'd found someone who shared the same passion and had the same mission as my own. What better foundation for a business partnership? And more to the point, we listened to the same radio stations - all important for working in a bakery!

Upon returning to work in January my mind was made up. I just couldn't turn this opportunity down, it realised all my dreams and more. After another couple of trips to Ledbury to confirm the wholesale unit, meet with potential customers and discuss the parameters of the partnership, the time had come. And so, on Thursday 30th

January, I sat down with my boss and explained that I was leaving to set up a Real Bread bakery and school in Herefordshire. My whole body was trembling with nerves, excitement and every emotion you can imagine. I couldn't have asked for a better response, everyone was so happy and supportive of what I was going to do. And for the past four weeks I've been riding the wave.

As of yesterday, I'm no longer a London resident. I've upped sticks from the big smoke and am currently sat in a kitchen, in a village, just outside of Ledbury. I still have to keep pinching myself to believe it's all real. In the coming weeks, I'll be rolling out of bed in the early hours each morning and getting on my bike for the five minute commute to our bakery unit just down the road.

You can follow our adventures here for now, I plan to be setting up our bakery blog very soon!

A Great Garden Bake Off

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the lovely folk at King Henry's Walk Garden in Stoke Newington. They'd got my name from Made In Hackney where I'd run a spelt bread workshop back in early April. They asked if I'd be interested in getting involved in their Great Garden Bake Off, which they were hosting as part of the Chelsea Fringe. I'd be doing a couple of bread making demonstrations and be a judge in a true GBBO style competition. I was in.

And so it was I got cracking on trying out the best recipes to demonstrate. Taking the theme of a Great Garden Bake Off I decided to make two different types of bread using root vegetables and herbs that people could grow in their own garden or allotment.

The first was a Beetroot and Fennel Bread which makes the prettiest dough I've ever seen, and the second - a Sweet Potato and Rosemary bread, which is great for using up leftover mash. I tested them out on the folk at work and both went down a treat so the plan was set.

So the night before, I got home from work and started my own little bake off. I'd made my sweet potato mash a day ahead, keeping it plain with just a hint of black pepper. So first up was kneading the dough, after which I then left it to rest for 15 minutes before folding in the sweet potato. This way you get lovely swirls of sweet potato in the bread and you can really taste it, rather than it being completely incorporated in the dough.

After an hour and a half it had doubled nicely and was ready to shape into four round loaves.

Meanwhile, I'd been having fun playing with the hot pink dough you see here.

I love proofing dough in a cake tin - it's the perfect way of seeing when it's ready to bake as it's nicely filled the tin (as below) and means you don't risk ruining the roundness of your loaf when transferring it from your banneton to the baking tray.

So as each batch of dough was ready, in the oven it went, and these were some of the beauties that came out at way past midnight...

And so I was ready; I had my six loaves to take the next day, along with a couple for me and my housemates.

The next morning I woke to bright, slightly promising skies, and kept my fingers crossed that it would stay dry.

I weighed out all my dry ingredients for the bread demos and packed them up in lots of little tubs and boxes. Then it was back to more kneading so I could show the shaping technique in true 'here's one I made earlier' Blue Peter style. After a precarious walk down three sets of stairs carrying all my equipment and dough, I hopped into a taxi which whisked me down the road to my home for the day.

It is truly a gorgeous little oasis, tucked away from the main road, so you'd never know it was there.










On arrival the children's pizza making workshop was just coming to an end. It was great to see the looks of triumph on their faces as they carried their pizzas across to the clay wood-fired oven. That was until all hell broke loose over the presence of tomatoes on a pizza. It was a true Brother and Sister show-down of who could scream the loudest to get their way. After the tears and tantrums subsided, a compromise was reached and all became calm and peaceful again as they tucked into their freshly baked pizzas. Even my stomach was starting to grumble at the sight. But it was time for me to get set up.

The tasting table under wraps

Open for business

My Beetroot and Fennel Bread demonstration was first up on the programme, so I got to work setting out all the ingredients and getting ready for the show.

