Lots of people ask us what is Spelt, so here is a quick explanation. Spelt is a cereal grain in the wheat family. The grain has been cultivated for centuries, in both central Europe and the middle east.It looks very similar to wheat in appearance, but it has a much harder outer shell before it has been milled. It has a nutty and slightly sweet flavor, similar to that of whole wheat flour. It does contain some gluten, so is not suitable for those with coeliac disease, however many people with a wheat intolerance find that they can eat spelt products. For those people our Spelt and Honey bread and rolls are ideal.

Apart from any health benefits our Spelt and Honey Bread and Rolls are also delicious having a nutty slightly sweet taste.

At the meoment we have the rolls on offer at 6 for the price of 5, saving you 36p on a pack of 6.

Real bread from Victoria Bakery

You may not have heard of the Chorleywood Bread Process but I’ll gaurantee that even the most discerning foodies will have consumed the end product at some time in their life. The Chorleywood Bread Process (CBP) is the method used to manufacture 80% of the bread consumed in the UK today, even the “fresh” crusty bread from your supermarket will probably have been made using this industrial process. It was invented in 1961 at the Flour Milling and Bakery Research Association laboratories in Chorleywood, hence the name. In essence the dough is mixed at very high speeds to break down the natural gluten and then chemicals are used to reform it. This together with extra water, yeast and the addition of hard fats produces the soft pappy cotton wool like bread with which we are all too familiar.

There is of course an alternative to this industrial so called bread. At Victoria Bakery we have never used the CBP and never will. Instead of high speed mixers and chemicals we use that most old fashioned of commodities…..time.

We allow our doughs to rest for upto 24 hours, this develops a fuller flavour by converting the starch to sugar naturally . This slower method enables us to use less yeast and salt and breaks the gluten down during the long rest period. We also cultivate our own natural sour dough which we add to our breads to further improve the quality, taste and crustiness.

So if you want to reawaken your tastebuds come to Victoria Bakery for some real bread!

In 1592, during the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth, a decree was passed by the London Clerk of the Markets:

“That no bakers etc, at any time or times herefter make, utter, or sell by retail, within or without their houses, unto any of the Queen’s subjects any spice cakes, buns, biscuits or other spice bread (being bread out of size and not by law allowed) except it be at burials, or on Friday before Easter, or at Christmas, upon pain of forfeiture of all such spiced bread to the poor.”

At some unknown later date they became associated purely with Easter and were traditionally eaten only on Good Friday, with bakers making them only on Maunday Thursday. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the first recorded use of “Hot Cross Bun” was in 1733. Nowadays they are sold all year round by supermarkets, but we only make them in the few weeks before Easter.aster, or at Christmas, upon pain of forfeiture of all such spiced bread to the poor.”

"Delicious Hot Cross Buns"

This is Not a Cornish Pasty

“A genuine Cornish pasty has a distinctive ‘D’ shape and is crimped on one side, never on top. The texture of the filling for the pasty is chunky, made up of uncooked minced or roughly cut chunks of beef (not less than 12.5%), swede, potato and onion and a light peppery seasoning. The pastry casing is golden in colour, savoury, glazed with milk or egg and robust enough to retain its shape throughout the cooking and cooling process without splitting or cracking. The whole pasty is slow-baked to ensure that flavours from the raw ingredients are maximised. No flavourings or additives must be used. And, perhaps most importantly, it must also be made in Cornwall.”

Our pasties are made with prime Aberdeen Angus beef, locally reared in Hertfordshire, potatoes, carrots, onions and seasoning and have the crimping on the top.

As far as I am aware there is nothing in the rules to say that the meat and vegetables have to be reared or grown in Cornwall, nor do the pasties have to be baked in Cornwall!

Therefore we are not allowed to call them “Cornish Pasties”. So henceforth we will be calling them “This is not a Cornish Pasty”

Do these new rules mean therefore that the beef could be shipped from South America, the vegetables from Africa, they are then assembled in Cornwall, frozen before being shipped all over the UK or even the world, baked at their final destination and are still an “authentic” Cornish Pasty?

Looks like very good marketing by the pasty makers of Cornwall to me!

5 varieties of cookies

We have 5 varietes to choose from:

Choc Chip

White Choc Chip

Oat Cookie dipped in milk chocolate

Cranberry

All butter Pecan

Mix and match, any 2 for only £1.20

These are made with oats, golden syrup and packed with juicy cranberries, the fuits that we use are sweet but keep that slight tartness for which cranberries are reknowed along with their healthy reputation.

Scrummy Cranberry Cookies

THese delicious cookies are only 85p each and are currently on offer 2 for £1.20, saving you 50p! So don’t miss out try one or two today!

INTRODUCTORY OFFER ~ £1 off full price, making them only £1.95

TRY ONE TODAY!

We would like to thank all our customers for your support through the year and wish you all a very merry Christmas.

We will reopen after Christmas on Tuesday 28th December

Victoria's Scrumptious Mince Pies

We believe we are the only bakers in Barnet to make their own mincemeat. Most bakers and supermarkets prefer to use bought in sickly goo which has to be sloppy enough to go through depositing machinery .
I know that I can taste the difference, I hope that you can!See more

Buy 4 for the price of 3 and save yourself 80p!

Don’t forget they’re filled with delicious Tiptree raspberry jam!