Baker
I'm Matt Saunders, a baker from the Cotswolds with a keen interest in good, nutritious food and its intersection with soil health and sustainable farming. Above all, I have a passion for great bread.
Mission
Honeydale Bread Share aims to be an example of a small-scale bakery rooted in a local grain economy, the kind that can be replicated in farms and in villages and towns across the country.
Location
Honeydale Bread Share is located within FarmEd at Honeydale Farm in West Oxfordshire. It is a privilege to be able to bake bread in their beautiful wood-fired pizza oven, to be part of the vibrant community of people who are all passionate about regenerative agriculture and to be part of building links between the centre and the local community. Watch out for baking workshops in the near future!
The Grain
It all starts with the grain: heritage varieties of wheat, rye and barley, which are naturally resilient to pests, fungal infection and drought and so thrive in organic or regenerative agricultural systems. I aim to source this grain as locally as possible and so support farmers wanting to grow these varieties and sell directly to customers. Much of the grain is grown at FarmEd and nearby farms and all is milled on stone mills at FWP Matthews just half a mile away. The bonus for bakers and consumers is that these grains are also full of flavour and character, which translates to flour that is a thrill to work with and bread which nourishes the soul as well as the gut. The good news is that the growing of these varieties is on the rise in the UK, as documented in the fantastic Cereal podcast from Farmerama.
The Bread
As a baker, my job is to allow the full character and nutrition
of the heritage grains to come through in the baked bread. I use young sourdough
starters and full fermentation to bring out all the subtle flavours of the grain
and to unlock its nutritional potential. I also try to use as much wholegrain flour
as the style of the bread allows, in order both to provide the full range of nutrients
and to cut down on waste. On a regular basis I make:
- a country loaf, a free-form hearth loaf with 35% wholegrain flour, the rest being stoneground white flour, which still retains much of the nutritional value of the wheatgerm.
- a wholewheat tin loaf, using 100% wholegrain flour and a lively fermentation to bring out the full flavour potential of the grain. This loaf is slightly larger as less of the grain is wasted when milling wholegrain flour.
Every now and then I make a special loaf highlighting a great local ingredient or different bread baking technique. These are advertised on instagram and can be ordered as one-off extras.
Bread Share Model
Similar to the Community Supported Agriculture model for market gardeners, Bread Shares give bakers a certain level of security, allowing us to plan our production and our supply chain much more easily. In fact it allows us to support local grain farmers more strongly as we can be sure of the demand for bread and therefore guarantee the farmer a local market for the grain. By buying a Bread Share, you commit to picking up a loaf every Friday for a year, 6 months or 3 months. Honeydale Bread Shares can for the moment be picked up from FarmEd, Cafe de la Post in Chadlington or Oats in Chipping Norton.