Baking is the heart of what we do, but if bread is the food of life, chocolate is the stuff of life’s most joyful moments, or as Joanne Harris describes it in her fabulous novel, ‘Chocolat’, it’s “the bitter elixir of life.”
Bread and chocolate both start off as plants. Entrenched in traditional processes of farming and fermentation, both have a long and rich history. Our fascination with everything fermented and our consciousness of the gut wellbeing also highlights the fact that sourdough and chocolate are a match made in heaven.
We celebrate with a tribute to both in our Chocolate Sourdough, made with pure coca powder, bitter, sweet chocolate chunks and malt that perfect compliment the sourdough’s natural tang. Not too sweet, with deep fruity cocoa notes. Pop into our bakeries and take one home, this beauty is only with us for a short time to see us through these colder months. We love our Chocolate Sourdough thickly sliced, gently toasted in the oven with generous layers of salted whey butter and a spoonful of orange marmalade.
We’re delighted to offer a limited edition Chocolate Breakfast in Bed Hamper from now until Easter available for delivery across London.
We are equally delighted to announce that from today, we’ll be making hot chocolate in our bakeries with the inimitable Islands chocolate. When we met Wilf and tasted his chocolate, we immediately fell it, which in his words is ‘simply the best chocolate you will ever taste’. We agree.
Islands go beyond the bean-to-bar movement and live a seed-to-bar ethos. The team are pioneers in their craft, beloved by chefs and bakers for their obsessive attention to detail and rebellious streak.
Islands can trace every bar back to source and, being both farmers and chocolate makers, they ensure the beans are planted, grown, fermented, roasted, ground and blended in the right way. Ethical and sustainable practice without child-labour, deforestation, or any dodgy additives that plague the wider chocolate industry.
From today, every cup of our Hot Chocolate is made with Islands’ single farm cocoa beans grown in rich volcanic soil and bronzed in the Caribbean sun. Made by melting 65% or 75% chocolate buttons (choose your own adventure) and blended into creamy, frothy cow’s or alternative milk. Pair with the straightforward sweetness of a shortbread biscuit to mellow the intense richness.
If you’d rather the chocolate come to you, order online for Click & Collect or Home Delivery