4 reasons why you should turn your attention to
Flour and Bean
Ok I’ll admit it I used to avoid FAB 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 café assuming it would be like Greggs sister – a bit of an old slapper.
BUT
Reason 1
Flour and 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 his 3 children Alissa & Rachel Directors and David a baker and all 3 have worked in the business for yonks. They are an employee owned business, operated by them a local family.
All 7 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.
Its family run and local – that’s point one.
Reason 2
You’re bound to bump in to a bakery café 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 their shops, which it’s been doing since the 90’s.
( The 90’s = Gangster Paradise, Titanic, Forest Gump, me cheffing in London, Princess Diana single & Crap-enetta – like Vienetta but mint plus Birds eye potato waffles from Lowestoft – I hope its chips, its chips!)
- Colman Road, Norwich – Ring Road, Earlham
- Dereham
- Fakenham
- Gorleston
- Potter Heigham
- Aylsham
- Diss and
- FAB at Norwich Airport.
Point Two – it’s all made in house, with Norfolk ingredients when possible.
Like the Norfolk Crunch a Holkham Estate grain, North Norfolk grained 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 sour dough – David Laingchild’s idea with head baker Adam rolling them out from their new bakery. Adam has been baking for FAB for 9 years – – that says a lot about a company.
Their new bakery has all the kit, a sour dough starter spa bath, which FRANK lives in – growing away in blissful warmth.
Fred’s their sour dough starter, originally grown in house from a baby – think of Fred when your toasting your sourdough.
Their ovens allow just enough steam to form that sour dough crust which makes that blissful noise when sliced.
Simply bread with flour, salt and water – no baddies, just proper baking, by trained bakers (Adam worked as a chef pre 9 years a baker) 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.
Norfolk Crunch 900g is £4.20 btw
Point 3 – 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.
Prices – it’s a traditional bakery, it’s 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 ole days.
Belgium 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 best seller for years has been their Oatty – 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 4 – 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’s like our own Greggs but better and next time you fly out of Norwich to an exotic destination like Shag-a-loof or Costa Del Ray or Land-of-grotty please check into FAB and take a little piece of Norfolk with you – happy I have discovered this local bakery collective – not noisy enough 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.
Zena Leech-Calton
Love Norwich Food
P.S – I’m not a blogger I’m a food writer with a journalistic approach to my foodie week. With 0ver 30 years served in catering.
www.lovenorwichfood.co.uk – for my food and drink walking tours.