It’s interesting how new & quite different-sounding products go down so well from the “taster’s tray” at Westwood Park. All credit in particular to the local children, who are so up for trialling & offering feedback on the samples – they are so confident, sometimes they don’t even ask what they are trying as they tuck into Apple & Oats Sourdough, Scandinavian School Buns etc!
Brave in trying the new
At Rex Artisan Bakery we do like to present you with the best we can make, but importantly from a wide range of bakery inspirations. This definitely means lovingly recreating the Best of British, even the less well known – for example, a lot of customers point out & query our Rex organic bloomers, and just telling them that name isn’t so helpful. A bloomer is 
an oblong, rounded loaf of white bread, finished with a series of diagonal slashes on top – perhaps named after ladies’ bloomers given the shape!
Bloomers are thought to originate from London in 1939 during wartime rationing, restricting civilians to 1 slice per diagonal slash (today we medium slice them vertically of course…) Decades later they were a favourite in the Rex Baker’s childhood local Kentish bakery and ours is made slowly from organic white dough, just a different shape to the traditional organic white tin but tastes & cuts for sandwiches etc exactly the same (& a lot better than a pair of bloomers :))
Rex is also inspired by the best of savoury & sweet bakery finds from further flung places- across Europe, America, Africa and even this week we heard about an exciting & popular Persian flatbread that we would like to recreate. This geographical inspiration mix is evident from the sourdoughs, the viennoiserie, the ciabatta & focaccia & Benedict Bars featuring regularly in the bake list. Customers often make great suggestions for what they would like to see, feel free to do so in the comments!
And of course the Rex Baker is inspired by bakers, chefs & writers like Dan Leppard, Jeffrey Hamelman, Michel Roux senior, Peter Gordon & Ottolenghi – trying hundreds of their recipes to develop his own. This is how he is perfecting Rex favourites like Raisin & Rosemary, Apricot with Fennel, Potato Sourdough and now Oats with Apple. If you are still not convinced to try some of these loaves because they do sound so untraditional, please know that there always samples you can come & try at Westwood Park. If there is something from the Bake List that you are nervous about & would like to try before you buy, just let us know & we’ll make sure we have some saved for you. Likewise if you buy & don’t like after trying – just let us know, we are only aiming to please!
By the way, if you are wondering, the Rex Baker did also try Paul Hollywood but found he’s had to use his baking knowledge to make the recipes work 🙂 Anybody else find them challenging?
Spots of Jam for Children in Need
In this week of Children in Need, the Rex Bakery will celebrate the the on-theme jammy Spot on top of our new Scandinavian School Buns. For each one added to your order, we plan to donate 1/2 the special price this week of £1.50 to Children in Need, which takes place on Friday 15th November. Go on, give them a try!!
