Microbaker wins national award for bread made in her humble Yorkshire home

Alexandra Vaughan, who runs The Crow’s Rest Bakehouse from her kitchen at home in Agbrigg, near Wakefield, was overjoyed to land the best gluten-free bread prize at the Britain’s Best Loaf Awards.

Open to bakeries regardless of size, last year the competition prize went to Gail’s Bakery - a well-known large operation in the south of England - so for Alexandra’s one-woman kitchen company to triumph, made it a particularly sweet victory with her sourdough.

She said: “I had hoped to win, but I just thought it just a was a good opportunity to get feedback from the judges.

“I’m over the moon. I was just in shock. For Gail’s to win it last year and then a one-person bakery to win this year is really exciting.”

The prize-landing loaf is made from organic gluten-free sorghum and millet flours, with mixed seeds for extra flavour and texture.

But exactly how did Alexandra, 45, go from part-time hobby baker to award-winning commercial microbaker?

Originally from Portugal, she moved to London 15 years ago, initially working for a retail company and baking loaves at the weekend.

She then took the plunge and opened the Crow’s Rest Bakehouse microbakery in Camberwell, London, but moved to Agbrigg in 2018, after her visual artist husband landed a project looking at mining in Yorkshire.

Alexandra took a job working in a bakery in Brighouse, before getting a job at a bagel bakery in Leeds.

But her passion for home-made bread proved too strong and she fully re-opened the Crow’s Rest in Wakefield.

Converting their modest two-bedroom Newland Street home, the spare room became the lounge, allowing Alexandra to convert much of the ground floor into work space.

She launched a funding appeal to help her buy a semi-professional oven in June 2019 and was blown away by the support, raising the cash in a week.

From the outside, it’s looks like your average terraced home, lacking any insignia to suggest an award-winning bakery hides behind the door.

But after picking up her recent award, it’s further proof for Alexandra that going alone was not a half-baked idea.

“Baking is my passion, I love the whole process - the long fermentation of sour dough, working with different flavours and getting the most out of the grain you are working with,” she said.

"I love experimenting and my customer really like that I try different things. They are not like factory-made loaves.”

With a mailing list of over 500 customers, she produces batches for restaurants, as well as one-off loaves for individuals.

Typically, she makes up to 350 loaves a week, all baked to order, with her working week divided into making dough, baking and collection days.

Lockdown affected the bread-making classes that she runs, but the appetite for artisan bread continues to grow.

She added: “There’s a lot of reason why people want it, it’s very organic with more benefits for your health, and it’s not like anything you can buy in the supermarkets.

“Nobody offers this kind of product, if you like really good-quality bread that’s not full of additives. It tastes so much better.

“Factory bread is just something to hold the filling in, this is different. People plan their meals around the bread they buy from me.”

But in saying this, there are some yet to be enlightened by the taste and texture of home-made bread.

“It’s not something all people are used to, you have to chew this bread, and a lot of people think sourdough is going to taste sour!”