Alex Poulter of East Bristol Bakery is taking his festival loaf one step further… He is cycling 300 miles to gather the ingredients including sourdough starter from Tracebridge and Cornish Sea Salt. Thanks to Martin at Bristol Culture for this brilliant write up and photograph:
He could have just walked the few hundred yards to No. 12 Easton to buy some Cornish Sea Salt Company salt, but instead Alex Poulter from East Bristol Bakery on St Mark’s Road is cycling to Helston near Falmouth to pick it up from the source.
The sea salt will be just one ingredient in a loaf of bread especially baked for the Bristol Food Connections Festival, and Alex will be traveling on his bicycle to pick up further ingredients from across the South West.
Alex will collect a sourdough starter and yeast from Tracebridge Sourdough on the border of Somerset and Devon, where he learned to bake; spelt flour from Sharpham Park near Glastonbury; and water from Cheddar Natural Spring Water.
It will be a grand total of some 300 miles for Alex, whose usual cycling while on deliveries takes him only as far as St Werburgh’s City Farm Cafe.
“It was one of those crazy ideas that just stuck,” says Alex, taking a much-needed break from baking duties.
“I was thinking about the theme of the Food Connections festival, telling the story of where ingredients come from.
“I only use four basic ingredients – that’s the great thing about bread. I thought, wouldn’t it be great to see where those ingredients come from, and being a cyclist it just made sense to go on one trip telling the whole story.”
Alex will set off on his five-day journey across the South West at the end of this month, in order to pick up the ingredients and return to Bristol to bake the sourdough loaf during the duration of the Food Connections festival.
In almost two years, he has only been away from the bakery for one Saturday morning – but is confident that his small team can keep the good people of Easton served with their bread during his absence.
“Yes, it’s a busman’s holiday but it’s going to be great,” Alex says with a smile.
“I’m looking forward to the cycling, hopefully my love of cycling will overcome my lack of fitness, and I’m looking forward to meeting some fascinating people as well.
“And the most important thing, at the end of the trip the bread will taste great as well, there would be absolutely no point doing it otherwise.”