Bakestone Traditional Northern Baked Goods review

As the MyPy 100% British Pie and Mash Shop showed on this week's episode of The Apprentice, buying British is big news and big business at the moment. Buying local produce from farmers' markets has become fashionable because it reduces your carbon footprint, but retro desserts and old-fashioned, traditional dishes have also made a welcome return to menus in people's homes but also in restaurants. Slow cookers, and the accompanying recipe books full of traditional stews, hot-pots and casseroles, are popping up in kitchens all over the nation. When your taste buds have been around the world and back, tasting Japanese, Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Moroccan and Indian cuisine, they eventually come back home wanting the taste of home.

Well, the taste of home still has a few surprises up its sleeves. When I was asked if I'd like to receive a selection of Northern baked goodies from Bakestone to sample, I was shocked to see that I hadn't heard of hardly any of them ! Right, time to tuck in.

I started off with the few that I did know, so we made short work of their Bakestone Long Loaf sliced bread, which was very nice as toast and sandwiches and which, according to Bakestone, has “more slice for the price with an extra four slices than a traditional loaf ". It was lovely and soft and stayed fresh for days.(RRP £1.25).

The other product that we already knew were the Fruited Scones (although, are they scones that rhyme with bones or scones that rhyme with wands ?!). I handed the testing of these over to Madhouse Nanny and Grandad, who declared that they were the best scones they'd ever eaten and if I ever get any more for review, they'll be more than happy to eat them ! High praise indeed ! (RRP £1.10 which seems incredibly reasonable to me for 4 scones).

Right, into uncharted territory now. Next out of the box was Potato Cakes. Bakestones say : “These make a brilliant breakfast, just add butter or for the seriously hungry serve with beans and a dollop of brown sauce.” They remind me a bit of a cross between American-style pancakes and potato waffles and were perfect as brunch with a fried egg on top and beans on the side. The kids loved them and asked if we could buy these again, despite saying “eeurgghhh cake made of potatoes ?!” when I first told them what we were eating ! (RRP £0.89)

Next was the Lush Fruitfuls – another Northern classic whose name is bound to get your mouth watering in anticipation -is decribed as a “light fresh bake packed with sultanas and other dried fruit to make a scrumptious suppertime favourite”. These big teacakes went down well lightly toasted with a scraping of butter for an afternoon snack. (SRP £0.75)

And finally, Oven Bottom Muffins – known by some as the bagel of the North. They're apparently one of Bakestone’s original and most popular products and they're like big soft rolls. We ate these toasted with butter and jam for breakfast but they'd work equally well cold with sandwich fillings or even with grilled cheese on top for lunch. (RRP £0.49).

The Bakestone range is available at local convenience stores as well as Aldi supermarkets across the North West. The Bakestone brand was created by Manchester-born baker Howard Hunter, who has been making and distributing bread for over 30 years and still operates a family-run company. With two main bakeries in Manchester and Liverpool, they are always hard at work making and delivering traditional tasty bread, cakes and morning goods to bakeries and convenience stores across the North West.

Now that I've tasted these Northern classics, I hope they'll become widely available down south too !

star rating : 5/5

RRP : 49p - £1.25 (see RRPs within the review for specific products)

for more information : http://www.bakestone.co.uk/ or follow them on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/bakestonebread

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