About Rex

We are family-run, one of the most awarded independent bakeries in Britain.  We care deeply about we sell, taking time to make our food properly and only putting into it exactly what’s needed. Every loaf we sell is Real Bread (no artificial additives) and we are Sourdough Specialists, so tastier and healthier for you.

We are open 7 days of the week for Coffee – Brunch – Bread with seating inside & outside; we are dog friendly and in Ascot & Windsor we offer table service and freshly cooked breakfast.;
Page down to learn more about how & why we started Rex Bakery…  

Visit Our Bakeries

Ascot

21 High St, Ascot SL5 7JE
hello@rexbakery.com  Follow us on Instagram 

Opening hours:
Mon – Thurs 8.30am – 4pm   Fri 8.30am – 4.30pm
Sat 8am – 4.30pm  Sun 8am – 4pm

Windsor

46 Peascod Street, Windsor, SL4 1DE
hello@rexbakery.com  Follow us on Instagram 

Opening hours:
Sun – Thurs 8am – 5pm   Fri- Sat 7.30am – 5.30pm

Little Chalfont

4 Chenies Parade, Little Chalfont, Amersham HP7 9PH

Opening hours:
Mon-Thurs 7.30am – 4.30pm   Fri-Sat 7.30 – 5pm
Sun 8.00am – 4pm

Baker Swaps Dough for Dough

We love the original local paper headline – because it’s true!

The Rex Bakery founder formerly worked in the City.  Always a keen foodie, he envisioned that if he made the very best food – the best ingredients, the best methods, for the best taste – then others like him would surely want to buy it too.

Upon moving to Little Chalfont in Buckinghamshire, he always said to his family that what was missing from the local community was a truly great bakery – and wondered why that was.  During a family holiday to San Francisco in 2012, the Rex Bakery founder made the life-changing decision to retrain and apprentice as an artisan baker, with a simple vision of establishing the very best in bakeries himself. 

He started out by baking from the home garage, taking orders each weekend, with the family selling from a village stall. In March 2014, the doors of our first shop in Little Chalfont finally opened. 

Our Four Principles

Tired of food chain scares, factories churning out rubbish fast food, artifical preservatives & additives? We are.
At Rex we care deeply about what we sell, taking time to make our food properly and only putting in exactly what’s needed.  
Our 4 PRINCIPLES

HEALTH

We follow only long fermentation methods of baking because we think they are more digestible & healthy and we only hand shape our breads.

BEST INGREDIENTS

We make everything we can for sale in our bakery. We search constantly for the most special ingredients, local or artisan where possible and let the availability of those ingredients shape our produce.

ORGANIC

We use only organic flour, use the minimum number of ingredients necessary, which is often just flour, water, salt & a leaven. No preservatives , improvers or other chemicals to artificially extend the life or size of our bread.

ALWAYS FRESH

We make & bake bread every single night of the week so that our customers receive the very best of our produce every single morning.

FAQs

Do you supply to wholesale customers?

A few. We are mostly focused on supplying our own bakeries, but we do also supply discerning, independent food establishments (restaurants, shops, delis, hotels, cafes) with our bread, on our route in & out of the Chalfonts.  Please contact Glenn via hello@rexbakery.com for more info and see our Wholesale page here

Why are you called Rex Artisan Bakery?

Rex was the name of the Rex Bakery founder’s grandfather, who was the original artisan in everything he approached in life and who greatly inspired a little boy a long time ago.  And we think it’s just a great name 🙂

What does Artisan mean?

Artisan can be defined as “Skilled crafting, especially making by hand”.  In bakery, the iconic artisan bread is Sourdough because of the process starting from making your own leaven rather than using commercial yeast, and the 3 day carefully controlled long-ferment.   Beware of “artisan-style” in baking – plays on copycat appearance & specialty “flavours”, not production method or talent of the craftsman.

I can get lovely bread from supermarkets & bakery chains now, what’s the difference?

We blogged about that here.  We use organic flour and the best ingredients we can find, often from local suppliers. Often it’s just Flour, Water, Sea-salt and a Leaven (wild sourdough starter with good bacteria, or fresh yeast), so every single loaf is Real Bread (made without artificial additives). We ferment our Sourdoughs for 3 days and make all other breads over 2 days so that they are fully fermented and healthy.  We have won countless awards for our approach both national and local.

Which bread is suitable for gluten-free?

We do not have any Gluten-Free for coeliacs & diagnosed gluten-intolerants unfortunately.  Whilst we have looked into naturally Gluten-Free flours like maize, we cannot guarantee Gluten-Free because of the gluten particles in the air in our bakery.  So sorry.     We have also noticed that many people find they are simply gluten-sensitive or wheat-sensitive. See next question if that includes you. 

Wheat bloats me. What do you recommend?

If you have a diagnosed wheat allergy, we do also make Rye breads & sometimes Spelt loaves.  However, the vast majority of people have no wheat allergy, they have just been unlucky to eat poorly made wheat products.  We always suggest you try Sourdough first, which is proven to be the very best in tolerance for your digestion because the wheat & gluten are slowly denatured in the long natural fermentation process.  Sourdough has been found not even to impact blood GI so often recommended for those with Type II Diabetes and those with Gastro disorders. And definitely if you’re just on a regular weight-watching diet!  Read how here

Which buns do children like best?

The local children are amongst our most discerning customers!  We have tiny fans of Multiseed Tin & Ciabatta to name but a few.  However, all children seem to love our  Cookies and Pain au Chocolat

What community giving are you involved in?

