Real Bread Week Bristol: The best bread makers and bakeries including Harts, Pinkmans and Hobbs House

Bristol is a city that really goes for it when it comes to bread making in all its handmade forms. From sourdough to rye bread and multigrain to seeded, whatever your flavour, you’ll find wonderful artisan creations all across the city.

So, for Real Bread Week, an annual, international celebration of additive-free loaves and the people who make them that runs from 19th to 27th February this year, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to truly celebrate those who bring the best in bread to Bristol.

Harts Bakery

You can’t make a round-up of the best of Bristol’s bakeries and bypass the famous Hart’s Bakery set within the arches of Temple Meads. Possibly one of the most popular bread makers in the city, they really know their stuff about all things bread. The artisan bakers workshop specialises in sourdough and you certainly won’t be left disappointed by the creations. They use organic flour from Shipton Mill in Tetbury and adopt a long, slow fermentation process that produces bread that is full of flavour and character with great keeping qualities.

Mokoko

A firm favourite with the people of Southville, Bedminster and beyond, Mokoko takes pride of place in Wapping Wharf and serves up some of the most delicious slices of sourdough - and don’t get us started on their other bakes! It’s a wonderful little place to pop by and watch the artists at work creating your baked goods in their open-plan bakery. Plus, their coffee is wonderful, too - it’s no wonder it was voted as one of the UK’s top coffee businesses by the Sunday Times.

Farro

This neighbourhood bakery in Brunswick Square prides itself on keeping it local. Describing themselves as a modern viennoiserie, the bakery is rooted in traditional techniques and the bread is all made with UK-grown, stoneground flour. They appreciate the science behind a good loaf and are huge advocates for supporting the right farming, as good farming equals the best flavour. You can expect all sorts of other incredible baked goods from these guys, too, and their coffee is wonderful.

East Bristol Bakery

Now, we don’t believe you for one minute if you tell us that you haven’t heard an Easton local rave about the award-winning East Bristol Bakery. You’ve got to get in there quickly with this popular place, as it’s really not hard to see why it’s award-winning and why the locals (and those from further afield, too) love it so much. The small open-plan bakery believes in real bread and they believe that bread is a staple basic which should be made with the utmost care and the best quality ingredients. Using a variety of traditional methods they produce everything following the Real Bread campaign ethos of no unnecessary ingredients, just flour, water, salt and yeast and use organic flour from Shipton Mill. Alongside the usual wheat offerings, they also make both Rye and Spelt breads. Oh, and they have an online store too!

Bakers and Co

Bakers and Co is part of the company that runs Gambas, Bravas and Cargo Cantina, and is well-known for being an artisan sourdough bakery and café on Gloucester Road. You won’t just find incredible bread creations, but also other inventive pastries, provisions and delightful sweet treats.

Pinkmans

Situated on Park Street, Pinkmans has made a name for itself across Bristol for its tasty bread creations, but also for its sourdough doughnuts and other bakery wizardry. Pinkmans puts the community at the heart of everything they do, and that’s why they prioritise making sure their passion for real bread truly comes through. They are passionate about the way they make their bread - they keep an eye on the past and an eye to the future, use great ingredients crafted with skill and passion, and everything is served with a sense of fun and sun. If you want something sweet, their aforementioned signature sour-dough-nuts are individually hand-rolled and fried giving a super light texture, and they then pipe them full with pastry creams and garnish for the ultimate indulgence.

The Forest Bakery

The Forest Bakery is newer to the bread scene in Bristol than some of the other longstanding mentions on the list, but certainly no less qualified to be here. Their bread and their baked goods are some of the best you’ll try - genuinely, their cinnamon buns are incredible. ​​Established in 2019 and set in the arches in St Philips, they specialise in traditional and vegan croissants, as well as their sourdough bread. When it comes to the bread, every loaf is made from a handful of high-quality natural ingredients using traditional methods. The good news is that you can order online with these guys as well.

Hobbs House Bakery

Celebrating an impressive 100 years of baking this year, Hobbs House Bakery is a firm fixture on the streets of Bristol and in the bellies of most locals. All of their bread and confectionery is made by hand with true care and attention, and for many of the perfected loaves, they use overnight fermentation for a deeper flavour and a better rise. Their not-so-secret weapon is a 66-year-old Sourdough Starter which they’ve been nourishing with flour and water every day for all of these years. That’s a real homemade loaf, that is.

The Bristol Loaf

The popular artisan bakery operates across three sites in Redfield, Bedminster, and now Bristol Beacon and is an independent company that handcraft delicious, certified organic bread as well as savouries, pastries and cakes. Using only the highest quality, organic ingredients sourced as locally and ethically as possible, The Bristol Loaf offers the more traditional bakes but also a range of vegetarian, vegan and non-gluten products. What’s lovely is that the bakery is open-plan so you’ll be able to see the experienced and highly-skilled team hard at work making your bread. What’s potentially even better is that the café also offers delicious coffee served by trained Extract baristas and natural organic wines. Bread and wine, what more could you want?

Assembly Bakery

Another award-winning artisan bakery, the Assembly Bakery is located at the heart of Old Market (as well as having a shop in Wapping Wharf, too) and takes their making of bread very seriously indeed. They try their best to source their ingredients as responsibly as possible and are proud to work with some of Bristol’s best suppliers, including Reg the Veg, Shipton Mill and Origin Butchers. Their bread and yeasted pastries are fermented slowly to maximise flavour and nutritional availability, and they have a seasonally changing savoury and cake menu to tempt your taste buds and cater for all dietary requirements.