Four reasons why you should turn your attention to Flour a& Bean.
OK, I will admit it. I used to avoid Flour & Bean as I thought it was part of a national chain, and assumed the produce to not be patisserie worthy. Even last year when at Norwich Airport I avoided their cafe, assuming it would be like Gregg's sister - a bit of a slapper.
BUT.....
Reason 1
Flour & Bean was started by David Laingchild, a local baker along with his wife Lorraine. Established in 1993, the name change to Flour & Bean came in 2009. It has now been taken over by their three children: Alissa, Rachel and David, and all three have worked in the business for yonks, and are now directors.
All seven of their branches are in East Anglia, and they have recently refreshed and refit the collection plus added a dedicated bread bakery in Sweet Briar, with spanking new ovens - plus they use local produce when they can but more about that later.
It is family run and local - that is point one.
Reason 2
You're bound to bump into a bakery cafe near you - while the bread is now being made in Sweet Briar along with some laminates, the old bakery at the back of Colman Road still produces all the tray bakes, donuts, pies and more for all shops. Which it has been doing since the 90s.
The 90s = Gangsta's Paradise, Titanic, Forrest Gump, me cheffing in London, Princess Diana etc.
You can find FAB at:
- Colman Road, Norwich
- Dereham
- Fakenham
- Gorleston
- Potter Heigham
- Aylsham
- Diss
- Norwich Airport
Point two - it is all made in-house, with Norfolk ingredients when possible.
Like the Norfolk Crunch, a Holkham Estate grain, North Norfolk gained bread. With some of their flour being from Essex. And their coffee is from an East Anglian coffee roaster.
Reason 3
Their recent evolvement is sourdough - David Laingchild's idea with head baker Adam rolling them our from their new bakery. Adam has been baking for FAB for nine years - that says a lot about a company.
Their new bakery has all the kit, a sourdough starter spa bath - which FRED lives in - growing away in blissful warmth. Fred's their sourdough starter, originally grown in-house from a baby - think of Fred when toasting your sourdough.
Their ovens allow just enough steam to form that sourdough crust which makes that blissful noise when sliced. Simply bread with flour, salt and water - no baddies, just proper baking, trained bakers, simply cooked on the day you can buy it. And the Pain De Campagne 750g or 400g (£4) loaves were still soft after a few days in my bread bin - that's a result.
Point three - daily bread and bakery products near you.
Reason 4
Basically everything else - their vans on the road delivering to their shops, wholesale and business platters - yes they do catering too.
Prices - it is a traditional bakery, it is not pretending to be a French patisserie or a fancy pants bakers. I mean in many ways it should but its family run - well put together and reasonably priced - the baker next door, like it used to be in the good ol' days.
Belgian buns - as big as big Bertha's head for £1.75, Norfolk shortcake, 3 for £4.60, cinnamon buns £2.50 each (yes, made that morning with house bun dough - that's an enriched dough).
Plus, their bestseller for years has been their Oaty - a chocolate oat tray bake which they make in batches of over 500 as they fly out of the doors from Dereham to Diss.
Point four - they are all-rounders, evolving into more wholesale now as their bakery has grown, driven and commanded by 2nd generation flour beanies.
Proud to be Norfolk, proud to be local, proud to be independent, proud to be family owned.
It is like our own Gregg;s but better, and next time you fly our of Norwich to an exotic destination like Shag-a-lot, Costa Del Ray or Land-of-Grotty please check into FAB and take a little piece of Norfolk with you.
I am happy I have discovered this local bakery collective - local legends since '93, because if they don't shout about what they have achieved I sure as hell will - all while shoving an afternoon preps worth of laminated croissant in my Norfolk mouth - because yes, they make those fresh too.
