Test site notice: Fernhollow is a made-up village and Fernhollow Bakehouse is a made-up bakery on a test site. Nothing here is for sale.

Fernhollow Bakehouse

The Green, Fernhollow · Two bakers & one wood-fired oven

01632 960123 How to order

How we bake & who we are

No mixes, no shortcuts. A day and a night for every loaf.

We took the bakehouse over from the last baker in the village. The wood-fired oven is older than both of us and it still sets the pace of the day.

See what we bakeOrder for tomorrow

We light the oven at 3am and open the door at 7am. Fernhollow is a made-up village and we are a made-up bakery on a test site; nothing here is for sale.

Round dough balls covered in flour, set out in rows, by Tawhid Sadman

Five steps from afternoon to morning

How a loaf reaches the shelf

Everything on the shelf at seven in the morning started as flour, water, salt and starter the afternoon before.

  1. 1. You order by 4pm

    You order, by four in the afternoon, by phone (01632 960123) or at the counter. Saturday orders by Friday at four.

  2. 2. We mix in the afternoon

    We mix flour, water, salt and starter in the afternoon, weighed for the orders and the shelf.

  3. 3. Overnight in the cool room

    The dough rests and rises slowly overnight in the cool room. This is where the flavour comes from.

  4. 4. Shaped at 3am, oven at 4am

    We shape every loaf by hand from three, and it goes into the wood-fired oven at four.

  5. 5. Collect from 7am

    You collect from seven, wrapped and named on the shelf behind the counter.

What goes in

Flour from one mill, water, salt and time

What goes in: flour, water, salt and time. Our flour comes from one mill. We use no improvers and no preservatives, so the bread is best in the first two or three days.

For our butter croissants, the dough takes three days of folding and resting before it goes into the oven. On Saturdays we also bake fruit buns with soft dough, dried fruit and a sticky glaze.

  • Two bakers: Mira and Tom

    We run the bakehouse together on the green, keeping the list to six loaves and three pastries so we can bake each one properly.

  • One wood-fired oven

    Lighted at three every morning except Monday, when the shop is closed and the oven rests.

  • Allergens in one room

    Everything is made in one room with wheat, rye, seeds, milk and eggs. Ask us before you order.

Stacked baking trays in a bakery, by Roy Tanck
Stacked baking trays in the bakehouse (photo by Roy Tanck)

Something Mira always says

“If the loaf is not right, it does not go on the shelf. It goes to the ducks on the green.”

Mira · Fernhollow Bakehouse

Our photographs

Scenes from the bakehouse

Seven photographs from the WordPress Photo Directory (all CC0, credited to the photographers). Fernhollow is a made-up village on a test site and nothing here is for sale.

  • Baguettes dusted with flour on a cooling rack, by Jackson Monichan
    Baguettes dusted with flour on a cooling rack, by Jackson Monichan.
  • Croissants and French pastries, by Reyes Martínez
    Croissants and French pastries, by Reyes Martínez.
  • A round loaf with a cross cut into the crust, on a wooden plate, by Alina Kakshapati
    A round loaf with a cross cut into the crust, on a wooden plate, by Alina Kakshapati.
  • Round dough balls covered in flour, set out in rows, by Tawhid Sadman
    Round dough balls covered in flour, set out in rows, by Tawhid Sadman.
  • Golden bread rolls with a crumb-dusted crust, by Vishnu Chandra
    Golden bread rolls with a crumb-dusted crust, by Vishnu Chandra.
  • A bakery shelf of fresh bread rolls in baskets, by Faisal Ahammad
    A bakery shelf of fresh bread rolls in baskets, by Faisal Ahammad.
  • Stacked baking trays in a bakery, by Roy Tanck
    Stacked baking trays in a bakery, by Roy Tanck.