As we are in the heart of the local community, Rex Artisan Bakery likes to play its part.  Our featured charity in the Little Chalfont shop is Neuroblastoma Society as a wonderful local Friend of Rex is patron of this following the sad death of his young son.  We have enjoyed talking to several WI meetings about artisan break making.  Every evening, staff & often their clients with complex epilepsy, come to pick up any left over Little Chalfont bread & buns for all the residents at the amazing local Epilepsy Centre 🙂
In Windsor & Ascot we have also established charitable giving with local Food Shares & Church groups.
We occasionally support local schools with raffle prizes of our day-old pastries too.

Why do you use salt?

We keep it very simple at Rex, with just a few of the very best ingredients in each product.  Salt is one of these ingredients which we do use in limited amounts for best possible taste.  We have tried No Salt Baguettes before, and do plan to trial a low/ no salt bread for the many Friends seeking to avoid it.

How long does your bread stay fresh for?

We add nothing to make the breads stay unnaturally fresh for longer.  They all taste best on the day of making/ selling, but many last well for another day or two after that.  Some loaves have naturally preserving ingredients (potato in Potato Sourdough; olive oil & water in Ciabatta so the crumb may stay moister for longer.  You can freeze all Rex baked products – our family does at home!  More on how to enjoy Rex baked items fresh here

What yeast do you use?

We use hand-made leaven made a few years ago in our Sourdoughs and keep it fed all the time. We also use and sell commercially available wild fresh yeast.  We do NOT add any improver or any ingredient to artificially speed up the prcesss, don’t worry

Where are you & is there parking?

1) Little Chalfont – we are situated at No. 4 Chenies Parade, Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire HP7 9PH.  We are a few doors down from the little Tesco store and a few minutes walk across the road from Chalfont & Latimer station on the Metropolitan/ Chiltern Line.  There is plenty of parking – free for an hour outside the bakery along the one-way parade and easily opposite in the Cytiva carpark at the weekend – thank you Cytiva from Little Chalfont!  Don’t be tempted to park on the double yellow lines or round the back of the shops as the parking attendants are often out in force!

2) Windsor – we are at 46 Peascod Street which is pedestrianised, and within walking distance of St Leonards, the Station and the Castle. Look for the yellow canopy just down from Caffe Nero.  We recommend parking at East Berkshire College, just 5 minutes’ walk down St Leonard’s Road – less expensive, easy access off the Windsor bypass roundabout, and usually has spaces.

3) Ascot – plentiful free parking most of the year along the high street, in the little car park right next door to Rex Bakehouse, and huge Car Park 3 opposite the Racecourse.  In the far left hand corner of Car Park 3 is a public toilet block with an alley next to it, if you walk through there then Rex is diagonally opposite.  On event days you can park down the high street in free Car Park 6, about 5-10 mins walk away.  Forget it during Royal Ascot – no free parking anywhere!

What are your opening hours?

Little Chalfont: We are open Monday – Saturdays 7.30am – 4pm, and Sundays 8.30 – 3.  
Windsor: Open 8-5 Thursday – Monday and 8-4 Tuesday-Wednesday.
Ascot: Open 8.30-4 every day, until 4.30pm Friday and from 8-4.30 on Saturday.
You can always check Google page opening hours for the latest.

Are you part of a chain?

No we are a family-run business with just 3 shops! Originally in Little Chalfont & now also in Windsor & Ascot.  We think it’s probably a compliment that everyone seems to think we look as “professional” as a chain, but there’s certainly no sloppy chain store values at Rex.  Find out more about the Rex values here

How do I order?

Unfortunately we cannot just put aside product for you to collect as that upsets the customers who are queuing in person.  We hope that you can understand.
You can click & collect here
For larger one-off orders, please email hello@rexbakery.com with any requests, we will let you know if we can accommodate you within our bake list plan and you must prepay please.  We need plenty of notice because Sourdoughs take 3 days to make & everything takes at least 24 hours – there is no fast food at Rex 🙂  

Which products don’t contain eggs?

You can check the ingredients lists for each of our top selling baked items on our Product pages, on the pricing labels in the shops and by asking the staff who have access to an Allergens list.  We avoid the unnecessary use of egg because we know that some customers avoid it for dietary, religious & lifestyle choice reasons. We do use generous egg glaze on our viennoiserie and scones although we can offer without to order, please let us know if you want to click & collect without egg glaze.

Why is Sourdough more expensive than Tin loaves?

All our loaves take at least 24 hours to make properly, but Sourdoughs take up to 3 days.  Sourdough pricing reflects the very lengthy, intense & skilled production process to naturally create a delicious & right-textured loaf that is the best possible for your body .  We actually think it’s really good value considering the craft that goes into it – some people joke that a 3 day Artisan loaf costs only about the same as a cup of coffee which takes minutes to make!

Do you do low-GI?

We would never use the commercially available “low GI” flours in Rex Artisan Bakery because they are chemically altered and full of dubious additives with uncertain impact on the body.  That seems to defeat the very purpose of using them!  Instead, for dietary/ bloating concerns we always recommend that you start with Sourdough which is naturally low GI thanks to the 3 day fermenting process which means you eat a highly tolerant product that is clinically proven not to affect your blood GI & is therefore best for dieters.

Who are you?

We are a family who lived & worked in Little Chalfont in the Chilterns for 2 decades, and started Rex Artisan Bakery in Little Chalfont and then opened branches in Windsor & Ascot.  Everything is hand-made fresh in our working bakery premises using organic ingredients.  Please stop by to visit us!