Big British Food Map Loafing around in Dorset

Date Published:

14/05/2008

The Town Mill Bakery in Lyme Regis Dorset isn't hard to find despite being tucked down an alleyway. Like the Bisto kids I just follow the waft of freshly baking bread

Inside head baker Aidan Chapman has been at it since 6am, so by 8am when I turn up, he's hitting his stride.

Aidan co-owns the bakery with Clive Cobb. The pair expanded to the bakery's current location in an old boatyard 18 months ago from the old town mill just up the road. The larger space allowed them to lay bare the process of baking bread to their customers. And the whole thing, mixers, ovens, shop and restaurant takes place in the one space. The guys wanted to make the bakery a destination.

On the menu

The place is open from around 8am until 8pm, depending on the season and even what's on telly. In the morning it's unlimited toast or English muffins and homemade peanut butter or jam. Then service switches to lunch: small pizzas, a soup, Dorset rarebit or the famous ‘Bakers Eggs’ which is a doorstep of bread with a circle hollowed out of the middle and a fresh egg cracked in and the whole lot whacked in the oven.

Teatime is cakes, scones, apple turnovers, frangipani and bread and honey before we hit dinner around 5pm where there's a simple menu of a couple of large pizzas – Margheritas, roast veg or Florentine. Note there's no meat used on the premises, so it's dead veggie friendly.

Making bread

Aidan talks through his process of making bread. He uses the classic sponge and dough method, which takes longer, but uses less yeast and gives a better flavour. He shows me his sourdough primer; it looks alive and bubbles away like something from The Thing.

His white flour comes from Shipton Mill, with NR Stoates providing the wholemeal and malt flour. Everything else that can be sourced nearby is, excepting things like olive oil - not much of that in Dorset. The buffalo mozzarella for the pizzas, however, comes from Blissful Buffalo’s in North Devon rather than Italy.

“Baking is a highly skilled job, it's the oldest profession in the world, well, after prostitution!” says Aidan. He's all for sharing his skills though, and in conjunction with River Cottage and The Magdalene Project runs bread courses and workshops for kids and adults. “Sometimes people are scared to let go of their knowledge, but knowledge is there to be shared, plus it helps people appreciate what we do here,” says Aiden, and interest from the public has been amazing.

Time for breakfast

I then sit down and try some of Aidan's sourdough with some homemade peanut butter and have a chat with Clive, the other owner. “Baking has become a devalued word,” he says. “A lot of places that say they're bakeries are just reheating; it's like instant coffee, very few are making the product from scratch”.

Clive and Aidan are looking to expand the Town Mill set up nationally, and are in discussions about possible sites in Bristol, Winchester and Lee on Sea. As we wind up, a few damp holidaymakers come through the door into the warmth. The coffee's on, the breads ready, breakfast is served.