Once a small gathering had got comfy in the hut I began, telling my story and the joys of making and eating Real Bread. I then demonstrated the kneading on a rather low, squeaky table - not so great when you're my height but thankfully my back made it through. I then brought out my pre-made dough from earlier that morning and showed how to shape it ready for its second proof before going in the oven. And then of course, the taste test! Everyone seemed to love the beetroot and fennel combination - it was great introducing people to new flavours and a type of bread they'd never tried before.

Then another local baker, Trine of Love Loaf, took to the stage to talk about all things Sourdough. I took this opportunity to go for a wander round the garden and eye up the competition entries which I'd be judging later that day. They were already starting to pile up and looking very tasty.

This one really caught my eye, it was so beautifully presented...

But before the judging could begin it was time for me to do my second demo, this time on the Sweet Potato and Rosemary Bread. I'd invited some friends along that I'd met while interning at the Baking Lab to help with the judging, so it was great to have some friendly faces in the audience for my second round. They also cheekily took a few snaps...

Folding in the sweet potato

Kneading

Giving it some welly

The window pane test

Introducing the shaping technique

Nearly there...

The finished product

The taste test

At the end I was asked about how I was making the break into bread making and mentioned that I was attending an advanced bread making course at the School of Artisan Food this very week to help me on the way. And talk about a small world, one of the guys in the audience said they would be there too, on the very same course. There's only around eight places on each one, so talk about a coincidence!

And so my demos were done and it was time for the judging...

The three tables were now full of tantalising goodies ready for tasting.

There were five of us in total: myself, Trine, and then Martina, Julia and Adri from the Baking Lab. Between us we had to agree on a first, second and third place for each round.

First up, the Signature Bake - a loaf of bread, using vegetables, fruit or herbs.

We each took it in turns to try a small bite - starting with the beauty I snapped on its arrival above. The herbs really came through giving it a lovely depth of flavour. We then moved around the table, commenting on each as we went. I think I was definitely playing the role of Mr Hollywood, giving each a critical eye, whilst a couple were more forgiving and more Mary like!

But between us, we all agreed on the top three. First place went to a beautiful sourdough made by the very guy who I'd be meeting again later that week at the advanced bread making course. He'd incorporated olives, walnuts, hazelnuts and lemon into the bread and it was just heavenly with a gorgeous crumb structure. Second place went to the beautiful bread decorated with herbs on top and third to a lovely tomato bread.

Next up, was the Technical Challenge - six x Chelsea Buns.

Again, there was an outright winner who'd be snapping up first place but it was a close call on the second and third. Some were so close, but had failed to add any glazing, and others deliciously tasty, but were more of a danish pastry than a true Chelsea Bun!

And then, just when we thought we could eat no more, it was time for the final round: The Showstopper - six x Decorated Cup Cakes.

We had two lots to assess: with both adult entries and some great looking junior entries.

It was a bit of a mixed bag to begin with, some with more icing than cake, and others with some interesting flavour combinations, but you could see the tender loving care that had been put into each and every one. After a lot of discussion and debate, and a lot of tasting, we finally managed to reach a compromise on the winning entries, but this was definitely the hardest round to agree on. Everyone's sweet tooth was so different, it was really interesting to hear the different opinions.

And that was it, now it was time to grab a slice of pizza from the clay oven and take a seat in the lovely garden just in time for the sunshine. Perfect!

I'd like to say a big thanks to King Henry's Walk Garden for having me along, it was a wondrous day and I hope to step foot in that magical paradise again very soon. 

Bread Heads - A Real Bread Get Together

After coming across this event back in early December, I'd booked myself a place straightaway. Given the fact there hadn't been once since 2009, it seemed like another one of many coincidences that have led me on the path that I now find myself.

And so it was I booked the day off work and headed up on the train from London to Retford. The fields outside were blanketed in snow, forming a beautiful backdrop for the journey. On arrival at the station I met two other attendees, including a fellow Bread Angel - Adri of @BreadandRoll. During the taxi ride we each shared our stories of how and why we were coming along to the event. I was reassured to see that other people were in the same 'starting out' position as me.


Then we pulled into the road that led us to the School of Artisan Food. Now here's where we really did start to get excited. Along a tree-lined driveway, a beautiful walled garden appeared, followed by one stunning building after another. What a setting. And to make it all the more picturesque, everything had a snowy topping. As we finally turned into the School courtyard, I couldn't wait to get out and explore.

