Kitty’s Kits crowdfundfunding
Past Real Bread Campaign ambassador Kitty Tait is on a mission to make learning to bake simple and accessible to all.
Update 8 February 2023: Having smashed the £7,500 target in just eight hours, the crowdfunding campaign went on to gain £16,666 of pledges from 432 backers. The kits are now available for homebakers to buy, while people baking in schools, food banks, prisons and other community settings can apply for free kits.
My name’s Kitty. I am the founder (and currently the only) employee of Kitty's Kits.
I left school at 14 after really struggling with my mental health. Then I started making Real Bread. It brought me so much joy that I decided to share it.
I’m sooo excited to share this with you all. After a year of making just-add-water Real Bread mixes by hand to give to schools, food hubs and community groups with the help of my awesome millers, Wrights, I’m doing a production run of 10,000 kits!
These kits (which contain just flour, yeast and salt) will be available on the Kitty’s Kits web shop and from other independent retailers. For every one we sell, we give one away – see below.
BUT I need your help, the first run of the kits!!
Crowdfunder rewards include baking bundles, kits, totes, baguette earrings and much more!
Whatever you can give I so appreciate it. Let’s Breaducate!
Breaducation
Kitty’s Kits gives free Real Bread classes and kits to schools, prisons, food banks and community groups in all their different shapes and sizes.
Why?
Because making Real Bread is great for our brains, our bank, our bodies and, I mean, who doesn't love fresh bread?
Making Real Bread feels intimidating, though, and while many of us want to try, we just don't know how or where to start.
What?
We give free kits, advice and other support to organisations wanting to teach and share the skills of Real Bread making with people in their community.
How?
Through either online or in-person workshops, we help people to become Breaducators to pass on bread making skills and knowledge. We then give Breaducators a free supply of Kitty's Kits to use in teaching people in their community, be that through a school, prison, social enterprise etc.
Our story
Although Kitty's Kits officially started in 2023, it really started a long time ago, I just didn't know it.
2018
After being an awful (and I mean AWFUL) baker, I discovered the no-knead, no-mess method, popularised by Suzanne Dunaway and (perhaps more famously) a genius baker called Jim Lahey. I made one loaf then another and another. They were not only easy to make but delicious! I can get a bit obsessive and, in an attempt to relieve our growing bread bin, I started giving the loaves away.
2019
We opened The Orange Bakery. This wasn't planned at all! I was just 15 but I knew that all I wanted to do was to get good Real Bread out to people. My Dad quit his job as a teacher to become my co-baker, we crowdfunded and opened our own bakery. I also became one of the 2019-21 batch of Real Bread Campaign ambassadors.
April 2022
Bloomsbury published our book called Breadsong. From the moment it came out, I got an influx of messages from people who had tried and loved the first recipe in the book, Miracle Loaf, made using the no-knead, no-mess method. The messages said things like "I'm 95 and had never baked a loaf in my life, now I'm never going to stop" and "my 5yr old can't tie his shoelaces but this morning he baked this focaccia!"
May 2022
This got me excited that I made 200 just-add-water Real Bread mixes and posted on Instagram that I was giving them out for free in exchange for feedback. It worked and people loved them!
July 2022
After months of trying to find someone to help me produce these kits, I eventually found Wrights, an 8th generation father and son run mill in Enfield. These guys are amazing! They agreed to make 1,000 kits for me, which I then labelled (by hand) and started to use for Breaducation.
October 2022
I went to work for a food hub and community kitchen in Portland, USA, where I taught Breaducation classes. I was also lucky enough to shadow Jacobsen (Batman) who taught me a lot about running a purpose-driven organisation.
January 2023
Launch of our crowdfunding campaign (see above) to pay for the first official run of 10,000 kits!
Next
Kitty's Kits are due to hit the market in February 2023!
Published Wednesday 18 January 2023
Real Bread Campaign: The Real Bread Campaign finds and shares ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet. Whether your interest is local food, community-focussed small enterprises, honest labelling, therapeutic baking, or simply tasty toast, everyone is invited to become a Campaign supporter.
