Each batch of croissants at Blacksmith Bakery takes three days, Daily Hive reported in 2017. The dough rests overnight. Then butter gets folded in, and it rests again before it ever sees the oven.

That kind of patience comes from Stephan Schigas. He's the chef who co-founded the Fort Langley bakery with his wife, Bernice Farah.

From Langley to Covent Garden

Stephan grew up in Langley and did his pastry apprenticeship here, Daily Hive reported. He moved to London in 1998. There he was head pastry chef at the Michelin-starred Zafferano, working alongside Giorgio Locatelli, and he also worked at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the bakery's website says.

In 2003 he opened his own restaurant, The Red Room Bistro. He sold it in 2006 "due to an ever expanding family," he writes on his LinkedIn profile. In 2010 the couple moved to the Fraser Valley to raise their three young children.

A bakery on the blacksmith's lot

Back in B.C., Stephan taught pastry at the Pacific Culinary Institute in Vancouver. Then in late 2014 he and Bernice opened Blacksmith Bakery on Church Street, on the site of Reid's Blacksmith Shop from around 1910. A plaque sits outside the front door, with a time capsule underneath meant to be opened in 50 years.

"It has a village feel to it, there's such a sense of community," Stephan told Daily Hive. "I also felt there was a need for our store out here," he said.

"We're not Starbucks"

The line has been part of the deal for a long time. "We're trying to work on that," Stephan told the Vancouver Sun in 2017, after the bakery had doubled its space by moving into the unit next door. He keeps the coffee classic on purpose. "We're not Starbucks," he said.

He keeps the sugar down too. "With all of our pastry recipes, we try to not use too much sugar," he said. The Victoria sponge is the plain proof. "It's just some sponge, some jam and some cream." One visitor said it had "just the perfect lightness and crumb!"

Sixty hours of gingerbread

Stephan likes a project. For Christmas 2020 he built a gingerbread copy of the Fort Langley Community Hall, with isomalt windows lit from inside. "It took me approximately 60 hours to produce," he told the Langley Advance Times. He planned to donate it to the hall for year-round display.

He also hires local kids. In 2017 he told the Sun he often brings on students from the Langley Fine Arts School, his own children's school. "They love it," he said.

Four counters now

Fans aren't shy about it. One reviewer called these "Hands down, the best croissants on the west coast," while admitting the prices run a little high. Fair enough. Butter isn't cheap.

Blacksmith now has four locations. If the Church Street line is out the door on a Saturday, the Latimer Village café at 20018 83A Ave. keeps the same 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. hours, seven days a week, the bakery's website says.

Sources: Daily Hive (Dallas Carlson, Dec. 19, 2017), Vancouver Sun (Aleesha Harris, June 22, 2017), Langley Advance Times (Heather Colpitts, Jan. 7, 2021), blacksmithbakery.shop (About Us, Oct. 2026), blacksmithbakery.ca (locations and hours, Oct. 2026), Stephan Schigas and Bernice Farah on LinkedIn, Google reviews (via live post).