Why we bake at 3am

People ask why the lights are on at Mill Yard when the pubs on Kirkstall Road are only just closing. The honest answer is the first bus.

Builders, nurses coming off nights and school-run parents all want bread before eight. A sourdough needs about an hour in the oven and another hour to cool, and the bloomer before it needs the oven hotter still. Work backwards from a 7:30 opening and you land on 3am.

The quiet helps too. No phones, a radio on low, and the dough tells you what it needs.