Baker Girl by Helen Peacocke

You will know you’ve arrived at a rather special place the moment you open the door of Bakergirl at Wykham Park Farm near Bloxham and discover yourself confronting shelves of glorious sourdough loaves of all shapes and sizes, glistening iced buns and mountains of Chelsea buns. Then there’s that tantalizing aroma of freshly brewed coffee and baked bread that fills the air. The buzzing atmosphere that embraces you as you enter this converted barn may also come as a surprise, after all you have walked across a farm yard to get there. The sound of cows gently mooing in a nearby shed can be heard in the distance and visitors to the farm shop are walking back to their cars carrying baskets filled to the brim with fresh local vegetables.

Actually The Bakergirl café and Wykham Farm Shop (also situated in the farm yard, selling local meat, fruits and all manner of vegatables seldom stocked in supermarkets) complement each other perfectly. The two establishments provide an opportunity for visitors to purchase their entire food-shop in one stop, acquiring many products not available anywhere else whilst there.

Partners, Sharon Tomkinson and Sarah Jeffery moved into the red brick barn in the farm yard last January, and yes, they might have felt a little apprehensive at first. After all Sarah, who does all the baking, had not been trained professionally - everything she creates is of her own devising. Yet they took the plunge and haven't regretted it for a moment.

You might ask how can two middle aged women with absolutely no catering experience can turn an empty barn in the middle of a farm yard into a destination stop for foodies who now travel miles to buy their bread?

Sarah and Sharon originally worked with the sports clothes company Nike for more than a decade as part of the senior management team within the retail department. Had the company not made changes, offering staff redundancy deals perhaps they would both still be there now pushing pens rather than working round the clock, often up to their arms in flour and soapsuds.

Their adventure into the world of dough began when they attended a baking class in Bath conducted by French baker Richard Bertinet who inspired them to experience the sheer joy of kneading and shaping their own sour dough bread.

Sharon called it a light bulb moment which was so monumental it inspired Sarah to place her life on a different course and set them both on a quest that was to change their lives irrevocably.

From that day on, nothing was ever quite the same again and now their breads are now taking the Banbury area by storm.

Returning to their north Oxfordshire home in Bloxham, after Richard’s bread making session, Sarah was overwhelmed. The session filled her with such excitement, she went straight out and bought some strong flour immediately, prepared a sour dough and began baking, first for herself, then for family and friends.

It didn’t take long for word to get around. She produced so much delicious bread their friends began persuading them to take it further. As food producers are required to register their premises as a micro home bakery by the Environmental Health standards agency, a task that is necessary 28 days before producing food for local farmers markets and other food outlets, their journey into the world of baking for the public took a month to get underway. But when it did, it just took off like a rocket and it soon became obvious that a table at the local Farmer’s Market was not going to be enough.

So they let social media do the rest and moved into the converted barn at Wykham Farm. Their redundancy pay-out provided funds for the barn to be fitted out with state of the art baker’s ovens and all the necessary equipment required to produce their bread.

However, although the equipment is vital, they both admit that the most important ingredient that goes into their breads is time. Nothing is hurried, the sour dough yeast is allowed to gently work its magic on the flour and salt, which is why their bread tastes so good and why it is nothing like the soft flavourless breads on sale in the supermarkets.

So what’s the secret to their success? Actually it’s their enthusiasm, which appears to motivate them both, filling them with an amazing energy that enables them to work far more than more hours than most.

Enthusiasm is infectious, so is Sharon’s smile as she takes your order, brews your coffee and places a couple of Chelsea buns on your tray. Buying a loaf or two while you are there is irresistible. This is not a fast business however, customers often have to wait while orders are put together, but it’s a wait most are prepared to cope with. Nothing is hurried at Bakergirl.

Sarah and Sharon boast that there are just four simple ingredients that go into their dough – flour, water, sea salt and time and it’s time that adds that touch of gastronomic magic to their dough hence their motto:

“Some are born great. Some achieve greatness and some have greatness kneaded into them in the early hours of the morning.”

And they don’t mean just a few extra hours, but many. Most bakers work with warm dough which rises within an hour, sometimes less. As you will see from Sarah’s recipe opposite, the dough is placed in the fridge to prove for up to 16 hours, sometimes more. Some things really are worth waiting for.

The Bakergirl bakery is open Wednesday to Friday from 9am to 4pm and Saturday from 9am to 3pm. Their website can be reached by going to bakergirl.co.uk.