Battling the Wind, the Oven, and My Sanity: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Baker's Day

Let's talk about the oven. Specifically, how it hates bad weather.

When the wind picks up outside, I have no chance of a calm baking day. Zero. I could be prepped, organized, and ready for a smooth shift, but the moment the wind howls? The oven decides it's had enough. It goes out, again and again. And, of course, it's not a simple click-and-relight situation. Oh no. It's a full-scale performance. There's the crouching down, the endless attempts to get the flame to stay on, the increasingly creative language, and the creeping realization that I am now at least 30 minutes behind schedule.

At this point, I should really start checking the weather forecast before planning my baking days. "Strong winds? Great, that means today's special is rage baking with a side of existential dread."

Wednesdays: My Weekly Kitchen Battlefield

Wednesdays are one of my busiest prep days. Since I close on Mondays and Tuesdays, I come in needing to catch up after the weekend rush.

The first thing on my list? Scones. Hopefully, I've been smart enough to make the base mixes in advance and freeze them, so all I need to do is take a few bags out, add the milk and sugar, and mix into a dough. A handy hack for baking in bulk!

Then comes the cake situation. I make twelve different cakes—nearly all of them as small individual portions. Each batch yields between 16 and 29 cakes. Three are traybakes, but the rest? All hands on deck. It's a lot. And if the Barista is off, forget about the admin—the baking comes first.

And then, of course, there's the oven.

But if this oven drama happens on a Friday—my biggest prep day—or worse, over the weekend, it's a whole new level of nightmare. Saturdays are manic. We get in earlier than any other day because the park run starts and finishes right outside the café. We're inundated with lots of lycra, bacon and egg baps, and a tidal wave of coffee and cake orders. And then there are the cyclists. I've built up a huge following of cyclists over the seven years since opening the café. They come from miles around for the bread and butter pudding. Word is spreading, and if the oven is playing up, I have to try and keep my creative language inside—because in an open kitchen, everyone can see (and hear) you!

The Oven's Mood Swings: A Baker's Worst Nightmare

The oven struggles aren't just annoying—they wreck my bakes. Some things, like scones, don't rise like they should and kind of stay flat, which is very annoying. And croissants? The croissants suffer too. If the temperature keeps dropping, they lose their puffiness. Instead of rising into beautifully layered perfection, they sort of... deflate. It's heartbreaking. You need them to rise and hold their height, not melt into a puddle of buttery sadness.

And because croissants are one of those bakes you can't rush, once they are compromised, there's no fixing them. It's either start again or accept defeat and curse the wind for the millionth time that morning. But here's the silver lining—any overcooked or flat croissants don't go to waste. I use them for my legendary bread and butter pudding. So even when the oven throws a tantrum, there's always a way to turn a baking disaster into something delicious.

Survival Mode: Baking What Won't Suffer

At this point, I have to adapt. The oven isn't going to cooperate, so I switch to baking things that won't suffer from the temperature roller coaster.

Enter granola bars —they're reliable. They don't need a steady high temperature. They won't collapse in protest. But let's be real—it's intensely frustrating to go from crafting beautiful, delicate pastries to chucking a tray of granola in the oven just because the weather has decided to ruin my plans.

It's a bit like wanting to wear a glamorous outfit, but realizing it's pouring with rain, so you resign yourself to waterproofs and wellies instead. Practical, sure. But not what I wanted.

The Moment of Victory (Sort Of)

Eventually, after a whole lot of creative language and half-baked thoughts, the wind dies down. The oven finally behaves, but by then, I've lost hours.

I often wonder if my kitchen could be a reality show—The Oven Whisperer: Staring Down Disaster One Croissant at a Time.

Still, through it all, I somehow pull it together and make it through the day. Because when you're a baker, you do what it takes—even if it means a whole lot of swearing at the weather and the oven!

Kitchen Disasters: A Rite of Passage

There's something about working in a kitchen that guarantees you'll have some unforgettable mishaps over the years—some so bad they still bring me out in a cold sweat! After all, when you're working at high speed, multitasking in a bustling kitchen, things can (and do) go wrong. And while I'd like to say I've mastered the art of avoiding disaster, even seasoned bakers like me drop a pan or burn a batch more often than you might think.

And it's not just the oven that conspires against me. Let's talk about the coffee grinder—the unsung hero of any café. When it packs up (and trust me, it has, more than once), that's when the real panic sets in. I'm creative, sure, but I am not an engineer by any stretch of the imagination. Yet, somehow, you learn fast when caffeine-hungry customers are involved.

The last time this happened, it was five minutes before opening on a bank holiday weekend—of course. I found myself on FaceTime with my lovely coffee supplier, being led by the hand to dismantle the machine and then trying to put it back together again, all while a queue started forming outside. Let me tell you—that kind of stress still brings me out in a cold sweat! I was freaking out, and he did a lovely job of calming me down, talking me down from a frantic place. And customers? They don't always understand the behind-the-scenes chaos. They just want their coffee.

And when the wind is up outside, it kind of whistles through the kitchen. When things like the coffee grinder need immediate attention, I can often forget other things. I'll suddenly think, what is that burning smell? Turn around, and realize the caramel I had started is kicking out black acrid smoke because I was so distracted with the grinder. Cue colorful language. It never just rains, right? It pours...

Mistakes are, of course, part of the journey. And though I wear many hats when I'm at work—baker, pastry chef, cook, manager, barista, boss—these challenges make us grow, and we learn from them.

It's not the first time I've faced baking chaos. There was the time I accidentally knocked an entire tray of freshly baked scones onto the floor right as the morning rush started. Or the time one of my trainees baked the brownies for 45 mins instead of 25 - transforming them from gooey perfection into something resembling a dry sponge. At least they made great chocolate truffles!

Then there was the lemon polenta cake incident, when I checked them after 10 minutes only to find a shimmering lake of butter where my cakes should have been. Why? Who knows. Baking has a way of keeping you humble. But that’s the thing - no matter how many disasters, burnt trays, or moments of despair, you find a way. You laugh, you learn, and you keep baking. Because at the end of the day, resilience ( and a good sense of humour ) is just as essential as butter and sugar.