Liz Grieve previously ran a very popular tearoom which was supplied by none other than Greencity. Although the tearoom is no longer running Liz has been keeping very busy indeed. She runs a not for profit organisation called Doughlicious which embraces the slow food movement and empowers people to bake their own bread. When Liz saw on social media that we were looking for recipients for our donation she put herself forward and we were delighted to offer her a donation!
1.Tell us a little bit about how Doughlicious got started.
Doughlicious was started in Jan 2019 to create a space where people could come and learn to make a simple sourdough bread, create a pizza, or rolls- whatever appeals most to them! We are supported by The Stove Network which is an arts charity that supports creative placemaking, helping communities enact positive change in the places they live. They provide us with the place where we meet and learn to make dough. My vision is to inspire and empower people to make bread especially people on low incomes or with food insecurity. Doughlicious provides a space for people to learn, share skills and experiences, and offers opportunities for members of the community to get together and promote a sustainable grain economy by using Scottish grain in our dough.
2. What sort of people are involved in your group and what do they do?
.The group are intergenerational and multi-cultural. We meet on the third Wednesday of the month. We can accommodate up to 34 people come to the workshop event. Coffee is available as we meet in the cafe space. We discuss how the evening will pan out, the recipe and method we will be using and then we make dough. We have videos to watch which can be accessed online. We mix and develop the dough. We use the Elaine Food Bod method. The biggest discussion is on how to care for your starter- the more established members share their tips and tricks. It's always a lively discussion. We chat about flour choices, recipes and different methods, to make your bread in a tin or open on a baking tray. People take their dough home to ferment overnight and bake the following day. As we became established, we were invited to do community events. We have a small pizza oven which we purchased with a small community grant. At the start of the pandemic I was invited to take part in a Community Baking project run by Nourish Scotland and Scotland the Bread in 2020 and that was followed by the Flour to the People project, run by Scotland the Bread, in 2021. Both projects were to bring making bread skills to people in areas of multiple deprivation and food insecurity. The Flour to the People project was held at Summerhill Community. It is situated in an area with food insecurity and deprivation. It has a food pantry and gets food from Fareshare. The Stove doesn't have an oven to bake bread so I applied to The Edinburgh Bakers Trust and got money towards a small oven which was placed in Summerhill Community Centre. We have created a bakery space and volunteer there on a Monday. We fundraised for a spiral mixer. We make bread for the community pantry and Young At Heart Group every Monday. We make our bread with Scotland The Bread flour. We make a wholemeal loaf, a cheese bread, a fruit loaf, a white loaf, and pizzas. We needed a bigger oven, so we applied for another grant. We got a second hand RM2020 Rackmaster oven which was overhauled and delivered by the owner Campbell McFarlane in June 2023. Having the Spiral Mixer and new oven has been a real game changer for us.
3. What kind of work do you do within the wider community?
We are part of the Open Hoose project run by The Stove Network. They work with different groups in the community and connect us together. Local people gave us small donations which we put towards the cost of the mixer and new oven. In May we ran a workshop in Stranraer for young people to learn to make bread and pizzas They are planning on opening a youth cafe. In July we participated in a local gala and made over 100 pizzas with children. We also ran workshops with " New Scots " where people learned to make bread and pizzas. And in August we took part in a Market of Possibility event in the local shopping centre promoting what we do and giving people the opportunity to make dough.
4. What challenges does Doughlicious face as a group?
The main challenges we face are the increasing costs of our ingredients! We would love to increase our bread output and have ingredients to run more workshops for people in our community. We would also love to provide more basic baking kits for people. We have a small amount of money given to us by the Edinburgh Bakers Trust which we are using at present.
5. What's next for Doughlicious?
We are so grateful for the very generous donation from Green City. It will allow us to continue and increase our bread making for the food pantry at Summerhill Community Centre We will be able to run more workshops for people with food insecurity and provide flour to people on low incomes who come to club evenings. We are also in the process of drawing up a constitution for the group.
6. Who inspires you to do what you do?
We are members of a small WhatsApp group for people who use Scottish Flour. They are a lovely group of micro bakers. There's lots of chat and sharing of tips and information. I believe they all use Green City!
Thanks to Liz at Doughlicious for answering our questions! You can find out more about Doughlicious and the wonderful work they do at www.doughliciousdumfries.co.uk
