Five Wrenhaven bakeries bringing back slow-fermented sourdough loaves

Arrive at the Boathouse Bakery on the Saltings waterfront after ten on a Saturday and the shelves are usually bare. Owner Kasia Wrenfield bakes around 180 loaves overnight, and they rarely last the morning. Her shop is one of at least five small bakeries that have opened in Wrenhaven over the past three years, all built around slow-fermented sourdough.

Sourdough uses a starter of flour and water containing wild yeasts and bacteria instead of commercial yeast. Doughs are typically left to ferment for 12 to 48 hours, which develops flavour and gives the bread its chewy crumb and thick crust. "It takes two days to make a loaf you eat in two minutes," Ms Wrenfield said, "but that is the point."

Where to find them

In Bramley Cross, the Old Post Office Bakery sells rye loaves flavoured with caraway, made with grain grown in the Asher Valley. Millbrook's Hearth & Crumb, run by a former engineer, specialises in tin loaves for sandwiches. On Ropewalk Lane, Ferment opens only on Fridays and Saturdays, while the Northfield Community Bakery trains young people out of work and sells bread on a pay-what-you-can basis on Thursday afternoons.

Customers want to know where the flour came from and who made the bread. That conversation is half the business.

So said Tobias Elmhurst of the Old Post Office Bakery. Prices are higher than in supermarkets, typically between €5 and €7 for a large loaf, which bakers say reflects the time and the cost of local flour. Several of them sell day-old bread at half price and give the rest to food banks.

For those who want to try baking at home, the Northfield Community Bakery runs monthly beginners' classes and gives away pots of its starter. "The starter is alive, so you have to feed it," said head baker Nnamdi Pryce. "Treat it like a pet that lives in the fridge and it will keep going for years."