MEET THE CHEF: Somerset bakery has taste of success

I don’t know why, but if you go to somebody’s house and they’re making something, they usually say interesting things while they’re cooking.”

This level of ‘interesting things’ being said was the same when I was interviewing Sarah Hunter who runs The Barley Sugar Bakehouse with her partner, Nigel Trebble.

The couple have been running their business since 2010 when the two chefs started to produce cakes.

Then two years ago, Nigel decided he wanted to make and bake bread. This like many things sound easier than it actually is and it took him six months to perfect his skills.

He learnt by watching videos on the internet and by reading books.

As Sarah explained there was a lot of bad dough and there were many occasions when bread and butter pudding was on their menu at home.

But after these minor teething problems, their business has flourished and has grown into something which is loved by their customers.

They now make a number of items including:

- All butter croissants/ chocolatine

- 30 hour sour dough

- spelt sour dough n country style sour dough

- Millers bread

- Traditional French baguettes

- French tinned bread

- Granary tinned bread

- New York rye sour dough

- Pies, sausage rolls using local meats

- Vegetarian Galettes

- Seasonal patisserie

Both Sarah and Nigel are trained chefs and met when they were working at The Olive Tree in Bath.

Food in terms of cooking was their first love and it proved to be the foundations for their love which has lasted since they were 18-years-old.

Sarah said: “We have a great laugh even though we live together and work together.

"We are with each other a lot of the time and we have a giggle.

“To succeed we have had to be disciplined and when everyone else is going on holiday or out on a bank Holiday we would be baking.

“When we started out on our own business we wanted to get away from the long hours of working in a restaurant and finishing at midnight. Trouble is we now start at midnight baking.

“We work longer hours which you have to do when you are your own boss.

"But at the beginning and we had a young children and I was pregnant with our second (the couple have three children) it is difficult.

"When I started out we made cakes and our raspberry Crem brulee has become so famous it is our signature cake.

“We are famed for them and sell 1,000 of them.

"We started and still do make them along with lemon curd tarts, apple tarte tatin, Portuguese custard tart, all sweet things.”

In the early days the couples small cottage was swamped by chest freezers and all their cooking equipment.

It reached a point where their children had to eat their Christmas dinner sitting on top of chest freezers and one of the boys bed rooms was a storage room.

They needed to freezers as they were going to attend the music festival at Glastonbury and need to make and freeze all the food they were taking.

Sarah said all the freezers have now gone as they have been able to rent a unit next door to their house which means they have their home back and have a proper area in which to bake and sell their bread and cakes.

Their shop is in Oxen Road (opposite West Street Car Park) in Crewkerne and is only open on Saturday mornings from 7am -1pm.

Walking through Crewkerne, the nearer you get to the shop you can smell the freshly made bread in the air and by closing time a lot of the items have long since sold out.

One of the ingredients which gives their bread its unique taste is they use white French flour when making their bread.

Every week they make around 400 loaves of bread which they sell in their shop on Saturday but also sell at Taunton Farmers Market every Thursday and also attend the markets in Wiveliscombe and Milverton as well as attending the Royal Bath and West Show.

They opened the bakery about two years ago on Good Friday and made 500 hot cross buns.

These sold out very quickly so next year they doubled the amount and sold in total 1,200 buns in about three and a half hours. By 10.30am they had all gone.

Reflecting on what Sarah has learnt about herself about running the business, she said: “You can’t phone in sick and you have to do it every day.

"You cannot go on holiday as we did close once for one day to attend my brothers wedding and people were shocked as they could not buy bread.

"I am defiantly happier than before and I find what I am doing now more rewarding.

"I get satisfaction from the reactions of our customers who enjoy what we make and buy it every week.

"It is great to attend different markets and other events in Dorset or the Royal Bath and West Show.”

Contact The Barley Sugar Bakehouse on 01460 271 687 or 07805 292 083 or email barleysugarbakehouse@hotmail.com