Age Old Baking Attracts New Age Man

Aug. 7, 2012 - PRLog -- Six months after the launch of Harrington’s Kitchen – a bread-making cookery school in South London, founder, Stephen Harrington, is witnessing a dramatic trend arise – the upsurge of the male baker.

Former city broker, Stephen Harrington, gave up his day job to fulfil his ambition to cook. After several years spent in France, running a cookery school in the Basque area and a catering company in Paris, Harrington returned to England to discover his true passion – baking. Little did he know his bread-making classes would unveil a new phenomenon – the rise of the male artisan chef.

“The last few years have seen a dramatic rise in home-baking enthusiasts” explains Harrington, “but whilst there was an abundance of cookery classes teaching people cake-making and cupcake decorating, there was a distinct lack of baking classes to inspire men.”

Realising a gap in the market, Harrington set up his cookery school to dispel the impression that baking was for the 1940s housewives and teach people the artisan skill of traditional bread making, from French bread to Fougasse, Grissini, even Focaccia.

“It’s not hard when you know how, but people often think they don’t have the right equipment or time to spend making bread,” explains Harrington. Harrington’s Kitchen teaches a simple method – which doesn’t require any specialist equipment, just a pair of hands and a domestic oven, so people can replicate the classes in their own kitchens. It is this, which Harrington believes, appeals to men. “There’s nothing fancy about baking bread but there is a definite thrill in nurturing something by hand that is guaranteed to impress.”

Whilst Harrington’s classes started as a 50:50 split between men and women, notably higher in favour of men than the average cookery class, Harrington says men are increasingly being drawn to the activity. “Male celebrity chefs have been a common feature on our TV screens and with a surge in baking programmes, coupled with a recession mind-set – ‘why buy something that you could make at home?’ more and more men are taking to the kitchen to produce artisanal handmade loaves. And since there are not many meals that don’t benefit from adding a warm slice of freshly made bread – it makes the pursuit all the more worthwhile,” concludes Harrington.