Minute on the clock: Darcie Maher, founder, Lannan

The former pastry chef at the Palmerston is to open her debut solo bakery later this month in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. She talks to Victoria Miller

 

You are a self-taught baker and pastry chef – what was that journey?

 

It’s always been the thing I wanted to do, ever since I was little. I left school when I was 15 and went straight into working in kitchens. The first place I worked at was the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Edinburgh, first as a chef and then I focused on pastry.

 

I then moved to Flour Water Salt in Macclesfield, where I was really shown the ropes with pastry making and laminating. There is something about lamination I just love and I decided that was what I wanted to pursue.

 

I really enjoy things that are time consuming and require a lot of attention. With pastry, you start making something three days in advance and, throughout each day, you have to do something to it up to the last day when you bake it. I find something very comforting about that process.

 

What was the decision behind leaving the Palmerston and setting up Lannan now?

 

I was part of the original team at the Palmerston, so that was back in August 2021. I had taken a break over the pandemic and I was back at my parent’s house in the Borders. The Palmerston gave me a chance to re-set and get back into baking and pastry making. When the opportunity came up to open my own bakery, I decided to go for it.

 

James Snowdon and Lloyd Morse [the Palmerston’s co-owners] were supportive of my decision and have helped with the set-up of Lannan so, in a way, they feel part of the Lannan journey.

 

I have always wanted to open a bakery but the only thing that stopped me from doing so were the unsociable hours. But I made the decision to just go for it anyway and I’m more used to the early mornings now.

 

What does Lannan mean?

 

It’s a Gaelic word that means ‘house’. My family are both Irish and Scottish. For me, baking is very much about comfort, nostalgia, home – it is something I did with my Scottish and Irish family. And the word itself, I really love it. Quite a lot of places in Scotland bear names which are difficult to pronounce so I really like the word Lannan for that reason.

 

What’s on the menu at Lannan?

 

While working at the Palmerston I developed an extensive menu. So for opening weekend, and because I’ve not been baking in Edinburgh for nearly half a year now, I want to put on all the favourites at the Palmerston, so I’ll do lemon meringue, croissant tarts and crème brûlée, which is one of the biggest sellers. There will also be quite a big sandwich menu and I’ll be making all the bread. The flour is all UK grain and I’ll be using flour from Shipton Mill and Wildfarmed. Fillings will be from places such as the Ham and Cheese Co and IJ Mellis, which is around the corner, so if we run out of anything, we can pop round. I also have a nice recipe for chocolate buttermilk and rye. It’s rich and savoury.

 

I’m trying to do everything as local as possible, so I will be getting all our butter, buttermilk and crème fraîche from the Edinburgh Butter Company and fruit and veg from Phantassie Farm in East Linton.

 

How have you found the bakery sector as a young woman?

 

The bakery sector is vastly different from working in kitchens. When I worked in kitchens, I had many issues with aggression, but I also started working in kitchens as a 16-year-old, which had its challenges.

 

It was a big eye-opener into how I want to run my own bakery and how I want to be as an employer and as a manager. The baking industry is a lot calmer than kitchens. There’s no service, and we make everything in advance. Also, work relaxes me. I love baking, I do it because it makes me happy, and I want all my staff to feel like that as well. It’s not meant to be stressful and nobody should feel uncomfortable or upset. I want to create a nice work environment, which is something that I haven’t always had in the past.

 

The bakery is backed by the Palmerston’s co-owners and other investors – what support, financial or mentoring have they given you? It’s been mainly financial; they’ve been helping me a lot with the set-up of the company but the bakery itself and every decision, from the aesthetics to the menu, the staff and the site itself, are up to me. I’ve got huge respect for the Palmerston and what they’ve set up there, so to have them as mentors, I feel very lucky.