FAQ – Alana Bakehouse

Everything is made in advance.

You can order our Family Loaf via WhatsApp or through the website. For cakes, special requests or questions, WhatsApp is usually the easiest way to reach us.

Because we're a small bakery, availability is limited each week.

Our bread is normally available for collection on Friday afternoons and Saturdays.

Exact collection times can vary from week to week, so we'll confirm the time with you after you order.

Yes.

Our everyday cakes and sweet treats are made to order and aren't limited to the bread collection schedule.

Message us on WhatsApp and we'll let you know what's available and arrange collection with you.

Payment can be made on collection by cash or card.

We're starting primarily with collection from Lismore by arrangement.

As Alana Bakehouse grows, we may introduce local delivery on selected days.

Simple. We don't particularly like it!

We'd rather bake the breads we genuinely enjoy eating ourselves.

Because we like putting things on our bread.

Big holes might look fantastic in a photograph, but they're not much help when your butter, jam or sandwich filling disappears through them.

We make practical family bread with a soft crumb that's designed for eating, not posing.

Because it's made by humans, not a factory machine.

We portion our dough carefully and give a weight range for our loaves, but handmade bread naturally varies a little. Sometimes you'll get a little more, sometimes a little less, but always within the stated range.

Very close, but probably never absolutely identical.

Temperature, fermentation and the simple fact that they're handmade can all create small differences. That's part of buying bread from a small bakery rather than a production line.

Because we're deliberately starting small.

We'd rather make one bread really well and consistently than launch with ten different varieties just because we can.

More breads will probably come, but we're in no rush.

Because it's meant to be family bread, not a luxury product.

We could probably charge more for a large, handmade loaf baked in small batches, but that's not really the point for us.

We want Alana bread to be something you can buy for sandwiches, school lunches, toast in the morning or alongside dinner, not something you save for a special occasion.

We also hope our Family Loaf becomes the way many people first discover Alana Bakehouse. Maybe you come to us for the bread, then one week decide to try some cookies, order a cake or discover something new we've started baking.

Of course, we still need to cover our ingredients, time and the cost of running a bakery, but we'd rather keep a fair price and have local families come back regularly.

Good bread shouldn't have to be fancy or expensive.

Keep it at room temperature in a bread bag or airtight container.

Our White Family Loaf is best enjoyed within around 3–4 days and is also suitable for freezing.

Absolutely.

If you don't think you'll finish the whole loaf while it's fresh, freezing some is a great option. You can even slice it first so you can take out only what you need.

As early as you can.

We deliberately make only a limited number of celebration cakes each week, so some dates may fill up quickly.

Send us your date, idea and what you're looking for and we'll let you know what's possible.

Sometimes!

It depends on what you'd like and what we're already baking. Some of our more detailed celebration cakes take several days to prepare properly, so those need more notice.

But there's no harm in asking.

You can absolutely send us a picture for inspiration.

We'll discuss what you'd like, but we'd rather make something in our own way than promise an exact copy of somebody else's cake.

Yes.

Celebration cakes can be made in different flavours, colours and styles. Tell us about the occasion and what you have in mind and we'll discuss what's possible.

Both have their place, but for many of our cakes, we recommend fresh cream.

Buttercream is very popular, but when you already have a sweet cake, adding a thick layer of sweet buttercream can make the whole thing quite rich. A couple of bites and you may already feel like you've had enough!

Fresh cream gives a lighter balance and lets the cake itself do more of the talking.

That doesn't mean we don't use buttercream. We do, especially when it's the better choice for the cake or design. But if you ask us which we'd rather sit down and eat a slice of?

Quite often, it'll be the one with fresh cream.

Yes.

We can decorate traybakes around seasons and occasions such as Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and birthdays.

Have another theme in mind? Ask us.

Absolutely, you can ask.

We don't promise we'll say yes to everything, though. We're deliberately keeping Alana Bakehouse small and manageable, so sometimes the answer might simply be: that's not something we make.

Sometimes we're fully booked. Sometimes there simply isn't enough time to make something properly.

And occasionally, we might just decide that what you're asking for isn't really what Alana Bakehouse does.

We'd rather politely say no than promise something we can't make well.

We try not to.

Our approach is based around familiar baking, simple ingredients and making things that taste good.

You can find ingredients and allergen information for our products where applicable, and you're always welcome to ask us.

Not as part of our regular range at the moment, but we'd like to in the future if there's enough local demand.

Rather than making gluten-free products and hoping they'll sell, we'd like to find out how many people locally would actually be interested.

You can join our gluten-free interest list and let us know what you'd like to see, whether that's bread, cookies, cakes or other bakes.

If we have enough interest, we can then plan dedicated batches and let everyone on the list know when we're baking them.

Please note that our bakery also handles ingredients containing gluten and other allergens. If we introduce gluten-free products, we'll clearly explain how they're prepared and what we can safely offer.

Allergen information is provided for our products where applicable.

Because different allergens are handled in our home bakery, please speak to us before ordering if you or someone you're ordering for has a food allergy. We'll explain what we can and cannot safely accommodate.

Yes, absolutely! 

Although Alana Bakehouse is a home-based bakery, food safety is something we take very seriously.

Our bakery has been inspected and approved, and we also hold HACCP food-safety certifications.

We follow strict food-safety procedures covering hygiene, allergen management, cleaning, traceability and safe food handling.

This means you can enjoy our homemade bread and cakes knowing they're prepared with care, in a clean and food-safety-conscious environment.

Definitely.

We're deliberately starting Alana Bakehouse with a small range so we can get things right before adding more.

We already have plenty of ideas, including scones, cinnamon rolls, more breads, pastries and other sweet treats, and you'll see new things appearing as we grow.

We'd rather introduce them one at a time when we're ready than put everything on the menu from day one.

And if there's something you'd really like to see us make, tell us! What people locally actually want will help shape what we bake next.

Potentially, yes.

We're starting small, but we're happy to talk to local cafés, shops, pubs and other businesses that might like to stock something from Alana Bakehouse.

We're not trying to become a large wholesale bakery, so we'd only work with a limited number of local partners where it makes sense for both of us.

If you run a local business and have something in mind, send us a message and let's have a chat.

Yes, we'd be very happy to talk about it.

If you're organising something for a school, GAA club, sports club, community group or local event, we may be able to prepare a larger batch of bread, cookies, cakes, traybakes or other treats and arrange delivery locally.

Because we're a small bakery, we'll need a little notice and it will depend on what you're looking for and what we can realistically bake that week.

Tell us about your event, roughly how many people you're catering for and what you have in mind, and we'll see what we can do.

Maybe one day, but that's not the goal right now.

We're deliberately starting small. We want to enjoy baking, get to know what people locally actually want and grow naturally from there.

If that means more bread, more baking days or a few new favourites in the future, brilliant.

For now, small suits us just fine.