Filbert’s Bakery
Polly Checkland Harding
Filbert’s Bakery is a business with humble beginnings. It all started on a kitchen table in Lancaster, with a simple aim in mind: to create beautiful, artisanal crusty loaves for Lancaster – high-quality, ‘real’ bread like the owner had found in London’s Borough Market, which would be an appealing alternative to mass-produced supermarket stocks. Beginning with a few local investors and a shoestring budget, the in-house team baked the most loaves they’d ever produced on the first day of opening. Filbert’s Bakery went on to win an award for its ‘slow bread’, baking loaves in which one of the key ingredients is time.
This slow fermentation process reduces the amount of yeast used in the bake, as the gluten develops naturally over time. Filbert’s Bakery uses organic flour, locally supplied products from Proctor’s Cheeses and Stephensons Dairy in Morecambe and locally sourced fruit and vegetables – including produce obtained through a bartering system with Lancaster’s gardeners and allotment holders. When there’s a glut of rhubarb, chard or courgettes, the team gets creative with what’s on the menu. The result is vegetarian and vegan loaves which have seen the owner, Fil, win the Baker of The Year Award at the Farm Shop & Deli Awards 2018.
Unconstrained by tradition, the bakery’s specials have ranged from Italian-style roast potato bread to French-inspired prune and cardamom loaves, as well as coming up with their very own Morecambe bun, inspired by the Chelsea bun. Fil is a toast connoisseur, arguing that she can’t imagine baking a bread that doesn’t result in glorious toast, and the website even has tips for bread that’s a few days past its best: sprinkle with water and pop in the oven for 10 minutes to revive a waning loaf. This place cares deeply about baking, and is a must-visit stop for something delicious.
