Using their loaves brings unity to rural residents

What exactly is community baking? It's a movement imported from the US in which local people learn to make proper slow-to-rise bread for customers who in turn make a commitment to buy. Good bread, locally baked with a secure market. Everybody wins. The Handmade Bakery in Slaithwaite in the Yorkshire Pennines was the first such bakery in the UK and last week they were runners-up in the BBC's Food and Farming Awards. With no start-up money and using a borrowed pizza oven, they set up a subscription scheme in which customers paid for bread a year in advance.

Today they employ nine people, run their own shop, bake 1,000 loaves a week and supply outlets as far away as Manchester.

It's a model the fledgling Bedale bakery might follow. Carol Clark, one of the Bedale team and owner of Big Sheep, Little Cow, a children's farm attraction in Aiskew, likes the potential of the idea to bring her community together again.

"When I grew up round here, I knew everyone in the village and they knew me. Everyone would watch out for one another.

"There were lots of local jobs for people, too.

"When it was market day the farmers would all come in to do their weekly shop, all things that gave us a sense of community. I think we've lost that today; now it's a village of commuters and the Tuesday market is virtually dead."

With an old mill on her farm that she wants to restore, bread-making was on her agenda, as was finding a network of like-minded locals to be part of the supply chain and minimise food miles.

"Alan Chapman at Hunton five miles away, is growing Solstice, a good strong wheat for bread making and Mark Sampson is a progressive farmer who is trying an experimental crop to our specification."

Then there's Crakehall Mill, a 17th century water mill in the next village which has just been restored by owners Lionel Green and Alison Barnes who are now making their own local flour.

The clinching catalyst for a community bakery came not from within, but from Keo Films, a TV production company from London.

For the last nine months, their crews have followed and, at times, stage-managed, the creation of "Bread… Actually" from mill to market.

They filmed the restoration of Crakehall Mill and shipped in a couple of young bakers from the Thoughtful Bread Company – an artisan bakery in Bath – to give some professional help.

It's been quite a journey from a group of parishioners meeting in the church hall offering to "have a go".

Valerie Hutchinson was one them. Recently retired, she found herself sitting at home feeling unmotivated and lonely until the curate suggested she came along to bake. "It was really good fun," says Valerie. "We made such a mess but all that kneading and talking was very therapeutic. We had such a good laugh."

After the professionals stepped in, the skill levels stepped up. "They were great," says Valerie. "They showed us a basic wholemeal recipe and then suggested things we might add to it like honey and mustard, and rosemary and cracked black pepper. We learned to make things like focaccia that people could eat on the go and, in season, we foraged the hedgerows and came up with nettle and chive bread and wild garlic."

It was a tough call, though, forcing them – like all good bakers – to work through the night to be ready first thing with fresh produce for a stall on Masham market.

"We started at five," says Carol, "mixing the dough at Mowbray School where they have a big mixer, then loading it into the car and finishing it in my kitchen."

The reward came from seeing that their customers loved it all: fresh wholemeal loaves, herb focaccia, pumpkin pasties, cinnamon buns, and scones. Nine months on and filming for the series is nearly complete. Naturally, the producers are looking for a climactic and upbeat ending. A big idea – like a brand new shop in Bedale filled with all that wonderful produce.

But Carol Clark is having none of it. "We're not ready for that. We couldn't sustain it. There are just half a dozen of us, and most have full time jobs. We'd be a laughing stock in Bedale when it folded."

But she appreciates all the TV team brought to the mix. "They have definitely been the catalyst that got us going. They have helped us enormously, they sat down with us and helped us work out a business plan. But when the telly's gone we have to carry on." They have ambitious plans to teach baking to young mums, children, youths, the elderly and even soldiers at nearby Catterick Camp. Valerie Hutchinson believes the whole experience has benefited her. "It changed me, I was sitting at home, not interested in anything, then I got the opportunity to go out and learn a new skill." Carol Clark dreams of building a stronger sense of community. "I'm interested in giving people the opportunity to indulge in an authentic experience at the same time as learning to make good wholesome food but we have to do it in our own way at our own pace."

A cheese and wine evening to raise awareness of "Bread… Actually" is at Chantry Hall in Bedale at 7pm on Wednesday. Tickets 8 in advance or 10 on the door are available from Thompson's Bakery, The Pantry, The Food Weighhouse or from Lucy on 07708 955345 or from [email protected]

The BBC television series The Mill is on BBC2 in the spring.