As we got out of the taxi we learned that on the way back we'd be sharing a taxi with Andrew - could this possibly be THE Andrew Whitley. Only time would tell.

We stepped into the entrance where we were made to feel right at home and were instructed to sign in and make our badges.

Name
Company (if applicable)
And a colour dot to denote what level / stage of baker you were
- From hobby baker to full-blown professional baker

Then it was time to head upstairs where a hubbub of noise was emanating from a room at the end of the hall. It was filled with everyone chatting away, drinking warming cups of tea and coffee, and tucking into bread and cheese from the bakehouse next door.

I got talking to Vicky of 100% Bread. She'd just launched her Baking School a couple of weeks before, in Canterbury, and was both very excited and terrified at the same time. This turned into a common theme with each and every person I spoke to. But rather than put me off, it just made me want to get going even more.

Then at the strike of 1.30pm we were led into the small lecture theatre where we all took a seat and waited for the true masters to take to the stage. Chris Young, Campaign Manager of the Real Bread Campaign, led the proceedings.

First up, Tom Herbert of Hobbs House Bakery, and one half of The Fabulous Baker Brothers. He wanted to talk about the importance of baking at home and how this forms a crucial part of the rise of Real Bread.

"Hands are made to make things" he started out. "Everything you make at home is a prototype - you then eat it and work out what you can improve next time."



He talked about the creative process of bread making. I liked the idea of the 'limitless variables', making it a journey that everyone can take on their own to find out what's right for them.

He went on to discuss the importance of baking with children. Most of us have stories from our childhood of learning to bake with our mums, dads, grandparents, etc. These memories hold a dear place in our hearts. By baking with children you are "baking the stories of tomorrow". Which I thought was a lovely sentiment.

He made the point that even though some may not understand why you would want to teach and encourage your customers to make their own bread at home, it's important that they appreciate the art for themselves, and understand what goes into each and every loaf. This way you can be assured they will never turn back from real bread.

It's also, as I think we all know, a great thing to share. And as Tom put it "it's a great gift, as the recipient feels no guilt of having to keep it."

When I went to stay with my friend in Cardiff a couple of weeks ago I took a freshly baked loaf of Pane di Genzano, a batch of ginger biscuits and some homemade chutney. It was wonderful to share my love of food with a friend, and made a much more personal gift, than grabbing the nearest bottle of wine and box of chocolates from the supermarket shelf.

Finally, he ended with the plain truth (at least from what we're told by the estate agents) that making bread at home makes financial sense. Apparently, if you bake bread in the morning before your potential buyers arrive to take a look around your home, you can add up to £2K onto the financial value of your house.

Next up, Tom Baker of Loaf Social Enterprise.

Turns out Tom comes from a heritage of bakers. A former nutritionist for the NHS, Tom had his moment of enlightenment at a Bread conference back in 2009.






From some scribblings on the back of a leaflet, he never looked back. The following week he quit his job and set up a bakery from his home kitchen. To make sure he could bake enough loaves he set to work and built his own wood fired clay oven in his back garden.

From here, he formed the Friday Bread Club - a community supported bakery - where locals would 'subscribe' to the bakery. Advance payments meant he could invest in the equipment and ingredients needed, and be sure of no waste. He baked 40-50 leaves each Friday in his three ovens. One domestic, one counter top, and the wood-fired one outside.

Based in Stirchley, he talked us through how the high street was similar to many high streets in small towns these days - mostly boarded up, with little signs of activity or new business. He'd found what he thought would be the perfect sight for a true community kitchen on his local high street. However, £80K stood in the way of him making this a reality. And so, it remained an idea, festering away in the back of his mind, until one day someone introduced him to the Everards Brewery. They were keen to support local social enterprises and once Tom had talked them through his vision they took no time in stumping up the cash.

They paid for the re-fit, the equipment; everything that was needed to get the bakery up and running. From a home-based community bakery delivering to a small group of local subscribers, Tom's bread would now be baked and sold on his local high street for everyone to enjoy. A truly inspiring story to never give up.

