A Moment with Jenny Moseley

This week we sat down with Jenny Moseley, founder of Wood Street Bakery to discuss her story and the delicate balance between high pressure craftsmanship and patient, community driven growth.

When Covid altered the culinary landscape, Jenny took her extensive expertise as a former Head Pastry Chef in Belgravia directly to the streets of Walthamstow. 

What started as an intimate weekly endeavour delivering handcrafted treats by bicycle quickly transformed into Wood Street Bakery, a cherished local fixture built on patience and genuine connection. 

Let’s get into it.

What inspired you to open Wood Street Bakery?

Wood Street Bakery began as a lockdown project. I lost my job as Head Pastry Chef at a restaurant in Belgravia during Covid, so I started baking from home and delivering freshly baked pastries around Walthamstow by bicycle. Every Monday I'd announce that week's baked good, bake it fresh on Saturday morning, then spend the day cycling orders to people's doors.

It became about much more than pastries. During a time when people felt isolated, it gave us a way to connect. The response from the local community was incredible, we sold out every week, and there was such genuine excitement and support. When a shop became available on our local high street, it felt like a sign that we should take the leap. Five years later, we're still here.

When you first opened, what was the specific feeling, beyond just great food, that you wanted people to experience the moment they pushed open your door?

From the beginning, it was important that the sense of community I experienced during those weekly deliveries carried through into the bakery. Our customers aren't just customers, they're our neighbours, our regulars and, in many cases, our friends. We wanted everyone to feel genuinely welcome.

We also wanted people to experience the joy of eating something that had been made by hand just a few hours earlier. That's why we still make everything on site and bake fresh every morning. It's never just about buying a pastry, it's about enjoying something that's been crafted with care.

Baking is a unique blend of rigid science and intuitive art, dictated entirely by time and temperature. How has adapting to the slow, uncompromising rhythm of fermentation changed your perspective on running a business in a fast-paced world?

Baking constantly reminds you that some things simply can't be rushed. You can organise, prepare and work efficiently, but fermentation and good pastry happen in their own time.

Running a bakery means balancing that patience with the intensity of a busy service. You're constantly switching between careful craftsmanship and a fast-paced environment. It's taught me that quality is worth protecting, even when everything around you is telling you to move faster.

How do you find your inspiration for seasonal menus?

We work closely with our fruit and vegetable supplier to see what's truly at its best throughout the year. We want to use produce when it's naturally at its peak, not only because it tastes better, but because it's a more sustainable way of cooking and baking.

From there, we build pastries around those ingredients. British berry & stone fruit season is always a favourite, and I love finding ways to celebrate whatever nature is giving us at that particular moment.

What continues to motivate you?

Bringing a little bit of joy to someone's day is incredibly motivating. It's amazing how something as simple as a warm pastry or a really good cup of coffee can brighten someone's morning.

Creatively, I'm always inspired by new ideas. I love developing new pastries, from the first spark of an idea through to seeing it in the counter and watching customers enjoy it. That never gets old.

Is there a specific pastry or loaf that took you months of heartbreak and trial-and-error to perfect, and what did that process teach you about your own resilience as a baker?

Croissants probably look like one of the simplest things in the bakery, but they're actually one of the most technically demanding. Every stage matters, and tiny changes in temperature, humidity or even the flour can affect the final result.

Even after years of making them, we're still refining and improving. That's one of the things I love about baking, you never really finish learning. It teaches patience, resilience and the importance of striving for perfection while accepting that every day is a little different.

Moving from baking as a personal passion to managing production schedules, staff, and a busy counter is a massive shift. What was the steepest learning curve you faced when stepping into the role of a founder?

Managing people has definitely been the biggest learning curve. As a founder, you become responsible not only for the business but also for the people within it. You carry everyone's worries while often having very few places to take your own.

I'm incredibly lucky to have supportive friends and family around me. Balancing the wellbeing of the team with the realities of running a business isn't always easy, but it's one of the most important parts of the job.

The life of a baker requires an entirely different relationship with the clock. While the rest of London is sleeping, your day is already peaking. What is the most magical, unseen part of the early morning shift that the daytime customers never get to experience?

There's something really special about those early hours before London wakes up. The bakery is quiet apart from the mixers, the ovens and the smell of fresh pastries baking. It's peaceful - a calm before the London storm.

If you aren't the one doing the baking, what does your perfect, slow Sunday morning look like? Whose pastries or coffee are you buying, and where are you taking them?

It's rare that I don't have some work to do, so a slow Sunday morning with my husband and our one-year-old is something I really treasure. We're spoiled for choice with brilliant bakeries in Walthamstow, so we'll often stay local and wander the neighbourhood. If we fancy venturing a little further, we'll stroll along the canal towards Hackney or meet friends for brunch. It's the simple moments together that help me switch off.

Bakers often have a deep appreciation for beautiful utility. Is there a specific heirloom tool, a piece of ceramics at home, or a worn-in apron that holds an immense amount of sentimental value to you?

I have a beautiful Tuscan rolling pin made from olive wood that I absolutely love. It's extra long, making it perfect for rolling pastry, and it's one of those tools that's both incredibly practical and beautifully made. It reminds me that the simplest tools are often the best.

When you take a break from the bakery, where is on the top of your must-visit list?

I try to escape to the South of France at least once a year. Being by the sea, eating incredible food and slowing the pace down is the perfect antidote to the pace of life in London.

One of my favourite rituals is getting to the local bakery just as the sun is rising, picking up fresh pastries and a flask of coffee, then heading down to the beach. There's nothing better than an early morning swim in the sea, followed by a warm pastry and coffee.

Nice is one of my favourite places. There are some amazing local restaurants, the food is fresh, simple and full of flavour, and there are so many fantastic bakeries and galleries to explore. I always come back feeling inspired.

We love giving our readers recommendations. What are your favourite spots for a celebratory meal in the city?

One of my favourite places is Polentina in Bow. It's a tiny Italian restaurant tucked inside the Apparel Tasker garment factory, founded by Sophia Massarella. The food is beautifully seasonal, deeply rooted in regional Italian cooking and always full of flavour. It's the kind of place where every dish feels thoughtful, and it's somewhere I always recommend.

Beyond the flaky layers of perfected croissants and the comforting aroma of fresh morning coffee lies a foundational truth: genuine hospitality is rooted in care. Jenny Moseley’s journey proves that taking the time to honour traditional techniques can transform a simple bakery into an enduring sanctuary. 

Whether she is crafting seasonal menus around peak British produce or drawing inspiration from tranquil sunrises in Nice, her dedication to quality continues to brighten mornings across East London and beyond.

Image credit: Adam Isfendiyar, Fiona Millner, Owen Richards