I’ve been baking bread for the past 30 years, rarely buying a loaf for the last 20, following a trajectory from bread machine through handmade yeasted loaves to the black art that is sourdough. So when I needed a change after 25 years as a graphic designer I decided to take a step sideways and create a micro-bakery. The move was easier because I’ve made similar changes in the past – from research scientist to philosopher to graphic designer, and now baker. It all makes perfect sense!
Bread by Neil is now over three years old and going from strength to strength, baking artisan loaves using organic flours in bread ovens hand built in Essex. Where the food chain has become ever more complex I’m seeking to simplify it, selling from the bakery itself where you can see the bread coming out of the ovens as it’s baked, and reconnecting my customers with the local food web using flour from the Swaffham Prior windmill, eggs from Ely Market, cheese from Victoria’s Cheese, and random ingredients from customer ‘s gardens.
There’s a bit of a disease in this country of taking someone who’s good at their job and promoting them until they are no longer doing the job they love, whatever the future brings that will not happen here. There are no plans for expansion, just improvement, and the bakery will remain stubbornly micro, with every loaf hand made by myself.
Thank you for joining me in this adventure.
