An Ayrshire baker is still trying to scrape himself off the ceiling after bagging his biggest-ever haul of coveted awards.
David Gall received three accolades from the World Championship Scotch Pie Awards out of 11 categories.
David @ Brownings – not to be confused with his brother John’s Brownings the Bakers – entered seven sections, winning gold for their festive pie and silver for their chicken, smoked ham and leek pie and their savoury steak mince and haggis pie.
And what makes the achievement even more incredible is that David has just one small oven between his two shops in Galston and Newmilns – cooking up to 600 sausage rolls a week before a pie or pastry is even thought of.
David, who has had his shops for 18 years, told the Kilmarnock Standard: “It’s brilliant, absolutely fantastic. It’s the best we’ve ever done in these awards.
“We’ve had awards before, this is the first time we got three; a gold and two silvers.
“To think we put seven products in. We are a small independent and I have one small oven. It’s crazy. We make 500 to 600 sausage rolls a week, pies, pastries – it all gets made in that wee oven.
“To do that from a wee place against the big places with technical know-how, it’s a good effort getting three out of seven.”
He added: “It’s hard work but it’s also things like looking at the ingredients within our pies.
“Everything is sourced as local as possible. My milk and cream is from Mossgiel, fruit and veg is from Grants of Prestwick, we try to keep it all local, and we find that there is the difference in the quality of the product.
“I think it’s something everyone should be doing, especially in this day and age. We need to try and grow our own community back to pre-pandemic levels.
“If we can do that by helping each other out then so be it, everyone needs to club together.”
David admits working through the Covid pandemic and the associated restrictions over the past two years has been tough.
He added: “To a certain extent we’ve been lucky, we were able to stay open all through.
“But I had to shut one of the shops and furlough my staff. My wife and my daughter helped me but it was just us for nearly five months during the first lockdown.
“We had to adapt and work six days, 60-plus hour weeks, as well as going out after work and delivering to pensioners. We put some supplies in a pack for them and did it for free delivery. It was bloody hard work but I don’t want to do it again.”
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