Tell us a little about Luke’s Bakery
In 2021, I took a leap of faith, leaving behind a career in banking to pursue my lifelong dream of opening a bakery! After training at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, I spent a year fine tuning my sourdough recipes. To my absolute delight, everyone who tried it raved that it was the best they’d ever tasted. Fuelled by their feedback, I fired up the ovens, bought a van, and hit the road.
Today, we slow-prove our dough for unbeatable flavour, bake for just the right amount of time, and never shortcut on simple, local, honest ingredients. ‘Yorkshire born, Yorkshire bread’ we like to call it.
Where did the idea for the bakery first come from?
Food has always been my passion, and I knew I wanted to make a career out of it one day. In 2017 I trained in boulangerie at Le Cordon Bleu and my love of baking flourished. It also highlighted a gap in the bread offering in East Yorkshire. Sourdough still felt very exclusive and hard to come by, which is where the inspiration for my wholesale business came from. I want to make great bread available for more people. Life’s too short to eat bad bread.
What is your dream for the business?
It’s my dream to grow the bakery and continue to make high quality bakes accessible to more people across Yorkshire and beyond. I’d love to expand my offering one day, to include some of the pastries and speciality breads I learned to make during my training.
A childhood food memory?
My first memory is standing on a chair at my Nana’s kitchen table, stirring a bowl of cake batter. I don’t remember the cake, or what it tasted like; I just remember the enjoyment, the craft, of making food. Now, all my precious moments revolve around making, sharing and feasting on food. I suppose, like my Nana, food is one of the ways I show love.
Most memorable meal?
I vividly remember my first ever tasting menu experience, it was Roux at Parliament Square. It showed me food is a full experiential package, about more than just taste. They had tiny little crudité vegetables. So delicately prepared and packed with fresh flavour. You had to admire the craft that had gone into something seemingly so simple. It was also my first introduction to English wine – a Chapel Down Tenterden Baccus 2011, which blew me away. I always seek out English wine now, whenever possible.
Who in the industry inspires you most?
Richard Bertinet. I read his book, Dough, when I was 15 and it opened my eyes to a whole new world of how bread could be made. It came with an instructional DVD, and I watched it dozens of times, determined to make bread the way he did. He now supplies Waitrose – a great example of how quality food production can be scaled up whilst maintaining something special.
If you weren’t working in hospitality, what would you be doing?
I’d probably still be at Lloyds Bank, where I’d worked for more than 10 years. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t scratch the foodie itch. I changed careers after the pandemic – it was a ‘now or never’ moment, and I’m so glad I took the leap.
Who are your Yorkshire food heroes?
James Martin is a great ambassador for Yorkshire food. I remember seeing him on Ready Steady Cook years ago and have always loved his ethos for no nonsense, hearty home-style cooking – with proper Yorkshire portions!
I also admire Yorkshire farmers who produce great food in our region. As a former Young Farmers Club chairman, I’m proud to be from a rural community and have many friends in farming. It’s an incredibly difficult job and I have a lot of admiration for farmers.
Favourite local ingredient?
Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil from up on the Wolds. It’s got a beautiful golden colour and great flavour. I think it’s important to use ingredients which are local to you. I use Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil in our sourdough focaccia, and it produces a great result. Different to olive oil, but in my opinion, just as good.
Your hopes for the year ahead?
Now we’re established, it’s time to get a bit more professional. We want to up our game in the customer experience stakes for 2025. We’ve got new packaging and a new improved website on the way, which will make shopping and working with us a much smoother experience. I’d love to serve even more customers and expand our product range. We’re also looking towards moving to a new, bigger bakery premises in 2025, to allow this vision to come to life.
You’re hosting a dinner party, who would you invite and what would you cook for them?
It would have to be sourdough pizza, made in our homemade pizza oven. Whilst most people made banana bread in 2020, my wife and I made a pizza oven in the garden!
It would be great to host a relaxed pizza night for all our friends and family who have helped to get Luke’s Bakery off the ground.
In the celebrity world, I would love to extend the invite to Rick Stein. I’ve loved watching his programmes since I was young, and he seems like a genuine guy. I recently met his son, Jack, at a Visit Hull & East Yorkshire promotion event, so maybe the whole Stein family could come along. The invite is open!
Your favourite bread
Our malted granary sourdough is a personal favourite. I’m really pleased with the depth of flavour we’ve been able to achieve. I love it simply toasted with some marmalade. It’s also nice to know it’s not just me, as it picked up the Best Bakery Product title at the 2024 Deliciously Yorkshire Taste Awards – a really proud moment. Our signature white sourdough is a classic too, of course. It’s super versatile so makes a great accompaniment for sweet or savoury dishes.
lukesbakery.co.uk
