*Finest

I had a fantastic shoot last week in one of London’s very best foodie haunts; Borough Market with pastry extraordinaire Justin Gellatly.

For those of you unfamilliar with Mr. Gellatly, he was the guy that set up & ran the St. John Bakery. After twelve years at one of London’s finest establishments, he has now set out his own stall (both figuratively & literally!) with new venture Bread Ahead under those famous green railway arches near London Bridge. He invited us down for a doughnut making masterclass- one of his signature pastries. We started out with a quick portrait session before Emma, my journalist rolled up her sleeves & got messy with the master.

One thing that surprised me straight from the off was how few ingredients were used (the very finest ingredients, I might add). After all what we were witnessing here was the processes to create London’s finest doughnut (yes they really are that good. Best in the world if you ask me).

The recipe starts out with the humble binding of flour & water before adding egg yolks, lemon zest, salt, sugar, yeast & a healthy girth of butter. This one is definately not for the calorie counters out there!

Those simple few ingredients are then folded by hand into a workable dough slab.

I’ve photographed countless chefs & bakers over the years & one thing that always resonates with those guys right at the top of their game like Justin here is their absolute passion for what they do. He would describe so enthusiastically each individual process.

From the kneeded slab, small doughballs were formed by tearing off measured chunks & rolling them out with the ball of your hand. He of course made it look effortlessly easy to do, but trust me, it is not! Emma’s first attempt ended up on the bakery floor…

Once all the doughballs are formed, they are left to rest in a process known as “proving”. What an utterly lovely word that is!

The proving stage allows the doughballs to rest & expand considerably ready for the fryer.

Justin brought the doughballs over to his custom built doughnut fryer- a serious piece of hardware! It ensures the doughnuts are completely seperated & allowed the space to all cook evenly.

Three minutes later, they rise out from their hot dip ready for filling.

They’re given a generous dusting of Tate & Lyle’s finest.

Before being delicately sliced open ready for filling.

And what a filling it is! A light, delicatly flavoured vanilla cream custard fit for a king.

He explained in some detail how delicate the outer pastry was at the beginning of the session, but it was only at this filling stage that it became so apparent. Just look at the difference between the two doughnuts below- one filled & one empty…

And that was that! Feast your eyes on London’s Finest Doughnut.

I was gratefully given a box of these lovelies to bring home, which my wife & I hapilly ate before handing a couple over the fence to Pauline, our neighbour. That night, she popped in for a cup of tea. There was one doughnut left but my wife & I were stuffed to bursting point so we gave it to her- she skipped out of our place gleefully singing “I’ve got the golden ticket, I’ve got the golden ticket!”. And that, ladies & gentlemen is just how good these doughnuts are…

Should you wish to try one (HIGHLY recommended!), you can find the Bread Ahead bekery’s stall at the Three Crown Square end of Borough Market doing a roaring trade.

ENJOY!