A HAPPIE CHRISTMAS!

YOU can smell Barbakan bakery before you see it.

- RAMAZANI MWAMBA

The aroma of freshly baked bread and cakes pulls you in like a tug of tantalising invisible rope.

That enticing smell is the hard work of a small but mighty bakery team who start their working day at 3am to make the deli’s famous mince pies and other festive treats in time for Christmas.

And staff at the south Manchester bakery are certainly busy this time of year.

According to supervisor Jarek Mrogzek, by the end of the Christmas period they will have made 30,000 Viennese and traditional mince pies.

The M.E.N. joined staff at the bakery in the run-up to Christmas to watch the experts at work.

“Every year it gets busy in the last few days before Christmas,” said Jarek. “Our quality goes up and every year it gets better and better.”

Through the eyes of the uninitiated, it is hard to imagine what the team could possibly improve on. By the time I arrive on a weekday morning, the front counter of the store is already decorated with mouth-watering golden brown French rye sourdough, glossy fruit Danishes, buttery Brioche rolls and doughnuts the size of your head.

In the kitchen, bakers effortlessly roll, knead and twist pastry and dough like a well-oiled machine. The waft of burning sugar and roasting fruit fills the air as they fill trays and trays of mince pies, gingerbread men and bread baked with techniques borrowed from Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain.

Despite the large amount of work they have to get through, the bakers seem impressively calm. I expected to find a frantic environment with just a week to go before Christmas, but the team diligently carry out their tasks with composed synchronicity.