Changing perceptions one bake at a time

While more than 65 per cent of people with learning disabilities have a desire to work, only six per cent are in paid employment. The co-owners of a bakery that has recently moved from Long Ashton to The Park in Knowle West want to change this statistic.

Step and Stone makes mouth-wateringly moreish lavosh – a thin, crunchy Middle Eastern bread – all hand-made by bakers with learning disabilities. Their young trainees are taught how to measure out the flour, shape the dough, add ingredients like poppy seed and rosemary, and bake the flatbread in the oven.

Their lavosh is sold in shops across Bristol include Better Food, Chandos Deli and Windmill Hill City Farm Cafe, and the young people working in the bakery develop the skills needed to progress into mainstream catering.

Step and Stone is a community interest company run by Jane Kippax and Jane Chong, two like-minded friends and mothers of children with Down syndrome. The two Janes decided to combine their passion for high-quality food with a determination to change the public’s misconceptions about people with learning disabilities.

Local ingredients including flour from Shipton Mill in Gloucestershire and extra virgin cold-pressed rapeseed oil from Somerset go into making the lavosh.

“We really want the product to stand on its own two feet,” insists Jane Chong, explaining how as two friends with a passion for good food, they don’t want customers to buy their products out of condescending charity but because of its high quality.

The team proudly show off their Taste of the West award

In their newly relocated Knowle West home, the trainees are hard at work on a recent Friday morning.

The productive and optimistic atmosphere in the bakery is palpable, with India – an ex-trainee who has returned as a mentor – dexterously handling the dough and telling her colleagues about her upcoming poetry reading.

Another trainee grins away at the end of the production line, clearly loving his role as official taster, where he assesses the lavosh for quality control.

“Quite a lot of young people with a learning disability do not have much of an independent social life,” Jane Kippax tells Bristol24/7.

The friendly chatter drifting from table to table confirms that this social enterprise not only teaches trainees baking skills, but also prevents isolation through communal work.

As well as the classic lavosh, Step and Stone make an irresistible plenitude of other options, with smoky flavours of paprika or sesame seeds, depending on your craving. Their best-seller is rosemary and sea salt, which the bakery entered into the Taste of the West awards, winning three prizes.

Lavosh cooling off from the oven

Step and Stone began baking in Long Ashton Community Centre, where alongside four trainees, the two Janes started selling their wares in May 2017 before moving to Knowle West earlier this month.

In the future, the plan is to set up a cafe, where local ingredients will be used to showcase fresh recipes. This will allow an expanded work experience programme, teaching trainees how to cook more sophisticated dishes and how to wait tables as well.

“People with a learning disability often take a great pride in getting something right,” says Jane Chong. “I like to think that our recipe is quite simple, but there is an art to perfecting it.”

Both Janes want to show Bristol businesses that their young people are diligent, enthusiastic workers capable of employment. Although people with learning disabilities do often require more intense training, there is government financing available to accommodate this.

Jane Kippax suggests that it is really helpful if you can allocate a buddy to the person, “somebody who is sympathetic to their difficulties as a sort of internal job coach,” as once they have their confidence, people with learning disabilities are typically enthusiastic team-players with a strong sense of loyalty.

Two of Step and Stone’s trainee cohort, India and Tom, have already secured paid work since working at the bakery, and the delicious smells of lavosh drifting the oven indicates that this number will only grow.

Step and Stone are welcoming with open arms more young people to volunteer in their bakery. If you are interested in becoming one of their trainees, email welcome@stepandstone.co