People ask us two questions more than any other. The first is whether the country loaf is sourdough (it is). The second is why the lights in the back are on at four in the morning. The honest answer is that bread keeps its own hours, and ours are the ones it keeps.
A sourdough loaf that comes out of the oven at seven was started almost two days earlier. The starter is fed on the first afternoon, the dough is mixed the next morning, it rises slowly through the day and then spends the night in the cold room. By four the next morning it is ready, and it will not wait politely until a more civilised hour.
Pastry is similar. Croissant dough is laminated the afternoon before and shaped at the end of the day, so that it proves overnight. At four, the first job is turning on the oven, which takes almost an hour to come up to temperature. The second job is coffee.
A typical morning
- 4:00: oven on, dough out of the cold room.
- 4:45: first loaves scored and loaded.
- 5:30: pastry goes in as the bread comes out.
- 6:15: wholesale orders packed for the bicycle.
- 7:00: doors open, and the queue is already there.
We have tried starting later. The bread was fine; the queue was not. So four o’clock it is.