They now bake 600-700 loaves a week, with just one overnight shift a week. They bake each morning and sell the bread in the shop that afternoon, not a standard set up, but again this relates back to Tom Herbert's point that it's having customers that appreciate what you are doing who can adapt to this way of shopping, rather than the 24hr availability of the local Tesco. Tom has organised the business to suit his lifestyle, and why not.

As well as the support from Everards, he set up a Bread Bond scheme whereby he approached 25 individuals to make an investment of £1K each. These were in the form of three-year loans at the end of which they would get their money back with a 6% interest rate. Much of the interest rate was paid in sourdough loaves over the course of their investment!

Tom truly believes that baking should be at the heart of every community, a real bread bakery has the power to regenerate a high street as he has begun to show in Stirchley.

Baking bread is often referred to as one of those 'forgotten skills' that has missed a generation or two, but through the Real Bread Campaign they're fighting to re-educate and re-introduce these skills back into people's everyday lives. Tom has run many pop-ups and events at home, in the bakery, and on the move, to allow people to get to know his business, the buildings, and the people behind it.

Find out more here.

Third up was Mark Simmonds of Co-operatives UK, who following on from Tom Baker's story, wanted to talk about the support available to small real bread enterprises. In the shape of 'Making Local Food Work', a community enterprise that connects land and people through food.

It's a lottery funded initiative (or I should say was) as this ran out in June 2012. However the initiative was so successful that they secured further funding meaning they can continue to provide support in key areas.

What's on offer?
- A mentor for your business
- Organised study visits to other bakeries
- Business advice and training
- Introduce you to collaborative community shares to extend the reach of your local food and share best practices with your peers

Another form of support is through the Co-operative UK's Start-Up Guide, co-written by Mark Simmonds himself. This guide talks you through the process of starting a Co-operative or Community Enterprise and features numerous case studies (all food-related). One of these is that of  The Handmade Bakery - one of the first Community Supported Bakeries in Britain, aiming to provide residents with organic artisan bread and re-skilling people in home-baking, based in Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire.

Whether you're looking to set up a community-based initiative, or just starting out on your own, it's a handy little turn-to guide. Download it here.

Next up was Wayne Caddy, Head of Baking at the School of Artisan Food.

"I've got the best job in the world."

I was surprised to learn that the School had only been going for three years.


Their aim is to teach students how a recipe hangs together; to understand the science behind how it works, not just to copy the recipes they teach.

As any baker knows, it's all in the senses... "Feel the dough."

The School uses both technical and sensory tests to guide students' learning and they encourage everyone to develop their own signature recipe.

Emmanuel Hadjiandreou (Manny), author of 'How to Make Bread', then took the helm. He talked about the joys of teaching the art of baking bread. The dead silence as the oven door opens and the students see their loaves: golden, risen and unique. And the attachment each student feels for their own 'rustic' loaf.

Again he talked about the beauty of teaching children to bake. He'd recently taught a class of 59 to bake bread at his son's school.

"They listen to you and just do it. No asking questions. No how, or why. They just get on with it. But the look on their faces, the shouts of 'wow', 'look at that', and the dead calm on seeing the loaves, is the same for both kids and adults alike."

Chris Young, Campaign Co-ordinator of the Real Bread Campaign then stepped in once more to introduce the final speaker of the day.

"Bread starts as a seed in the ground. We need to look at improving the starting point, the actual grains themselves, to truly make a difference and produce real bread."

And then finally Andrew Whitley took to the stage. Founder of The Village Bakery in Melmerby, and author of 'Bread Matters'.

His aim is that "Everybody should be in walking distance of a loaf of real bread."

Whether that be the walk across their own kitchen, to their neighbour's, or the local bakery. He talked about the changing face of bread and the importance of the grain. There's a long change from seed to plate, creating a disconnect, where compromises in quality are made, to speed up the process and make bread look more appealing to the customer. Ie Additives and preservatives.

It should clearly be a significant public health concern that the grains used in bread, no longer agree with a growing part of the population.

The best bread should provide benefits of 'health', 'contentment' and 'joy', not leave you feeling 'fractious' and 'disagreeable'.

