Jon needed a fresh role, so he started up a bakery

A FORMER telecommunications manager who was made redundant last year has found a new way of making dough - by opening his own city bakery.

Jon Wood spent 12 years working in the telecoms industry and several years previously in advertising, but was laid off from his firm last January.

Determined to start his own business, the 43-year-old used his loaf to turn his bread making hobby into a trade and tomorrow opens Bakery Andante at 352 Morningside Road.

Swapping 9-5 for 4am starts, Mr Wood will be the sole employee on weekdays, but has son Ethan, 11, and daughter Yesi, 8, to give him a hand on Saturdays.

He said: "I was worried at first when I lost my job, and there was an initial shock, but I'd dreamed of doing something else for years.

"It started off when my wife Rachel bought me a bread maker a couple of years ago. My mother used to make this incredible bread and I'd always wanted to try it out, and it kind of went from there.

"When I lost my job, I decided to turn my situation into an opportunity."

Opting to go into retail rather than wholesale, Mr Wood, who lives in Colinton, will use natural ingredients and insists on slow baking all of the bread he sells to enhance the flavour.

He used The Scottish Association of Master Bakers' test kitchens to practise his method and took professional tips from its trainers.

He said: "The majority of bread we eat is like widgets coming off an assembly line and is made very quickly. I'm only making 100 to 150 loaves a day. I make my bread slowly and I use high quality flours, so there is much more flavour.

"Turning a weekend hobby into a full-time bakery business has been a big learning curve but I have been very fortunate to receive excellent advice and support from bakers in and around Edinburgh."

Alan Clarke, chief executive of Scottish Bakers, said: "It is heartening to see new start-up businesses opening within the craft bakery sector."

Mr Wood added that he's excited about being able to put food - his own food - on the table again.

He said: "I think when I'm getting up at 4am part of me might miss my old job, with its coffee breaks and regular hours, but I'm excited about the businesses.

"Ironically it'll be my wife that'll be making the dough for some time, and there won't be any holidays for a while, but we're going to work hard to make it a success."