Bread Ahead Bakery
Bread Pudding
Almond Croissant
Ginger Molasses Cake
Salted Caramel and Honeycomb Donut
Located within the Borough market as both a small stall and a sizable school with classes offered to aspiring chefs as well as the general public it was actually my server at St. John that made me aware of Bread Ahead Bakery and with the skills of former pastry chef Justin Gellatly shaping the retail side of the operation I’m happy to say that little has changed since the young chef left to join partner Matt Jones and chase a dream. Surprisingly flying under my radar despite a reputation cemented by stints baking for the likes of The Royal Family it was just moments before the bustling market’s official 9 o’clock opening that I approached the small stall and with a team of three still laying out the day’s goods I took my time to peruse, the only limitation a cash-only policy and my reticence to withdraw more pounds given my pending departure in just two days. Every bit the artisan experience with friendly servers and an awaiting line of locals in need of crusty baguettes and golden rolls of whole-grains it was in far sweeter things that my intentions lied and with the croissant and donut easily identified necessities it was not until I read the menu that I realized there was so much more, a few pence left in my pocket as I walked away with a densely packed bag. Limited in seating even in the early morning hours but with plenty of space to relax in the parks nearby it was after a short walk that I sat down and unpacked my bounty and in an attempt to start ‘light’ I bit into the croissant, a great crunch belied by too much filling proving a slight disappointment with only good things to come – the following bites some of the best of my trip as a pillowy pocket of dough gave way to intensely salted caramel speckled with crunchy bits of honeycomb. Inexplicably eschewing the brownie, perhaps a mistake given Gellatly’s St. John pedigree, and instead investing in a duo of cakes to round out my morning sampling it was next the spicy complexity of a dense cake moist with molasses that I partook and with a sticky mess now made of my hands I turned to the pudding – a nearly half-pound block of buttery bread and raisins dripping with golden syrup beneath a saturated sugar-streusel top.
RECOMMENDED: Donuts – every bit on par with those at St. John Bakery, and at least this one far more intriguing as well. The bread pudding is also exemplary, though I imagine it even better warm.
AVOID: The Croissant was far too laden with frangipane, particularly compared to that from Monmouth just a few steps away.
TIP: Like most of the market this place is cash only, for myself undoubtedly a good thing as it forced me to show some self-restraint.
