About Us

OAST TO HOST was founded in 2011 by Claire & I through our shared experiences raising children with very specific dietary requirements including 1 coeliac.  My youngest daughter was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease when she was 14 months old (some 27 years ago!).  This proved to be a steep learning curve for the family - the GF market was very new, with precious little prepared GF food available. Having a coeliac daughter certainly sharpened the focus and as it happens she proved to have a good palate and an honest (bold!) approach to feedback!!

Determined to provide a nutritious and varied diet that the whole family could enjoy, I set out to recreate as best I could, with the then available ingredients, tasty gluten free alternatives to regular dishes.  This is easy to do in terms of fresh food but the challenge was on when thinking about some of those baked products that we all enjoy and take for granted such as bread, cakes, biscuits & tarts.

Through years of trial and error, reading & research, reliable recipes were developed and tweaked.

In 2011 we started the business, initially preparing sweet & savoury tarts, cakes & slices in our seperate homes.  We had stalls at 2 Farmers Markets, offering a variety of gluten free sweet tarts - we felt that not only was this format reasonably easy for customers to transport but we were confident that our gluten free pastry was undetectable as 'gluten free' - this was an exciting & unexpected revelation for our customers! The market proved to be hugely successful and in terms of a 'shop window' it provided us with instant feedback . . . . .

We went on to win 3 Great Taste Awards in 2013 securing government funding which allowed us to go from strength to strength with our prepared foods - we currently hold 9 awards including 5 Great Taste Awards. 2 of these awards are for the Pastry Flour in its own right.

Good quality gluten free pastry has been hard to find - having made award winning 'ready to roll' pastry and pastry based products, scones & slices for society events including Wimbledon, BBC Proms, Epsom Derby etc plus farm shops, delis, cafes and more, we wanted to be able to reach a wider market.

In order to do this, we developed 2 fabulous flours (Pastry & Cake), and it is the wider distribution of these flours that is the sole focus of OAST TO HOST today.

Our fabulous gluten & wheat free flours enable home cooks, Executive Chefs and manufacturers alike to be able to create their own delicious gluten & wheat free products - products that are suitable for EVERYONE to enjoy - after all, why should coeliacs miss out?!

Oast to Host Pastry Flour holds 2 awards in its own right and is a game changer for bakers at every level.  The delicate balance of flours and the individual quality of each component is critical to ensure the unique colour, taste and texture of the end result.  Here at the Oast we seem to have done things in reverse - pre Brexit we exported flour to Europe where it was enjoyed across the Alps, we now look to expand our presence in the UK wholesale market.  The flours are blended and packaged in the UK.

Our flours have surprised and delighted the likes of Prue Leith, Executive Chefs, manufacturers and home cooks not to mention Sally's coeliac daughter who has been a valuable critique!  

Gluten free or not, these flours are simple, speedy & scrumptious & to be enjoyed by all.

Sally

Co-Founder

Trade enquiries welcome via:  info@oasttohost.com