Hello, I am Leo - a passionate artisan baker. I sell freshly baked sourdough, breads, sausage rolls, pastries and speciality buns at market stalls in and around Sevenoaks, Kent. I use minimal, high quality ingredients including organic flours and zero artificial preservatives. All my products are baked with intention by me on the same morning they are sold - and that is the simple reason they taste better!

I also facilitate in-person and online workshops to help other people, like you, to start or continue baking. My baking journey has (and still is) changing my life and I'm passionate about inspiring and helping others to do the same.

Why I'm a baker at heart...

I was born and lived most of my life in Mozambique and when I was a boy, from about age 11, my job was to go and buy bread for my family’s breakfast. 

6am each and every day I set off on the 40 minute round trip to the local padaria. I loved those walks. Flip flops on my feet, walking through my community over the soft sand. The smell of fresh bread lured me all the way. 

I was a small boy, and there was often a queue at the bakery. It was a struggle to reach my coins high enough in the air at the busy counter, for the baker to take note of me and sort my order. “Des pães” or “10 bread rolls”. Back then it was 1 meticais per roll. The padaria ran a good business. I recall getting too much change back on a few occasions...they were too busy to count correctly. 

The walks back, with my bread bag full to the brim of warm rolls was always a pleasure. Sometimes I would stop to watch the football at the community pitch, other times, I was in a rush to get back home and eat. 

The bread was always the centre piece of our breakfast. Always enjoyed with a black sugary tea, sometimes we had powered milk to stir in too. Most days it was just bread and butter, but that taste combination and the texture of the bread was never a disappointment.

Fast forward 10 years or so I met my now wife, Amy, while she was volunteering in Mozambique. By 2016 I was arriving in the UK to start our new married lives together. There are so many things I love about the UK, but supermarket bread is not one of them. I began attempting to recreate that soft doughy bread from my homeland for our family to enjoy. 

Lockdown startup... 

At the beginning of January 2021, during the second UK lockdown, I started sharing my perfected freshly baked Mozambican-inspired loaves of bread with my neighbours.

The news (and smell) travelled fast and I quickly became inundated with requests and orders! Before I new it I was waking up at 3am everyday, mixing dough and baking loaves in our home oven before delivering them, still warm, on my way to my actual job. 

By the September, after 9 months, I quit my job completely and became a full time self-employed home-baker. I was baking and delivering to a growing number of local households as well as getting some initial wholesale enquiries from local businesses.

As the end of my first year approached I added my popular baguettes to the menu and was in the process of perfecting my sourdough skills. With the help of some amazing local businesses I was able to purchase a professional Rack Master oven and move into a small commercial space. 

At the beginning of my second year of baking my menu of products grew to include sourdough and cinnamon buns. With the additional help of a Crowdfunding campaign I was able to upscale my equipment and move into the larger premises I'm still based from today.

As Leo the Baker continues to unfold, I too unfold as a person. It is a blessing to be living out my purpose through baking and serving my local and online communities. 

"Our reward in life will be in exact proportion to our service or contribution"  Earl Nightingale.