"We need to make the connection shorter. And somehow 'Tesco-proof' the concept. This relies on forming the process around a chain of people that is not saleable." A co-operative therefore does seem to be the answer.

"We need to create maximum diversity in seeds, developing more secure and resilient forms, to sustain the making of real bread." He pointed out that very little scottish wheat is actually used to make scottish bread, instead it is distributed far and wide. This needs to be changed. We need to be living off the land on which we live, shortening processes and working with those around us for the common good.

He ended with the following rally for support.

"The bread is rising. You bet it is!"

After the talks, it was time to chat and eat more bread of course. I had some interesting conversations with a few start-up micro-bakeries, getting insights on the problems they were facing and how they were going about trying to build up a customer base. Alison of Real Slow Bread said she was getting concerned she'd forgotten how to make a good loaf of bread as she'd got so caught up in the numbers and getting her accounts set up.

Before the taxi home I wanted to take a look around and so headed down to the Welbeck Bakehouse with a few other bakers in tow. As we turned the corner into the bakery, we got a first glimpse of the 5 tray oven - what a beaut!

Dough was being mixed in what I can only describe as a large-scale Kitchen Aid. And then our eyes caught sight of the bread. Wow, they'd gone to town baking all sorts of wonderful types of bread, from focaccia to baguettes. I was sadly feeling full after the bread and cheese I'd already been helping myself to but managed to find room for some apple and cinnamon bread - I'd never had anything like it but am now determined to have a go at making my own. They'd made so much we even got to take a loaf home each, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I helped myself to a tasty looking seeded loaf.

Next it was time to take a look at the source of wondrous heat that was emanating into the kitchen. The home of the wood-fired ovens! They were truly huge, and the heat was fantastically warming on such a bitterly cold day. I was transfixed. Despite their size, they had such a charm and character about them.

You couldn't really get a full feel for how big they were until you saw the size of the peel - I'd estimate it at about two and a half to three metres long.


Manny talked us through the process of loading and unloading, and the art of getting to know your bread oven. It's hot and cold spots, how these could often change one day from the next - much like in a relationship!

Then it was sadly time for us to leave this beautiful bready oasis.

But alas the fun was not over yet, my hopes and dreams came true, when taxi Andrew did turn out indeed to be Andrew Whitley. Myself and fellow Bread Angel Adri of @BreadandRoll could not quite believe it. On the road he told us his story of how he started up. Like us he was originally based down in London, but made the move to making real bread up in Cumbria. Wanting to do something similar myself, I fired question after question to him, highlighting my concerns of making such a move on my own. He put my mind at rest with his tales and experiences of how he had headed up to Cumbria despite being told that there was no demand for wholemeal bread, and that people didn't even know what organic meant (this was back in the 70s). With his friends back in London asking who he would talk to up there, he told of the community spirit he encountered and how he had formed bonds with people on a level he had never really achieved in London.

He went on to talk about some of his experiences in Russia and what he'd been up to since taking leave of the Village Bakery. He truly was one of the most genuine and approachable men I've ever had the honour to meet. Even once we'd arrived at the train station we carried on the discussion, moving onto the Real Bread Campaign - what it is trying to achieve and the obstacles it's facing. If you're passionate about real bread and the difference it can make to people's lives you really should become a member. And if you already are, you should seek to get another to join. They need our support.

To end, all I can say is a massive thanks to the Real Bread Campaign for putting on this event, for free, and to the School of Artisan Food for hosting it, and to all the speakers and bakers that came along. I'm so happy I took the plunge and dived right in. I could not have asked for a better day. What's more I'm still reliving it making my way through the tasty loaf I received from the Welbeck Bakehouse.

To market, to market, to sell some loaves of bread, I hope!

After becoming somewhat addicted to baking sourdough bread, I realised I'd finally hit upon a way to make my lifelong dream of setting up my own business in the hills a reality.

I'd been taking each week's sourdough attempts into work for sampling. They're a bunch of real foodies so I knew they'd be a tough audience. I thought some people's noses would turn up at the mention of rye, but adding spices such as cumin and cinnamon seemed to do the trick, with  everyone lining up for a try. After the first couple of weeks I got my first customer and then another, and I started putting a jar out for donations to cover the costs. It was great getting feedback from everyone and a real confidence booster, everyone was so interested in how it was made, it was great to be able to answer everyone's questions and realise just how much I'd learned in the short space of time I'd been baking bread. Even been asked if I can teach them how to make it themselves. Couldn't have asked for a better start!

