The accidental baker
Paul Cosgriff did not set out to become a baker but is pleased he did. Julian Cole visited his sourdough bakery in York. Pictures by Bruce Rollinison.
Paul Cosgriff loves working in his sourdough bakery. But it was never part of a plan – an accident pushed him in that happy direction. As we talk at C&S Sourdough in Fishergate, York, Paul continues making his bread, cutting off and weighing the dough, swiftly shaping the loaves before putting them to rest or into the oven. It’s a vile morning outside, with cold rain hammering down, but the bakery is warm and comforting, smelling of newly baked bread and fresh coffee. The shop is shut and Paul is in full-on baking mode, having made about 80 kilos of dough overnight, all by hand.
That adds up to about 130 loaves. Large plastic tubs, like the kind used by builders to hold cement or rubble, are filled with resting sourdough that pops with languid bubbles. He has his own method, developed from reading baking books, including the sourdough bible Tartine by Chad Robertson and The Tivoli Road Baker by Michael James. “I went through all the recipes I could find and realised I just like doing it how I do it. I do it all by hand, I don’t use a mixer. I can’t afford one and don’t have space for one,” he says.
Paul, 36, is from Australia – Ballarat, about an hour from Melbourne. He trained as a chef and moved to England seven years ago with his partner Janet, who is from the UK.
They lived in London for a while and Paul worked at Michelin-starred restaurants, including at St John, under Fergus Henderson, staying there as a chef for 18 months. “I loved everything about it, to be honest,” he says.
They moved to York when Janet was studying and Paul worked around the city, including at The Bow Room in Gray’s Court for four years.
Then he had his accident, slipping on water, falling badly and snapping his hip. “Where the ball meets the femur I’ve got three massive screws in my hip,” he says.
His injury and the pandemic brought a desire for change. During lockdown he started making bread at home in the South Bank area of the city, selling to friends and through Instagram.
People liked his loaves and that gave him the confidence to open his bakery. Paul also realised he could plan his own hours and sit down between loaves, whereas being a chef is more full on. “You’re on your feet all day for 14 or 15 hours,” he says.
Paul and Janet – who co-runs the York children’s theatre company Story Craft Theatre – have two sons, Vinnie, four, and Ernest, 19 months. Ernest was born eight weeks prematurely, with a hole in his heart and Down syndrome.
This made Paul look at life again. “There was a big moment when I found out what he’d gone through,” he says.
Vinnie and Ernest are in the name. The C&S stand for Cosgriff & Sons and Paul hopes to build something he can hand over one day. “They theoretically own half the business,” he says.
Although he was mostly a meat chef, he liked baking bread and this has now become
I enjoy doing it like I do it. I do it all by hand. I don’t use a mixer. I can’t afford one and don’t have space.