Knapdale Artisan Bakehouse fired up after third straight gold
Knapdale Artisan Bakehouse is celebrating after winning a gold certificate at the Scottish Bread Championships for the third year running.
Husband and wife duo Laurie and Josephine Mill, who operate the small bakery, were "delighted and humbled" to discover they had won yet again.
The pair received six awards in total, two golds for their Scottish Honeyberry Sourdough and Cranberry and Pecan Sourdough, a silver for their Organic Seeded Malthouse loaf and three bronze medals, including one for their local favourite Wild Rosemary and Spelt Sourdough, to complete the haul.
The Knapdale Artisan Bakehouse was established during the Covid pandemic lockdown to assist the community shop in Tayvallich, and has now blossomed into a regular national champion.
In their tiny micro bakery, which they converted from a regular family kitchen, Laurie and Josephine make all their winning loaves from scratch.
Despite a lack of space, they have all the essentials, and bicycles ready to make deliveries.
It takes multiple days to make each batch. Through hours of sitting, fermentation, salting, scoring and carefully baking, each loaf is full of love and care.
"It’s a long process, but worth it," Josephine said, "Because it’s real bread we’re making.
"It’s not like bread from the supermarket; real bread is much better without all the machines and additives.
"Our sourdough starter has been going for five years now, and we’re always feeding it - it’s an ongoing process.
"It’s far better for your gut biomes to have the real stuff."
Knapdale sources ingredients from Scottish suppliers, including salt from Ayrshire, water they dechlorinate themselves, and organic flour from East Lothian.
Their devotion to making bread the proper way is a big part of why they have performed so well at the Scottish Bread Championships in recent years, after all, it runs in conjunction with the Scottish Festival of Real Bread.
Josephine said: "It’s great to see people, especially young people, interested in baking.
"There are not a lot of small bakeries competing, so it’s good to do so well.
"Originally we just thought we’d enter ’just because’, so we did, and ever since we can’t resist doing it again. I think we’re also going for a fourth year.
"But as fun as it is to get gold medals, the championships promote the product, and we really believe in the product of real food.
"I’d like to thank the people of Knapdale who have been supporting us.
"Decent bread is so important to the community, we partner with all the local shops and hotels, and business is always growing."
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