And so it was I decided to take the next step and book onto Virtuous Bread's Bread Angels Course. This is a course for all those looking to set up their very own home baking business. It was a fantastic two days with the wonderful Rosie Clark and Lisa Wilson up in Kensal Rise. I was so inspired to see how far they'd come in the time since they themselves had taken the Bread Angels course. It was also really interesting to meet the other attendees and find out their stories and where they were on their own bread baking journeys.

During the course Rosie mentioned that a new start-up market had been in touch and had a vacancy on a stall if any of us would like to take the offer up. I couldn't get my hand in the air fast enough. And sure enough a week later I was put in touch with Hannah Whelan of Kilburn to Kensal Winter Market. A few emails and a phone call later it was agreed - I was to have my own section on a stall at the market for the next two Saturdays! There wasn't much time for shock and amazement, the first stall was just two days away.

My bread making experience was pretty limited to the breads baked on the courses, so I decided to keep it simple for the first week as time was tight: 12 rye sourdough loaves, and a big batch of milk and honey buns, along with some homemade strawberry jam.

I was confident on the rye loaves, but it would be my first time making the milk and honey buns.

So the night before, I made my biggest batch of rye sourdough starter and set it to refresh overnight. The result the next morning was unbelievable, the bubbles were huge. I lost most of them in moving the bowl, but you can get an idea from the below pic.

After a morning trip to get some string and labels and a few more loaf tins I had everything I needed. A day of baking lay ahead - I couldn't wait.

Turns out making 12 rye sourdoughs takes quite a bit of time, particularly in a small, alley style kitchen. But 12 I made and left them in their tins to rise. 

Here's the first batch five or so hours later...

I then set about work on the milk and honey buns. But then had my first real hiccup - my kitchen scales broke! I couldn't believe it, I'd managed to get some water in the workings and a horrible error message sat staring back at me every time I tried to turn it on (the major drawback of digital scales). What to do now? Well at least I could crack on with the jam as the amount of sugar needed was the full bag's weight, same for the strawberries. I made my first jam from my latest purchase salt sugar smoke by the great Diana Henry. The smell was just incredible and it was so quick and easy I couldn't believe I hadn't made jam before.

But now to find a solution to my kitchen scales dilemma. I tried knocking on a few neighbour's doors but to no avail - doesn't anyone do home baking anymore?

Then I set off to a local shop and hit gold. I got home, set up to go and would you believe, they didn't work! Agh, set off again to head to a big supermarket, surely they would have some, but alas, they'd just run out of stock. Clearly this was not meant to be, but I would not be beaten. My original scales were sort of coming back to life, although they kept creeping up in weight with a life of their own so I decided just to go for it.

I put some milk on to boil, keeping a close eye on it, and then left it to cool down ready to make the buns. The recipe was from Jane Mason's All You Knead is Bread, with a bit of added honey to the dough to make them even more special. I was so happy with the result, they looked and smelled fantastic coming out of the oven - even at 1am!

Then it was off to bed, but clearly sleep was not to be had as my mind raced round and round with ideas, thoughts, and the excitement of the next day ahead.

An early start the next morning, saw my friend Lily kindly couriering me, my loaves, buns, and jars of jam, from Stoke Newington to Queens Park. I couldn't have asked for a better day for my first ever market stall experience. It was the perfect winter's day: chilly, but with a clear blue sky and the sun shining brightly to ward off the chill.

And then for the taste test... thumbs up all round thankfully.

The first day went really well. Making my first sale was such a great experience. It was a milk and honey bun to a mum for her little boy, who I then happily watched eat it all up in a matter of seconds. I sold a bit of everything and it was great fun talking to all the other traders and hearing their stories of how they'd got to be there. There was a real mix of first-timers like me, and then a few more established stalls, such as Flour Station - talk about competition!

But I left with a big smile on my face and lots of ideas for the following week...