When you think of baked goods, an array of classics may spring to mind – such as wholesome pies, scones, sausage rolls, cakes or muffins.
But the owners of Home Bakery – Love of Loaves, Marcin and Andzelika Olesiak, have always tried to avoid producing traditional items.
In fact, they pride themselves on their product portfolio that boasts a series of unique goods that will have you intrigued – and peckish – from the get-go, one of these being their distinctive black sourdough loaves and rolls.
The bakery opened its doors in November 2018, after the couple had spent years baking for themselves, family members, friends and neighbours, and won Bakery of The Year at the Scotland Prestige Awards in April.
At the tail end of 2020, they were nominated by The Scottish Business Awards as Bakery of The Year.
Crust-have product
Operating at their quaint micro-bakery, based on South Methven Street in Perth, Marcin, 44, and Andzelika, 39, from Poland, are passionate about good food and love baking and sharing with others.
While they create a number of sweet and savoury treats, including miniature pizzas, croissants, doughnuts and cinnamon buns, their black sourdough and black rolls have certainly proven a hit with locals and tourists alike.
But where did the inspiration come from?
Andzelika said: “Our neighbour, The Bulldog Frog, created black rolls with sesame seeds – a specialty for the vegans in their restaurant – a while back.
“So, Marcin and I decided to go a step further and created a black sourdough which is made in organic flour and starter (starter is how we cultivate the wild yeast in a form that we can use for baking) with coconut charcoal.
The black loaves have been very popular among customers. The first thing people ask is ‘why and how is this bread black?'”
Andzelika Olesiak.
“The most important thing in the bread is a good and strong starter. The rest is magic. In the end, you’re left with a bread that’s rather unusual with a perfect flavour.”
Marcin added: “In our bakery, we have 14 different pieces of bread. But if our customers have their own idea for the bread they would like, we never say no.
“Andzelika and I are open to suggestions, for example, brown or white sourdough with cumin on top.
“Not only do we do black sourdough, but we also produce black rolls with sesame seeds. Our other rolls include white Polish, morning, olive, beetroot and wholemeal.”
Love a challenge
When it came to creating their black delicacies, which are suitable for vegans, the co-owners admitted that they found the task a breeze.
“It wasn’t difficult making them, “Andzelika said.
“The pair of us love challenges and from time to time, we feel it’s important to add something new to our offering. Hence why we introduced them.
“The black loaves have been very popular among customers. The first thing people ask is ‘why and how is this bread black?’.
“Sometimes, they’re unsure if they’ll like the items or not, but after trying some, they come back for more and tell us they loved it – especially with quality meat or smoked salmon.
“I think this is because they’re so unique and you can’t find them in a lot of places, certainly not near us anyway (I think).”
Because Marcin and Andzelika enjoy creating out of the ordinary bakes so much – and customers evidently enjoy them – they will continue to introduce more going forward.
Andzelika added: “We’ll definitely introduce more unique products. Actually, we are working with a good recipe for sweets – and we never say no to new ideas for bread or rolls.”
Home Bakery – Love of Loaves is open from 10am to 3pm Tuesday to Saturday. They close at 2.30pm on Thursdays.