Staff of Life Real Artisan Bread - Philosophy

We are driven by taste, so we take our time to find the finest ingredients and give them a very long fermentation to extract the full flavour of the grains.

We want you to feel the dedication and love that goes into every real artisan loaf we make.It is in the spectacular cracks and fissures of the dark chewy crust and the irregular crumb pattern when you slice it or tear it open and in the magnificent aroma of grain , caramelisation and fermentation even before the taste makes you want to reassess everything you think of as bread. 

We are proud to be members of the Slow Food movement and  heartily endorse the Slow Food philosophy believing that time, passion and flair are more valuable than any amount of money spent on "artisan" marketing , machinery and chemicals.

We believe in honesty and integrity of the ingredients we use and the skill and devotion of our whole team.

We also reach out to schools in the area and take time to work with them on food projects focused on traditional bread and baking skills as well as innovation , local food sourcing and ingredients.We are proud to help our schools develope the creativity and enthusiasm for real food which is so wonderful to see in our young people.These are not only tomorrow's consumers but also tomorrow's food producers and purchasers for industry and local authorities.They are the future and we love their enthusiasm for real taste : it gives us hope for the future of food in Cumbria at least. 

We do use some organic,biodynamic and fairtrade products but only when they represent the best available ingredient for our product.Taste is the final arbiter and we like to keep an open mind as we come across new and exciting additions to our storecupboard.

Every Staff of Life loaf is divided, kneaded and hand-moulded and  there is no rigid formula for the ingredients or the timing which means that we can adapt our techniques and the ingredients to each batch of flour so that each loaf is the best it can be on that particular day.This means that we can allow for weather conditions and temperatures and continue our natural rising method instead of using artificial refrigerator/steamer machinery to "fluff" the loaf up to it's maximum volume.(This makes it stale quickly and lack real substance.It also requires an increase in the salt content.)

We prefer to add less salt to our dough than most other bakeries.This is to allow our customers to truly taste the complexities of the various grains which have been included in the bread without the veil of salt which many "artisan" bakeries use to mask their shortcomings.If you like salt you can easily add some to the finished slice at the table. 

Bake-off bread (As made and called "fresh baked" by many supermarkets.) can never be as good as scratch baked bread.We call for a change in the law to prohibit the description of such an apalling parody as freshly baked when the process may have been all but finished several weeks or months earlier.

Do you want your bread made by a baker or an industrial chemist?