‘The best part was seeing people, even from the doorstep': how a Scandi baker served its Harrogate regulars in lockdown

Inspired by his Norwegian grandma’s cooking, Paul Rawlinson opened his own bakery bringing a slice of the Nordics to Yorkshire. But forced to lock down just as he was about to expand, what does he think the future will hold?From serinakaker butter biscuits to cinnamon buns, Paul Rawlinson was raised on Scandinavian treats galore, without even realising that there was anything unusual about it. “We had a waffle iron, and that was very much a tradition on a Sunday afternoon,” he recalls. “I never really wondered why other people didn’t eat them.”Rawlinson, who grew up in Manchester, had his grandmother to thank for the Nordic influence in his upbringing – an influence that continues to have a big bearing on his life and work. Born in Stavanger in 1923, Liv Esther Baltzersen moved to England after meeting her future husband at the London Olympics in 1948, and lived the rest of her life there, mainly in the north-west. Yet she never lost touch with her roots and would celebrate her Norwegian heritage in all sorts of ways – not least through cooking and baking. “These Scandinavian things were just part of visits to grandma really,” says Rawlinson. “There was always Norwegian family visiting, or Norwegian cakes and biscuits on the table.” Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/shop-local-support-local/2020/jul/08/the-best-part-was-seeing-people-even-from-the-doorstep-how-a-scandi-baker-served-its-harrogate-regulars-in-lockdown #shop_local._support_local