We use slow fermentation and organic British flours to make loaves full of flavour and nourishment. We are dedicated to crafting exceptional sourdough bread and artisan bakes using time-honored techniques and the finest ingredients.
We were founded by the award-winning baker Aidan Monks and wife Catherine Connor. Aidan has been baking with the sourdough method since long before it was fashionable, inspired by its superior taste and digestibility and Catherine is the styling genius behind our delightful bread stores located in the Lake District and Altrincham.
A truly innovative and ethical duo, Aidan and Catherine work closely with farmers and millers to source the best flour they can. Championing the use of heritage-grain flours in sourdough baking to create breads that are good for the tummy, good for the soil and good for the soul.
Aidan runs Lovingly Artisan with Catherine, his daughter Ailish, son, Niall and a small team of talented bakers.
About Sourdough
Real sourdough bread is leavened naturally using wild yeasts and lactic fermentation instead of baker’s yeast. Every sourdough baker has their own way of doing things, but the essential starting point is the mixing of good-quality stoneground flour with water. When left alone, this mixture begins to ferment due to the activity of microbes – wild yeasts and lactic-acid bacteria – that exist in the flour and in the atmosphere. Through careful nurturing and feeding, this mixture becomes the ‘starter’ – also known as ‘leaven’, ‘poolish’ or ‘biga’, depending on the technique used. Added to the bread dough, this activates lactic fermentation, creating the rich flavour, open texture and naturally long shelf life that real sourdough bread is known for.
OUR ETHOS
Born from a need to eat and enjoy real bread, Lovingly Artisan use natural ingredients to make and bake true bread – the best it can be for people who share our love of real food. We stand by our three commitments; natural ingredients, made with love, and shared with folk who care. We want to put the loaf back at the centre of the family table. Our ethos is to be ultra-process-free and organic when and where possible.
After starting his first bakery in Kendal in the late 1980s, Aidan was introduced to real, slow-fermentation breadmaking by the French baker who sold him his first batch of artisanal flour. He has spent his life as a baker learning continuously about every aspect of real breadmaking, from the health of the soil to the cultivation of the cereal, the grinding of the grain to the mixing of the dough.
Aidan and Catherine started Lovingly Artisan at home, selling from a shop on the platform at Oxenholme Station before opening today’s purpose-built bakery at Plumgarth’s Lakeland Food Park in 2010.
About our Flours
We have a deep-rooted commitment to sustainability and innovation here at Lovingly Artisan and recently developed our own flour mill in nearby Burneside. In a pioneering collaboration working with farmers Ben and Jannike of Eden Yard and renowned grain specialist Dr Andrew Wilkinson we have create a fully localised supply chain for heritage grains. An authority on ancient-grain cultivation – Andrew was part of the EU-wide Healthy Minor Cereals research project – Andrew has selected and developed ‘tall-straw’ varieties of wheat, rye, spelt, Emmer and Einkorn that are beneficial to soil health and nutritionally superior to mass-produced cereals.
As bakers, we seek out organic flour because it is kinder to the soil and kinder to our health: pesticide residues found in non-organic breads have been linked to cancer. We choose stoneground flours because the stone-milling process is so much gentler on the grain than industrial-scale roller milling, producing wholegrain and wholemeal flours that retain the flavour, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants present in our farmers’ carefully nurtured grains.
Putting these flours into an authentic sourdough baking process unleashes their nutritional potential further, thanks to the process of slow lactic-acid fermentation. The result is tasty, nourishing, natural breads that have true provenance and integrity.
As bakers, we seek out organic flour because it is kinder to the soil and kinder to our health: pesticide residues found in non-organic breads have been linked to cancer. We choose stoneground flours where possible because the stone-milling process is so much gentler on the grain than industrial-scale roller milling, producing wholegrain and wholemeal flours that retain the flavour, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants present in our farmers’ carefully nurtured grains.
Putting these flours into an authentic sourdough baking process unleashes their nutritional potential further, thanks to the process of slow lactic-acid fermentation. The result is tasty, nourishing, natural breads that have true provenance and integrity.
Order Award-Winning Sourdough.
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