Kintore has a powerhouse baker residing in its village, going by the name of Danielle Walbrugh.
The South African born mum of four has two university degrees, has lived in three different continents and is now making leaps and bounds with her baking business, The Raw Scullery.
Danielle formerly ran The Bakehoose in Insch alongside her father before it shut up shop back in 2019.
Now, she’s enjoying putting family first whilst baking batches of bagel bombs from her home kitchen.
The sweet and savoury filled pastries are The Raw Scullery’s star offering and people can’t get enough of their irresistible gooey-ness.
We talked to Danielle to find out what all the fuss is about.
Have you always been a keen baker?
I’ve always had a passion for baking and pastry making; it’s fascinating the things that you can come up with. My mother’s side of the family has Jewish heritage, so I’ve often had Jewish pastries and bagels, which I love. I used to bake with my mother and my grandmother. I’m trying to pass on the skills I learned from them to my kids too. It’s all self-taught – I’ve not had any culinary education.
When did the idea for The Raw Scullery first arise?
Originally, The Raw Scullery was a blog I started in Australia when I lived there six years ago. My health was deteriorating at the time, so I started going on paleo diets. I love old school sweets and chocolates like Mars Bars and Snickers, but sugar was my worst enemy. So, I was trying to find a way to make these things in a healthier way. I started making things like raw, vegan Twix fingers and frozen, nut-based cheesecakes.
When I came back to Scotland in 2016, I was living in a village called Oyne with my dad. We decided to open up The Bakehoose in Insch three years later. It didn’t last long unfortunately – I was heavily pregnant at the time and we closed it down in mid-November the same year. My dad retired since he was in his 60s and I stayed at home and had my daughter.
Thankfully, you didn’t stop baking for good. How have things changed now you’re baking at home?
After I shut down the bakery in Insch, people asked if I was still baking and made some of the things that I used to, which slowly built things up again. Now, with The Raw Scullery, it’s much more stress free and I feel a lot better baking at home. I invested wisely in an amazing Rangemaster oven which has loads of space. I’ve got a wee portion of my kitchen kitted out for all my baking and food prepping – it’s perfect! I get up at the crack of dawn while everyone’s sleeping and everything’s baked by the time they’re up for breakfast.
Tell me all about The Raw Scullery’s signature bagel bombs.
My bagel bombs are really popular. I came up with the idea for them a few years ago. I had bagel dough and was just toying with the idea of stuffing the dough with different fillings, which is how they came about. The first main ingredients I tried were cheese, meat and anything gooey. I’m always trying to think of different fillings depending on the seasons and which flavours are best.
Recently, people have been loving the Biscoff bagel bombs. They’re really sweet and rich, but also very nice. Another popular flavour just now is bacon, brie and cranberry. I live just down the road from Dossett Butchers in Kintore and source my bacon from there, which is amazing. I do still love to make frozen desserts, vegan treats and French pastries, but they’re much more time consuming. I keep those for once in a blue moon.
What makes your bagel bombs different from anything else in the north-east at the minute?
It’s the versatility of them. You can have them savoury or sweet. Everyone loves bagels and I think there’s a craze for things like bagel bombs at the minute. There’s a lady who does bomb donuts in Aberdeen as well which are so good. I guess I just thought of a different way of stuffing pastry!
With The Raw Scullery picking up popularity, do you sell to local businesses around Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire?
It’s just been a hobby baking from home, but I didn’t expect it to pick up popularity again. It’s all come on in leaps and bounds since lockdown as I think people have become more focused on local people and produce. I deliver to Orka Café in Aberdeen as well as various places around Aberdeenshire, including Bare in Ellon which recently opened its new shop. At the moment, I’m still a one man show, so I prefer not to have excessively big orders, but around 50 or 60 bagel bombs per order is ideal. I get through a couple of these a week.
Do you source ingredients locally?
I like using locally milled flour up in Golspie. There’s a mill up there that mills quite a lot of grain. As well as Dossett Butchers, there’s also Angela at Hattoncrook Deli, which has award-winning pies. I sometimes user her meats in my chuck steak fillings, which are really nice. I do source locally as much as possible.
What have you learned about yourself on your baking journey so far?
The human body is capable of a lot of things! Having babies, looking after four kids, getting up at 4am and absolutely killing it through 90 bagel bombs in around five hours… if you’ve got the right mindset and something positive to work towards, you can do it.
Future plans?
I do have plans to expand, but not until my youngest daughter is at least four or five. I’m quite happy at the slow, chilled pace at the moment. I’ll keep making loads of bagel bombs and other cool things. I’ve seen a lot of horsebox conversions into street food stalls recently and I’d love to sell decent coffee and bagel bombs from one of them. But for now, where I am, I’m chilled.
