The red brick Kiama Uniting Church Manse, on the corner of Manning and Bong Bong Streets which once housed the Kiama Men’s Shed, is set to sell you your daily bread.

A DA has been lodged for Slow Dough - a new café and bakery, specialising in sourdough breads, sweet and savoury treats made from local and seasonal ingredients.

Richard and Lucy King from Gerringong are getting excited about realising their vision.

“Our idea is to slow down and understand the process that goes into creating beautiful sourdough bread while also slowing down in this incredible place we call home, to bring people together around food and bread,” says Richard.

“We want to be responsive to what’s available seasonally and locally. I dream of producers dropping off produce at our doorstep regularly,” he says.

Lucy, Aria and Richard King outside what will become Slow Dough

During COVID the couple, who lived in Victoria, travelled north to visit relatives. But Sydney, then Victoria, went into lockdown and they found themselves on the South Coast.

“We got ‘stuck’ on the South Coast, fell in love with it and spent all that time here scheming how we could come back to live here,” says Lucy, who is a retail sustainability consultant.

“We have always loved food, we’ve always loved having people in our home and cooking up big beautiful meals. At the beginning of COVID, everyone picked up a hobby and ours was making sourdough.”

The Kings perfected their baking during COVID

“I wasn’t even eating bread until I experienced good sourdough and then started making my own,” Richard, a corporate consultant, says.

“Quality, well fermented sourdough is very digestible and can unlock huge nutritional benefits.

“We were making lots of bread and dropping it off on the doorsteps of our friends and family. Eventually they asked if they could buy it. And that was the spark.”

The couple and young daughter returned to Victoria, sold up, worked remotely for some time and began planning Slow Dough.

Now they are close to realising their vision.

“We worked with the architect to understand how we can open up the space in this cottage to celebrate the production and craftmanship of making sourdough,” says Lucy.

“You will be able to see straight through to the kitchen, see tomorrow’s bread being shaped and today's bread coming out of the oven. Pastries will be prepared in the pastry room behind glass doors.

“There will be a wraparound pavilion and ramp up to the entrance with a bigger second entrance facing Bong Bong St and tables outside on the grass.”

The custodian of the building, the Uniting Church, is keen to open up their space to the broader community – they hold the Kiama Farmers’ Markets here when it is too wet for Coronation Park - and is very supportive of the King’s vision.

The Kings believe that there are many opportunities for collaboration and innovation in the future.

“We do think there are a lot of opportunities,” Lucy says.

“But to begin with, we will focus on what we do and we will do that well. Then from there, we are keen to collaborate and innovate in any way to bring people together. It’s all about bringing people together. That will make us really happy.”

Slow Dough is looking forward to a spring opening, “Although we still have a long journey ahead of us,” says Lucy.

The 48 Manning Street DA is open for public comment until April 24 on Council's DA Tracker.

Follow them on Facebook and Instagram on @slowdoughbythesea