Snape's bread has already had a few mentions in this blog, but I thought it was time I went to Woore (yes, pronounced war) to do a feature on the bakery itself. It's in a converted chapel (it doesn't look very promising from the outside).
Once your in the shop you're surrounded by bread, rolls, fruit pies and other confectionary.
Gordon Snape kindly showed me around the bakery. He told me he starts work at 3.0 a.m.! I asked him why he couldn't make the dough the night before and keep it cool overnight. He told me he didn't want to use chemical improvers, their bread is made from a blend of Canadian and English wheat, salt, yeast and vegetable oil and the famous Snape's touch!
I was about to ask if I could come early one morning to photograph him making bread, but he gave me a couple of photos (taken by someone called Jackie in 1996): 
I don't suppose the way they make bread has altered in the intervening years.
Their bread is also organic, they also do a Spelt loaf:
I remembered seeing a harvest wheatsheaf made by them on Radio Shropshire's website a few years ago, Gordon managed to show me one:
click here to see how it's made.
It's amazing how exciting something as simple as good bread can be. Not to mention a currant bun...
G P Snape & Sons
The Chapel Bakery
Audlem Road
Woore, Crewe
Cheshire
CW3 9RJ
Tel: 01630 647478
Email: snapesbakery@btinternet.com
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