Red Door Bakery, Croydon

Mmmmm. I breathe in deeply, inhaling the irresistible smell of bread baking and sugar caramellising. Does anything smell better than this?

I’m in the kitchen at Red Door Bakery in Croydon, watching owner & baker Gareth Grierson blowtorching crème brulee tarts. First, the tart is sprinkled with sugar, then Grierson leisurely torches it until the sugar blisters and caramelises. It’s a process that he repeats three times for each tart to ensure that the toffee layer is thick and crisp.

Opening 18 months ago, Red Door Bakery was born out Gareth and Emma Grierson’s passion for good bread, pasty and coffee. At Red Door, they pride themselves on using top quality ingredients, making everything from scratch, and only selling food made fresh each day. This sometimes results in surplus food, which they donate to OzHarvest, who in turn provides that food to charities supporting disadvantaged Ausralians.

The Grierson’s artisan baking techniques and commitment to using quality ingredients including Belgian butter, Laucke flour milled in Strathalbyn, and SA angus beef means that their food isn’t cheap, but then, you’re getting something a whole lot better than a loaf of Home Brand or a dodgy service station pie.

Their daily menu includes sour dough, panini, chorizo and caramelised onion bread sticks, danish pastries, fruit muffins, pain au chocolate, croissants, Belgium chocolate brownie, pizza slices and beef and chicken pies.

We’ve been up since 6am thanks to the dynamic duo (Ms 5 Year Old and Master Toddler) so I’m in desperate need of food. We choose a rhubarb danish and a SA Angus Beef pie to share since in theory this is a snack (although my snacks have a way of turning into full-blown meals).

I’ve been a sucker for pink rhubarb ever since I watched a Yorkshire friend make a rhubarb crumble some twelve years ago. Red Door’s rhubarb danish is so glossy and beautiful it feels a shame to eat it. But eat it we do, with much sighing and moaning. Master Toddler, who seems to have developed his mother’s sweet tooth, keeps grunting for more, even as he is still chewing.

The Angus beef pie is delicious. Chunky braised meat, so tender it is falling apart, is enveloped in a light, flaky, pastry. We’re given some of Red Door’s chilli jam to try with it and both pie and jam quickly disappear. The chilli jam is ferociously hot and extraordinarily good. Mr Hungry Australian immediately asks if we can try making it at home. I’m excited – a new cooking project!