05/06/2020

Holy Bread: Leek’s New Baking Business

Holy Bread is a new bakery business in Leek, Staffordshire. Started just last month, they’ve got off to a flying start with the orders pouring in.

The husband and wife team currently produce handmade, artisan bagels in a range of tasty flavours and deliver them straight to your door.

Read on to find out how I heard about them and the results when I taste tested a selection of their bagels.

A DISCOVERY

Like many restaurants having to adapt to coronavirus restrictions, The Old Mill Smokehouse in Leek recently began offering a takeaway menu. I tried it, loved it, and you can read all about that highly recommended takeaway here.

The mains on offer are burgers and bagels, and for these The Old Mill teamed up with newcomers Holy Bread.

I thought my BBQ Smokehouse Burger (£8.50), filled with brisket, Staffordshire cheese, plenty of salad as well as a beef patty and barbecue sauce, was a knockout.

But I also thought it was worth a shout out to the makers of the fantastic treacle and oat bun that held the whole lot together.

In my review, I wrote:

All too often, burger buns are a disappointment. At one end of the scale, they’re floppy, useless disintegrating things that barely hold everything together. At the other, they’re just too much: by the time you’ve worked your way past the damned thing you’re too full to eat the meat and the rest of the goodies.

But these were the perfect, quality partner to a sublime mix of meat, cheese, salad and sauce.

So, when Holy Bread contacted me to say thank you for the mention, and would I like to try some of their different flavoured bagels, how could I refuse?

HOLY BREAD

Holy Bread are husband and wife team, Luke and Caroline.

Luke has been a chef for fifteen years, including for a time at The Old Mill.

But, with Luke furloughed from his regular job at Heaton House due to the coronavirus lockdown, it was Caroline who “persuaded him that the bagels we were making were too good to be only enjoyed by ourselves and our nearest and dearest.”

And Holy Bread was born, quickly reaching orders for almost 400 bagels per week.

The pair currently bake out of The Old Mill kitchen, but are already looking to find a more permanent base and grow their business.

THE BAGELS

Holy Bread say they’re constantly developing their bagel menu and love trying out new flavour combinations.

Here’s the choice available when I made my selection. There was also a multi-seed bagel, not listed.

I chose: Roasted Onion & Parmesan, Beetroot, and Spiced Rum & Raisin.

When I picked up my bagels (following social distancing rules, of course) I was pleased to see it all came in paper packaging that could go straight into my compost bin.

Each had the bagel flavour within neatly written on the bag.

Not that there was likely to be much confusion as to which was which, mind you.

Each bagel had its own unique appearance. All looked (and smelled) incredibly inviting.

Knowing how my other half, ID, loves a bagel, I kindly allowed him to join me in the taste test.

I also wanted us to eat them all on the day of baking, when they were at their best. And even I can’t eat three bagels in one sitting!

ROASTED ONION & PARMESAN BAGEL

I think my favourite all-time bagel flavour is onion.

So I had high hopes for Holy Bread’s Roasted Onion & Parmesan bagel.

Described as containing slow roasted onions with confit of garlic, flavoured with thyme and topped with Parmesan, I’m pleased to say this bagel entirely lived up to my hopes.

Yes, the subtle taste of garlic and herb was there, along with the salty tang of Parmesan. But the main flavour, and aroma, was quite rightly those onions, slow roasted to sweet perfection.

I was also impressed with the texture and quality of the dough itself.

Outside, the shiny exterior was good and chewy. Inside, the slightly open textured crumb was light, but still substantial enough for you to know you’re eating proper bread.

Besides eating some of the bagel on its own, of course I had to try it with a filling as well.

How would a Holy Bread bagel stand up to an over-stuffing by Moorlands Eater?

I’m happy to report that it did marvellously, keeping completely intact.

Flavour-wise, even with some seriously smoky smoked ham from Pronto Delicatessen in Leek, mustard mayo and plenty of salad, the oniony essence of the bagel came through.

BEETROOT BAGEL

Next up was Holy Bread’s Beetroot Bagel.

Who can resist anything with the beautiful ruby colour of beetroot? Especially when it’s got a darkly pretty topping of black onion seeds and purple-blue poppy seeds.

Suitable for vegans, I did wonder if this famously sweet vegetable, here maple roasted, might result in a too sweet beetroot bagel.

But I needn’t have worried. Beetroot’s other outstanding quality, earthiness, was there too, giving a nice balance.

Here, as is often the case with beetroot, the flavour can be quite subtle even when the colour is vivid.

Again, the quality of Holy Bread’s products was clear from the texture of both crust and crumb.

To find out how the Beetroot Bagel stood up to fillings, here I tried a combination of the Staffordshire Cheese Company‘s classic Staffordshire Cheese (again from Pronto Deli), plus my fiery homemade Smoky Tomato Chilli Chutney, homegrown Pea Shoots, carrot and red onion.

This was another triumph.

I’m sure lesser quality breads would have disintegrated, faced with my rather enthusiastic approach to getting as much filling in a sandwich as is humanly possible.

Even the beetroot flavour stood up well to the strong flavours I’d included.

SPICED RUM & RAISIN BAGEL

Finally, ID and I shared our ‘dessert’ of a sweet bagel.

Featuring some of my favourite flavours, there was no way Holy Bread’s Spiced Rum & Raisin Bagel wasn’t going to make it into my selection.

As I’d hoped, the aroma was heavenly even before I sliced the bagel open.

That’s probably because the raisins had been soaked in rum for twenty-four hours. Added to that, the traditional shiny bagel glaze in this case included spiced rum.

And they weren’t stingy with the amount of raisins either.

I decided to toast the Spiced Rum & Raisin Bagel. We ate it, extremely happily, spread with salty butter.

Eaten like this, with next to no adornment, the fine, artisan quality of the bagel was easy to see.

HOLY BREAD: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Born out of these unusual, awful times, it’s gladdens the heart that at least some good is possible in the form of a new, independent business like Holy Bread.

The COVID-19 outbreak, with its disruption to many aspects of our way of life, has driven lots of shoppers to local producers and suppliers, some old, some new, for the first time.

I’ve been mightily impressed by Holy Bread. And, judging by the orders flying in, so are their many new customers.

I hope you’ll be joining them and help to grow this great little company.

Highly recommended.

HOW TO ORDER: Follow Holy Bread on Facebook or Instagram to find out where they deliver and message them to place your order. Collection may also be possible.

At the time of writing, bagels are £1.50 each or buy 4 and get the 5th free.

UPDATE JULY 2020: Holy Bread now offer nationwide next day delivery!

Disclosure

I was invited to try these bagels which were provided for free. However, as always, the opinions given are honest and based on my own experience.

Where a product or service has been provided without charge then a disclosure such as this will always be included in the post.

Filed Under: Producers & Suppliers