Welcome to Get Baked, our series dedicated to a day in the life of a baker. From the 4am starts to hauling sacks of flour into the mixer, baking is hard and physically taxing work, but can be creatively rewarding. We talk to bakers and pastry chefs about why they live for the rise.

NB: Toad Bakery has changed its name from Frog Bakery following a legal challenge with Adam Handling, owner of The Frog restaurant in Covent Garden.

Toad Bakery is not a blink and you’ll miss it type of place. The first thing you'll see is the queues spilling out of the black shop front even before they've even opened their doors, which is testament to their reputation. It’s a destination bakery, where punters far and wide travel to catch a whiff of freshly baked bread and in hope of nabbing some of their glistening pastries from the towering stacks on display. 

The neighbourhood bakery straddles the Peckham and Camberwell area and is the passion project of two bakers Oliver Costello and Rebecca Spaven. Between them, the duo have an impressive CV having worked for the likes of Ottolenghi, Hawksmoor, Bread by Bike and Fortitude Bakehouse, among others. After a whirlwind year-and-a-half lockdown friendship and a successful pop-up at Lambeth's Platform Café, the pair decided to open a bricks and mortar. They set up a crowdfunder to help kit out their new site and within a month they had raised £15,000.

“We had high hopes to get a delivery bike and cool equipment, but that went out the window because we massively under budgeted and that was really scary,” Spaven says. “Eventually, we did most of the work ourselves and ended up having to spend the money on cabling, plumbing and equipment, which was less sexy but essential. We spent months agonising over raw materials and the layout, but I think it’s paid off because the bakery works really well.”

The bakery spans across two floors with bread upstairs and pastry downstairs. From the beginning, it was important for the pair to have an open plan bakery where staff can properly engage with customers and see people’s reaction to the team producing goods, trying and buying products.

“I can’t believe we’ve only been open in April, but we’re so proud of this project and it’s everything we wanted to achieve,” Costello explains. “The aim for the bakery is for it to be a testing ground for new ideas.” 

The offering is a selection of familiar and nostalgic classics such as sourdough bread, morning buns, and sandwiches, alongside inventive creations such as spicy beef claws (slow braised beef shin with chipotle in adobo, smoked cheddar and sesame) and cross-laminated cornbread croissant with a polenta, corn, cheddar, herbs and jalapeño filling that enticingly oozes out the sides.

“We’re keen to use intentionally-sourced ingredients, high-welfare dairy and UK-grown grains such as Oxfordshire-based Wessex Mill, Surrey wholemeal flour from a small-scale miller called Mike Pinard and interesting heritage wheat and rare varieties of grains from Fresh Flour in Devon,” Spaven says. “We’re looking to source more locally for vegetables and dairy have been really liking Shrub Provisions and Ted’s Veg.” 

Suppliers that Toad Bakery loves on REKKI: Albion Fine Foods Ted’s Veg Flock & Herd Butchery Fresh Union Ren's Pantry

Just as things were on the up and Toad bakery were starting to make a name for themselves, the duo landed in unexpected legal hot water. In July, Eater London reported that Toad Bakery were ordered to rebrand after potential confusion with another restaurant with the same name, although their frog-shaped logo, will remain.

“Legally, we’re not allowed to say anything because we’d get into hot water, but let’s just say it wasn’t a particularly welcome experience,” Costello explains. “We wanted to fight it, but we couldn’t do anything and everything’s been resolved now. I know it sounds cheesy, but I felt like we’ve come away feeling a bit stronger than we did before.”

Since the cease and desist news broke, the local community and fans of the bakery rallied behind the pair with messages of support and offers of financial legal help. Instead, they tried to resolve this on their own and refused to do another crowdfunder.

“The community had already done so much to help us get off the ground and we couldn’t ask them for more. They've been super supportive and amazing,” Spaven says. “A lot of money can be spent making sure that a trademark is completely watertight and that's what's happened in this case. It’s frustrating and it happened out of the blue, but we live and learn. I wish I took my own advice and waited a year before I got a bloody frog tattoo.”

After the naming fiasco, the bakery has unexpectedly become busier than ever. Queues have doubled snaking around the pavement and out onto the road, products sell out before midday and the team try their best to keep up with the demand making baked goods throughout the day. There’s plans to expand the menu and work with chefs and bakers on special collaborations later down the line, but right now they’re toiling away focusing on themselves. 

As for the new name? “Just know we’re keeping it amphibious,” Costello laughs. “We’ve got new T-shirts and everything. Watch this space.”

Toad Bakery, 44 Peckham Rd, London SE5 8PX