Bakery celebrates anniversary with awards

A BAKERY in Stoke Row has won three gold and two silver awards for their bread.

Imma the Bakery, based in the Van Alloys Industrial Estate, came ahead of 200 other bakeries in the competition held at the NEC in Birmingham.

Run by British Baker and judged by a panel of industry experts, Britain’s Best Loaf is one of the most respected competitions in UK baking.

Entries are judged on structure, flavour, technical execution and originality.

The bakery won gold in the flavoured sourdough category for its miso and sesame loaf, in wholegrain for their old granary loaf and in seeded sourdough for their country loaf.

It also earned bronze in the flavoured sourdough category for its cheddar and onion, and lemon and olive loaves. Last year, the bakery was awarded the top prize, when its plain sourdough was named Britain’s Best Loaf by the judges.

“We pour everything into our bread — our culture, our craft, our community,” said head chef Tonatiuh Erreguin.

Mrs Erreguin, who used to run a fine-dining restaurant in Mexico, said: “Bread is what we do and we’ll keep doing it every single day.

“You make an oath so that no one runs out of bread, it is what has sustained western societies, we owe ourselves to bread.”

Mrs Erreguin said she was not expecting to win this year after being told they couldn’t compete in the same category again after winning last year.

She said: “I do not think I was expecting anything going to this, except about keeping alive the spirit of good bread made everywhere, but we won five medals.

“We work constantly trying to improve to make the best, working to correct the mistakes we made yesterday so that we can get a better product each time.

“I have been a chef for at least 15 years, working in fine dining and Michelin star restaurants.”

All the bakery’s bread takes at least 72 hours to make and the miso and sesame loaf is made using just water, wheat flour, rye flour, salt, miso and sesame seeds.

Mrs Erreguin said finding the right flavour combinations takes time but is reaping the rewards., adding: “We usually sell out on the weekend, people come from Oxford and Gloucestershire to us.”

She said that there are a lot of “pilgrims” who would stop at the bakery on the way to other places, such as the Cotswolds.

Ms Erreguin thanked her suppliers and customers for making the business, which celebrated its third anniversary last Friday, a success.

She said: “We owe ourselves to the community and its continued support and to the amazing produce from all our local suppliers. Because, if we didn’t have all of this, then we could not make the very best of us.

“This is proof, not of the work of a single baker, but the work of a whole team that puts in the hours, the time, the observation and attention to detail, a team that works every morning trying to pay homage to the baker’s trade.”