The Bakery

One thing I haven’t talked about on here is my bakery, Flour and Feast. As it will be our first year anniversary tomorrow I thought now would be the perfect time to tell you all a little bit about it and what I do.

Who?

Joe and I opened the bakery last year after many combined years of working for others within the food industry. We had worked as chefs and bakers and although working for others is a great way to gain experience, you don’t have the freedom to do your own thing and we were ready to do our own thing. After a short stint working as a Head Baker for Gails Bakery I knew that i would one day like to set up on my own. The opportunity came much quicker than I anticipated. In London there are bakeries practically on every corner and in Hull I could think of one. One. In the whole of the city and hardly anyone knew about the one that existed. At home, week after week, my heart sank as beautiful breakfasts were served on top of part baked baguettes (get the violins out) and we realised that the only way to eat good bread in this town was to make it ourselves! When the opportunity came to set up on our own we jumped at the chance. We had no idea how it would work but we knew we had to at least give it a try. It was hard work and took months of planning, risk assessments, funding (and for me, therapy, but that’s a whole other blog post) but we finally opened on the 12th November 2018

How?

“…you just have to start. Period.”

There is actually a lot of help out there, its just knowing where to find it.

When we were first asked if we were interested in setting up the bakery our first thought was that we couldn’t afford it. I’d just moved back from London, neither of us had massive savings, it seemed pretty impossible that we could get the money together. Fortunately there are people who want to help. The old town grant scheme in Hull offers funding opportunities for new businesses setting up in the area. This is available at all different levels for start ups and existing businesses. Check out Hull City Council for more information.

We also had help from the job centre who told us about NEA, The New Enterprise Allowance, which was a huge support. We had to attend a couple of business workshops and go to the job centre every couple of weeks up until trading but in exchange we got weekly financial help for the first 6 months of trading. You also get a free business advisor for a year! We would never have known about this if we hadn’t asked so its definitely worth making an appointment with your local job centre.

We also took out a small amount on credit card and, importantly, made do with what we could afford. We started with basic equipment and have been adding and upgrading ever since. You don’t have to start with everything in place, you just have to start. Period.

What?

First and foremost we are a Bakery. We have two industrial ovens and a very large buffalo planetary mixer. We started off with one oven, a Mono, and bought a Rofco bread oven a few months ago. We bake every day, morning and afternoon and everything is made on site. Pesto, jam, custard, bread, kimchi, coleslaw, marshmallow fluff, soup, hummus, granola….if we’re selling it, we’ve made it. We have a good range of sweet and savoury products and we also do outside catering for weddings as well as providing desserts for Two Rivers restaurant at The Deep. It’s hard work and we work long days but we enjoy working for ourselves and exploring different avenues that we might not have had the opportunity to do working for someone else. We try to be sustainable and use local ingredients were we can including Cherry view milk and Bradshaws flour. We’re also a part of Refill so you can fill up water bottles, cups, basically any receptacle, whenever you like.

Our daily bread

The bread is Joe’s thing and he is excellent. He understands it in a way i never could and he is serious about it. People often wonder why our bread comes out late and the answer is as we’re based within a council ran market we can only work within their opening times and as you may or may not know, bread likes to take its time. We also leave our bread to ferment overnight to incorporate a really important stage of fermentation that is missed out of a lot of mass produced bread. Properly developing bread means that the natural bacteria that develops neutralises the phytic acid, therefore making it easier to digest. Even for those that are gluten sensitive. Most of the time those people are not directly affected by the gluten but by the fast process in which mass produced bread is made.

Where?

We are based in Trinity Market in Hull, East Yorkshire. The market recently had some development funding and has gone through a couple of revamps over the years. The traders are old and new and there is a huge variety of produce on offer. There’s a butchers, a fabulous grocery stall that always has the best seasonal ingredients, a chocolatiers, an eco shop, a key cutter…basically anything you want you can find in the market. Not forgetting Hepworths arcade which has a lovely independent book shop, some great vintage stores and its own Gin school!

Customers

Last, but most definitely not least we have some absolutely lovely customers. I’d probably go as far as calling some of them friends now. They cheer me up on hard days, share stories with me, post photos of their kids eating our food and always encourage us with their lovely comments and positive words. The bakery literally couldn’t continue without them and we’re super grateful for their support and custom. Just one little like on social media or one kind word makes a massive difference.

So there you have it! A little about my job and my business. I would love to meet you so come visit us at the bakery, and if you happen to pop by tomorrow, wish us a happy first birthday! 🎉