One of the big ideas when the global HQ of Virtuous Bread was established back in January 2010 was that we needed support to change the world though bread. As much as we were willing, we knew we could not do it on our own. My friend Pete suggested we gather a “bread army” together to change the world through bread. That sounded just a little threatening and after a brief nano second, Bread Angels was born.
Bread Angels is a group of successful micro bakers, people who have decided to take the micro bakery course and dedicate some or all of their life to baking excellent bread, selling excellent bread in their local communities and in many cases, to teaching other to bake excellent bread.
The benefits of becoming a Bread Angel are many and several and they include being able to work from your own space when and how you want to, building your local community both in terms of the physical product (bread) and the less tangible and yet very powerful products of smiles, praise, and social interaction that comes when you have a loaf of bread in your hand. “Ooo! it’s the bread lady (or man)” is the cry that will follow a Bread Angel very soon after their local community gets its hands on the bread. At the same time, you can earn some money doing something you love.
There are many ways to be successful. Many Bread Angels sell bread at markets as well as from their home bakeries. Tony Meredith is a Bread Angel who runs Rye Bakes. He recently did his first market – the Tring Festival – one of a series of annual events held in the lovely town of Tring. He reported back:
“Phew!! Lots of work but a lot of fun. Sold out of most food. The no knead focaccia bread you showed us was fantastic for the tray bake pizzas and they sold out really quickly. I also made rye loaves, various flavoured rolls and chapattis filled with curried potato.”
The whole town of Tring hopes, I am sure, that Tony will bake more and more when the autumn rolls in and his work as a gardener begins to slow down a bit. We certainly do because what he bakes is just wonderful.
Click here to find out if you have a Bread Angel near you from whom you can buy great bread. If you live near Tring and would like to contact Tony Meredith about bread, his e mail is: [email protected]
Click here to take a baking course with a Bread Angel.
Click here to take the micro bakery course and become a Bread Angel.
We look forward to welcoming you soon!
Can’t wait to train as a Bread Angel myself next month!