Time is an ingredient
Forty-eight hours for bread, three days for croissants. We don't shortcut either.
The hands behind the crumb
Crumbelle started as forty loaves on a market stall. Twelve years on, we're twenty-two bakers, pastry cooks and cake designers.
Since 2014
Our story
A bakery built one loaf at a time
We wanted a bakery where you could watch bread being made, ask questions and leave with something still warm.
Today Crumbelle runs a bakery café on Larkspur Lane, a cake studio in Mercer Yard and a kiosk at the station. We still shape every loaf by hand, laminate pastry on a cold marble bench and use the same sourdough starter we fed on that first market morning.
22Bakers & pastry cooks
1400Bakes a day
12Years of Hazel the starter
What we believe
Four rules on the bakery wall
Close to the field
Flour, eggs, milk and fruit from farms within an hour of the bakery.
Warm welcome
Everyone gets a sample, a smile and an honest recommendation.
Nothing wasted
Crumbs, croutons, the community fridge and a compost heap at Hollin Farm.
The process
Flour to shelf
Every country loaf follows the same 48-hour path.
- 0 h
Feed the levain
Our 12-year-old starter, Hazel, gets rye flour and warm water.
- 12 h
Mix & autolyse
Stone-milled wheat from Hollin Farm rests with water for an hour.
- 14 h
Stretch & fold
Four sets of folds by hand, thirty minutes apart.
- 18 h
Shape & retard
Shaped into baskets and slept in the cold overnight.
- 46 h
Score & bake
Into a 260 °C stone deck oven with a burst of steam.
- 48 h
On your table
Cooled for an hour, then onto the shelves by 7:00.
The team
Meet the bakers
Elodie Varennes
Founder & head baker
Tomasz Wirth
Bread lead
Amara Quist
Pastry chef
Noah Pellegrin
Cake designer
Our story so far
Twelve years, five chapters
- 2014
A market stall
Two bakers, one borrowed oven and forty loaves every Saturday.
- 2016
Larkspur Lane opens
A shop with a window onto the oven. The queue starts on day one.
- 2019
Pastry joins bread
Our first laminating table and the cardamom knot is born.
- 2022
The Cake Studio
A studio in Mercer Yard for weddings and celebration cakes.
- 2026
Pre-order & bikes
Online pre-order, three cargo bikes and a kiosk at the station.
Come bake with us.
Bread classes on the first Sunday of every month, and we're always hiring early birds.
