Why a Microbakery?

I started running my microbakery, The Crow's Rest Bakehouse, in 2016.

At the time I was working an office job full time but I knew that I wanted to do something away from offices and computers and the 9 to 5 grind. I just didn't know what that was.

It probably took me a year - and a few self-help books - to realise that the best thing was to look at what I already loved. What were the things in my day-to-day live that gave me the most pleasure doing, and which of those had the potential to become a new career?

This line of thought brought me to baking. Baking was something I had always enjoyed, since a very young age. And ever since learning to make bread in 2014, when I attended an Introduction class with a Bread Angel, bread had taken over all other forms of baking for me.

With this in mind, I went to my local artisan bakery and asked the owner if I could come and do a shift with him. I wanted to get an idea of what working in a bakery felt like, and if that would potentially be something I would like to do every day. He very kindly said yes... I absolutely loved every single minute of that shift!

This experience cemented in my mind that I had to do everything I could to learn how to be a professional baker.

I started like most of us microbakery owners do - baking for friends and neighbours, starting by charging just a nominal amount, and then very organically and without much planning found my self running a little business...

I didn't set out with any intention to run a business, to be very honest the whole idea would have seem terrifying at the time, but what I did want was to bake as much as I could - for which finding people to eat all the bread was a fundamental requisite.

Fast-forward six years, several shifts in brick-and-mortar bakeries, a job as head-baker, and several awards for my bread, and I now work full-time as a microbaker.

It is very much a labour of love, long hours and a lot of work, but worth every second.

Over to you - why do you want to run a microbakery?