WELL, without beating about the dough, definitely. ToM is a big fan of both Companio and Trove, but Hannah Calvert and Chris Kelly’s new bakery underneath the arches on Sheffield Street shades their closest rivals.
Not least in the colour of their crusts, at first sight charred but really just densely caramelised for a fabulous flavout. Check out the bubbly, cratered surface in the picture above. The interior (below) of their 28 hour white sourdough is equally impressive with a savoury springiness, easy digestibility and more developed flavour, result of a whole day’s fermentation in a cold place. We took a loaf one a weekend away and three days in it still tasted fresh.
Pollen bills itself as a ‘sourdough and viennoiserie bakery’. We’ve yet to try that second string to their bow (croissants, pains au chocolat and cinnamon morning buns), but the five sourdoughs, priced at between £3.20 and £3.50) are all terrific. They include a 5 seed sour with more wholemeal; a 100% rye; a 20% rye; and an unusual oat porridge loaf with cooked porridge oats added to the mix, plus thta 24 hour
Pollen Sourdough and Viennoiserie Bakery, 2 Sheffield Street, Manchester M1 2ND
0161 273 3171. Check website for opening hours.
Other breadmakers worth seeking out are:
Trove You can taste the bread in their terrific little cafe set back from the A6 – and buy to take out. The bread was originally made in the cafe but now comes from a unit five minutes down the road. Like Pollen they source only the best ingredients – flour is organic andstoneground, from Shipton Mill – proving their dough slowly and scoring and loading all the loaves by hand. Unlike commercial bakeries there’s no additives or improvers in their bread.
1032 Stockport Rd, Levenshulme, Manchester M19 3WX. 0161 4327184. Check the website for the wide range of outlets selling their bread.
Companio Pass through Victoria Station between 4pm and 6pm on Tuesdays and Thursday and you’ll see the bike stall of Manchester's first community supported bakery. It’s a temptation even the busiest commuter heading home should give in to. We like all the range but are particularly partial to the potato bread. To see where else owner Russell Goodwin pedals with his wares check out their Twitter account. Otherwise, you can sign up for the Companio Bread Club and pick up regular consignments from Rudy’s Pizza in Ancoats. Ever busy he’s also running Saturday bread-making courses at his unit at nearby Radium Street from January 2017.
Unit 6 Flint Glass Wharf, 35 Radium Street, Ancoats.
Comparative veterans in the artisan bread business, The Bakerie on Lever Street also run bakery courses on the premises where they bake a range of loaves, including some exceptional foccaccia (above) to service their eaterie there. You can buy to take out, but warning – you may be tempted too by the pies in the adjacent Pie and Ale.
45 Lever St, Northern Quarter, M1 1FN. 0161 236 9014.
Slightly more under the radar (unless you are a regular at Makers Markets or are a regular at Caffeine and Co) is Uprising, a Longford Park, Stretford-based workers co-op founded by bakers and cake makers, specialising in sourdough, spelt and slow fermented breads baked in small batches with no additives or preservatives. Our wholesome tip, their Malted Grain Spelt loaf, which contains wholemeal spelt and malt flour with linseed, rye, barley, corn, millet, buckwheat, and quinoa. Uprising’s Bread Club allows local community members to join in, from ordering weekly bread to attending monthly Bake Up event, sharing traditional skills and baking with them. Membership is £25 a year for the first 50 members.
John Rylands Cottage, Longford Park Manchester, Greater Manchester
Finally, Chorlton’s finest, Barbakan, which seems to have been around forever (50 years actually). It’s named after the historic gateway in the Polish city of Krakow, where the family roots lay, and many of their huge range of continental breads are Polish recipes such as the amazing Black Rye. Further afield but still using the finest grades of flour, the Irish Soda Bread and Italian Toscana loaves are among our faves. Buy direct from the deli, a great spot for brunch, or from a plethora of stockists in the region.
67-71 Manchester Rd, Manchester M21 9PW. 0161 881 7053.