Pioneers: Blawd Bakehouse
As part of our ongoing 'Pioneers' series that looks to champion the do-ers, thinkers and makers behind the Northwest's burgeoning food and drink scene, we talk to Lucy Jackson, the woman behind Manchester's Blawd Bakehouse
Some things should be cherished because we don’t always get to enjoy them: the final weekends before payday when you’re not skint, a glimmer of warm sun piercing the slate-grey March sky, back-to-back screenings of the Lethal Weapon trilogy. In contrast, there are plenty of other aspects to life that are easier to locate.
Call it Great British Bandwagon cynicism, but the word ‘baking’ doesn’t always scream ‘scarce.’ Hounded by run-of-the-mill red velvet whatsits and average salted caramel doo-dahs, it’s easy to feel that if the whole dirty-food revolution became a bit much two years ago, sugary treats are now at risk of following suit.
There are always exceptions, though, and in this instance it’s usually when that baking is done properly. Enter Lucy Jackson, the 26-year-old photography graduate-cum-entrepreneur behind Blawd Bakehouse, a setup she runs with assistance from boyfriend Iwan Roberts and whic currently occupies the basement floor of Common, one of the best places in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Spurred on to self-employment after leaving academia, Jackson found herself at a loss for what to do next. Then the simple idea came to her: create delectable goodies for the good patrons above to devour with their IPAs and coffees, using traditional recipes while avoiding serving up stale ideas.
A far cry from just another cookie pedlar, the proof is quite literally in the puddings. Blawd’s doughnuts are light and fluffy so as to encourage multiple innings, and then some. Why not branch out to sample a fat tart (not just a clever name), or a layer cake? Or – what might be the pièce de résistance – a peanut blondie? (We’ll come to these later.)
“I was already working in Common, baking things for the bar, and then they gave me the opportunity to take over the space downstairs independently. So I did,” Jackson explains when asked how the enterprise began. “I’ve always baked things since I was a little kid, and moved up to Manchester to study at university. I didn’t really know what to do after that. I had a load of jobs in cafes and bars, and then thought, ‘You know what, I’d quite like to bake for a living.’”
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This calm and somewhat pragmatic attitude belies the seriousness of setting up shop on your own. Perhaps more importantly, though, it also reveals a confidence that’s understandable once you sample the menu items in question, which now find themselves further afield than the drinking den they call home, with orders coming thick and fast from external businesses and private customers alike.
“I basically make what I want for Common, and then what goes out to individual customers and other places is all made to order. The doughnuts are firm favourites, not many people are doing them like this. They’re pretty delicious, even if I do say so myself. It’s a 24-hour process, a really long prove, and that makes them so tasty. All the fillings – rhubarb jam to vanilla custard – are homemade too. So it’s a very long job, but definitely well worth it.”
Since starting to trade independently at the beginning of December, Blawd has been on the up and up, with sights now set on expanding in the near future.
“The hope is to grow things so we can get a premises of our own outside Common. We’re not entirely sure how that would work or whether we’d have people eating in or not.”
Anyone responsible for paying their own tax has to be acutely aware of the fickle nature of the industry. Although Britain’s appetite for sponge and sugar is older than the combined ages of everyone in the room, we can’t help but quiz Jackson over concerns about a potential fallout as flavours of the month move on.
“I think if you concentrate on quality products, and it’s not all really faddy, then you won’t just get lumped in with what’s popular right now. I’m a big fan of classic flavours, they’re classic for a reason – carrot cakes, brownies, caramel. I do try and experiment with things but what’s most important is that everything that gets made is actually good, rather than simply on trend.
“I also think there’s a bit of a gap in the market in Manchester. Lots of people are doing the same stuff, but in, say, Liverpool and Leeds there’s a lot more interesting ideas going on. In Leeds you have Laynes Espresso, and they have products from Noisette Bakehouse, which are amazing. Then there’s Sheaf St Cafeteria, which is also over there, and they do really great baking. They both know what they are doing, and they do that really well, which is what we aim to do, too.”