 I make our bread by the 'sponge and dough' process; the dough has no added enzymes or preservative. This involves making a dough at 1p.m. and letting it ferment for 15½ hours until 4.30 the next morning. The fermented dough is then added to more flour which has yeast, salt and our own bread improver (soya flour, sugar & vegetable fat) added to it.  Our largest mixing machine is upstairs in the flour loft and we get the dough downstairs to the bakery via a chute that deposits the dough on the bread table to be finished.   All our bread, cakes and savouries are made completely from scratch except for just two lines, croissants and gingerbread men. These are labour intensive and I feel these particular products are as good as we could make so we buy them frozen, but they are finished by us. Everything else is made here, including the cake bases, sponges and pastry. I have 3 part-time staff in the bakery to help me, but I am really a one-man-band. This means we have to close the business to take a holiday. Luckily customers usually understand that without me there would be nothing for the shop staff to sell so they come back - usually saying how much they have missed us.  We are well know for our yeast and wheat free products; customers regularly travel from as far away as Chelmsford or Upminster, and even Kent, as they cannot find anyone else who makes such a good yeast free loaf. About 30 years ago a customer asked my father if he could make a batch of rolls without yeast as it disagreed with him. Father experimented and worked out a recipe, word spread, then someone else asked could we make yeast free loaves and we have gone on from there. Over the years I have altered and improved the recipe and method and our range of yeast and wheat free lines has increased ever since.
|
|
|
|
Behind the Scenes |