Dave has managed to (flour) scoop the prestigious acoldade British Baker's Britain's Best Loaf for his seeded sourdough made only with Matthews Cotswold Flour's award-winning Cotswold Crunch.
Dave cheerfully reveals that he only began baking during the COVID lockdown, but that he rapidly gained a loyal following and beat off strong competition to win the award.
Explains Dave: “I'm fairly new to baking, I began baking in the pandemic whilst I was working from home and luckily a neighbour offered me some sourdough starter.
"The truth is I baked a lot of frisbee style loaves at first as I began learning more and more about baking from YouTube and books. I gradually progressed from the early attempts to baking edible loaves which I began gifting to neighbours.
In January last year I took the decision to launch "Your Davey Bread" providing pre-order and pickup of sourdough loaves from our front porch in Swallowfield, Berkshire.
"I attended a Wayne Caddy micro bakery course, and that really taught me how to produce consistent results and how to scale up from a few loaves to batches of loaves.
Now we sell at village markets, fetes and supply the local tea room in Riseley, in addition to our pre-order business, which is still operating.”
Dave describes his bakery business as 'a hobby gone rogue' but he has a growing community of adoring bread shoppers who were the impetus behind his Best British Loaf Awards entry.
He goes on to say:”I'm thankful to the persistent people who convinced me to enter and the lovely customers we have who allow me to bake in sufficient quantities to learn the intricacies of sourdough baking.
"I'm just so thrilled and proud my Seeded Sourdough won its category against tough and established competition. The judges' comments were complimentary too. There is an element of disbelief for me, as I'm a micro baker, one guy in his back room with a small mixer and a small oven.”
Dave loves to give his loaves punning names, and his prize-winning loaf, called Uncle Tom Cobbler N'all, is no exception.
Dave explains: ”It's created using cobbler/malted flour, the "n'all" element originally covered any ingredients I needed to use up in my baking. I experimented with adding various percentages of malted flour to my standard country loaf, until we hit the sweet spot of taste and texture. This also took a few experiments with the hydration level of the dough. The dough is covered in poppy seeds and semolina to give the crust some more crunch.”
Dave adds: ”Choosing the right flour is critical and I came across Matthews Cotswold Flours in Waitrose and I was aware Elaine Boddy, the Sourdough Whisperer, uses their flour a great deal, so obviously I wanted to try their range out myself. I used their Cotswold Crunch in my prize winning loaf because it's got a great aroma when baked and it's simplicity to incorporate into a recipe. The malted wheat flakes give a little welcome bite and texture, too.
Bertie Matthews, the MD at Matthews Cotswold Flour adds: “We're obviously thrilled to see our award-winning flour is at the core of this award winning loaf. We work very hard to develop a wide range of premium flours that exceed the expectations and needs of our artisan and home bakers. It's incredibly rewarding to see our ingredients play a key role in Dave's success.”
Dave is at a crossroads in his baking career. Buoyed up by the award and now selling out every weekend, he wonders if it is time to scale up?
He says: “I'd love to expand to be able to offer my bread in more shops, cafes and restaurants. Perhaps it's time for a second oven and some help? I've ave also been considering running beginner sourdough workshops to pass on what I have learned."”
For more information on Your Davy Bread visit yourdaveybread.com or follow them on Facebook and @yourdaveybread on Instagram.
For more information visit www.cotswoldflour.com or follow @CotswoldFlour on Instagram or Facebook.
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