Love Loaves Baking Workshops

Love Loaves Baking Workshops Private house in Wolvercote Tue 22nd May - Thu 24th May, Tue 29th May - Thu 31st May, Tue 5th June - Thu 7th June, Tue 12th June - Thu 14th June, Tue 19th June - Thu 21st June, Tue 26th June - Thu 28th June, Tue 3rd July: 11am - 2.30pm; Mon 28th May, Mon 4th June, Mon 11th June, Mon 18th June, Mon 25th June, Mon 2nd July: 11am-2.30pm

If the irresistible smell of baking bread in a cosy cottage kitchen just off Port Meadow doesn’t banish the dark days of winter, you’ve probably already left the country. But here in Wolvercote, Penny Williams and her partner, Croatian magician Dragan Matijevic rise as early as 3am,to produce a daily miracle of home baked bread in a tiny one-up, one down cottage. Their loaves have local householders flocking to the to the Post Box village store in Godstow Road, to buy up loaves before they sell out.

‘We’ve tried to grow our business gradually, starting small with a only a couple of varieties of bread, and taking a great deal of care to ensure we sourced as many organic ingredients as possible for every loaf. We’ve always believed in quality over quantity, but as demand rose, we widened our range’, Penny said. It now includes tiger striped rye, love hearted white, feta and herb soda bread, seed crusted granary, but the most amazing development of all for me is not the outstanding product, but this: you can learn to make it too!

Dragan’s Gandhi-like approach to individual self-sufficiency means that he doesn’t just want to bake the best bread himself – he wants to spread the word. Between them, this gifted team offer a 4 hour small group (up to 3 people) master class in breadmaking which offers hands-on teaching – and you get to take home your delicious loaves. But they don’t stop there. Such is Love Loaves founders’ belief in small bakeries, they offer an alternate 5 hour workshop which includes everything you need to know about starting up such a business, hands-on bread making and practical tips, and follow-up telephone advice if needed.

My group of small bakery entrepreneurs included the vicar of a small northern parish, whose previous skills as baker could now be developed as a small business, and a young mother with two small children, who had identified demand among other busy parents, who, like her, appreciated home baked produce. Two local farm shops selling organic produce were also possible outlets.

‘You don’t need much outlay at all to set up, and we can show you how. All you need is a desire to make wonderful bread, and to share that product with others. Good bread should be part of every day life, and we want to share that pleasure with our community’, Dragan said.

For more details about the workshops, and the next dates, see LOVE LOAVES's website: www.loveloaves.biz.

Alison Boulton (DI Reviewer), 28/02/11

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