GET YOUR BAKE ON

Baker-on-a-bike Phil Gostling invites you into his kitchen to learn the tricks of his bread-making trade

- Kathryn Armstrong

There are few things in the world nicer than the warmth of a toasted slice of newly-baked bread dripping with butter. Crisp crust, soft middle. Small pleasures.

Just an hour or so in to our baking day with Phil Gostling and we’ve stopped for coffee, jam and toast. It’s the shape of things to come on a most delicious and indulgent food adventure.

Within the walls of the handsome home he shares with his doctor wife Emily and children Monty, three and Evie, one, Phil has created a clever little micro bakery that enables him to combine his food passions with a new approach to family life.

Phil is a rugby-mad sports teacher, but also a food lover. Aware of an element of teacher ‘burn out’, he decided to cut back his hours and set the timer on a new life as a part-time baker in their home town of Tadcaster.

The tricks of his trade are cleverly thought out. Doors of a cupboard in the corner of the kitchen slide back to reveal a slick set up – a neat industrial oven beneath a ladder of proving shelves and all the kit needed for the new venture that is One Mile Bakery.

The kitchen table becomes a shiny prep area with the addition of a metal table top that can be popped in place for the baking, kneading and rolling part of the cookery lesson day.

Phil literally gets on his bike and delivers gorgeous fresh-as it-gets bakes to people living within a mile who subscribe to his weekly deliveries. As well as bread you can order sweet bakes such as cinnamon buns, homemade jams and soups.