Rich chocolate éclairs, luscious cream doughnuts, vibrant lemon meringue pies and colourful cupcakes. Truth be told, when Irish Country Living first met Luke Creighan, owner of The Natural Bakery, we were a little distracted by the tantalising confectionery sitting behind him.

“Don’t worry, it’s not the first time I’ve had that reaction,” laughs the Dubliner.

It’s a Thursday afternoon and the bakery in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, is in full steam with a busy weekend ahead. However, what is distinctive about the bakery – which supplies bread and cakes to its 10 stores – is that there isn’t too much machinery about. There are of course industrial ovens and the cream is being whipped, but the ladies in their bakery hats are cutting open the éclairs by hand, applying generous scoops of cream themselves. It’s just how you would see your mother making cakes.

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Keeping it Natural

Of course, they are cakes so expect to see lashings of cream and spoonfuls of sugar. If you think the term natural refers to the whole sugar-free, dairy-free, wheat-free trend, you won’t get far here.

“These are treats to be enjoyed,” says Luke. “When we say natural, we’re using the best quality ingredients, real Irish cream. These are fresh cakes to be enjoyed the day you buy them. They aren’t full of improvers that will keep them in a plastic box for three weeks. And this comes across in the quality of the cakes and the reaction we get from customers.”

No bakery would be complete without some loaves and if the cakes are impressive, the bread brings it to a whole new level. They have over 45 varieties from pain de Champagne to sourdough with cranberry and even Polish roogalla bread. While the selection is impressive, it’s their wholemeal bread that is putting the natural into this Natural Bakery.

In their bid to really put a farm-to-fork stamp on it, Luke tells us they are milling their own whole wheat flour.

“It was something I was researching for a while and I tracked this stone mill down on the Austrian-German border,” says Luke.

“Everything else I came across was a big metal machine but that wasn’t what I wanted. Encased within this wooden frame, there are two stone circular stone mills, working in the traditional way.”

In fact, the wheat comes from a farmer within throwing distance of the factory in Rathcoole.

“Behind us, the farm has about 20 acres of spring wheat that will be harvested in September. This was specifically grown for us. Over the next 12 months, we will probably go through 80 tonnes.”

It’s bringing wholemeal bread to another level.

“The beauty of this machine is that there are sifters so we can adjust the milling process, making it either coarse or fine, depending on the bread being baked. Every bit of the wheat is used; we can even mill some flour for the cakes. In the future, we’re also hoping to sell our own flour so people can make their own bread at home. Wholemeal flour that is available to buy is quite fine but because we have different consistencies, it allows our bakers to experiment.”

A Pinch of Creativity

In fact, there doesn’t seem to be a set recipe book in the Natural Bakery.

“The thing is, I’m not a baker,” explains Luke. “My wife, now she is third-generation baker, her family had Lydon’s Bakery near Eyre Square in Galway. But my expertise is in retail, so I leave the bakers to experiment. A lot of the recipes have been developed as we went along. It’s not a case of pre-mixes coming out of a bag, it’s a bit of this, a bit of that. Most of the guys were working in bakeries where it was packaged bread and everything had to be followed to a T. This allows them to be creative and to take a bit of initiative. This pure wholemeal bread is a great example of that,” says Luke, as he slices into the loaf.

With a thick, heavy crust, the bread itself has lovely moisture. The focus can’t just be on brown breads though and Luke says the Irish still love their white loaf.

“Recently, I had someone ask me why our bread was burnt at the top. I don’t think they realised that’s how a good batch, a proper batch bread is baked.”

And even though white bread is nearly considered the enemy by foodies across the country, Luke says his sales have stayed strong.

“Perhaps there has been a fall-off in the supermarket sliced pans but batch sells well for us. It would probably be our second most popular bread, trailing just behind sourdough. Our honey and spelt bread is also a big seller – that has been our surprise product that has really flown off the shelf. I don’t know if it’s the look of it or because people can’t really get it anywhere else, but it has been a hit,” he says.

Spreading Beyond the Pale

Although The Natural Bakery now has 10 locations, the majority of them are in Dublin, but can more rural readers expect to taste their traditional baked products any time soon?

“Well our Naas store has worked out well so the only thing really stopping us at the moment is logistics for fresh deliveries. We can deliver to five shops within two hours in Dublin but maybe we’ll look at Newbridge in the future and work our way out, building a route that will work logistically for us.”

With a family connection to Tullamore, this may also be on the cards. In the meantime, Luke will be launching his traditional milling machine at the Taste of Dublin this weekend.

“This will be our first time at the event and the milling machine will be in action. We’ve grown a lot in the last three years and it does come down to the quality of ingredients, keeping it simple and natural. That I’m sure of.” CL

Taste of Dublin takes place in the Iveagh Gardens from 16 to 19 June. For tickets and information, log on to Dublin.tastefestivals.com