By Sally Prosser

In days gone by in the British Isles, pastries were more likely to be savoury than sweet, such as the famous Cornish pasty. There were a few exceptions like the flaky Eccles cake and custard tarts which are still sold by traditional, high street bakeries. Sweet, baked treats were more likely to be dough-based, like iced or currant buns, all catering for the rather conservative, culinary British palate.

However, tastes have changed and the British diet has become more cosmopolitan, embracing flavours and cuisines from all over the world.  As for pastries, croissants, pain au chocolat and pain au raisin have been a staple in supermarkets, cafés and bakers’ shops around the country for decades.

So what will be the next developments in pastries?

Higher quality ingredients, locally-sourced

There is a heightened awareness of the importance of local ingredients especially due to shortages caused by lockdown, pressure on supply chains and post-Brexit regulations. There is also a collective will to support small businesses in this time of crisis.

Bakery and café websites are telling the story behind their goods, giving details about how they source their ingredients as heritage and provenance become more important to consumers. Many explain that their pastries are ‘handmade’ or ‘hand-laminated, made with French butter, local, organic, stone-milled flour and free-range eggs. Family-owned or traditional, artisan ingredient suppliers are mentioned.

Baker & Graze in Cheltenham use “small local producers, right down to 100% stoneground flour from a 13th century Cotswold water mill six miles away.” Margot Bakery in London bakes with organic, free range eggs from Rookery farm which are delivered fresh every week. Their cakes are made with fair trade sugar, organic flour, Estate Dairy butter and ethical chocolate made by Original Beans. Flint Owl in East Sussex only bake with organic flours in all their breads and pastries to avoid pesticide residue. They even use spring water from their own well situated within the bakery.

While the quality of ubiquitous supermarket pastries is standard, information online and via the TV cooking shows has broadened knowledge about authentic recipes and cuisines leading to a demand for higher quality. The pleasure of a freshly-baked, all-butter, handmade croissant, at room temperature (so that the beautiful layers are intact) in contrast to a mass-produced microwaved one, is something that more people are discovering and choosing to buy.   

Sourdough starters for pastries

In line with the availability of quality, sourdough bread, many bakeries are using this technique in their pastry-making too. The Baltic Bakehouse in Liverpool offer “slow-fermented croissants made with French pastry butter, slow-proved for 12 hours for great flavour and texture.” and sweet bakes “all yeast-risen goods, to complement our bread.”

Forge Bakehouse in Sheffield says “All of our sourdoughs and yeasted bread and pastries are long fermented over multiple days.” Baker & Graze are proud that “At the heart of our bakery is our sourdough bread and sourdough croissants.”

Catering for different diets and lifestyles

Veganism is on the rise. This group of consumers is now a sizeable 1% of the UK population and likely to keep growing so all sectors of the food industry are responding. Plant-based options form a considerable part of the menu of the Artisan Bakery in London including a family box of pastries with vegan croissants, pain au chocolat and pain au raisin. The Flour Pot bakery in Brighton and Hove, make a delicious-sounding vegan coconut pain au chocolat. The Vegan Cakery offers dairy-free versions of classics like custard and Bakewell tarts.

Many bakeries use a range of alternative flours such as spelt and rye to cater for customers who are gluten intolerant.

Concern about sustainability due to the climate crisis, has led to more scrutiny about packaging and waste. To quote The Artisan Bakery, “When our products are packed, they are either delivered in recyclable cardboard, or individually wrapped for ‘grab and go’ in fully bio-degradable and home compostable responsibly-sourced packaging.” Unfortunately, hygiene considerations because of the COVID crisis has increased the use of plastic packaging for pastries at the bakery counters of supermarkets.

‘Guilt-free’ treats and a rise in awareness of how sugar can damage health could mean that ‘natural’, unprocessed, and fruit-sourced sweeteners are more prevalent. Lower-sugar pastries are more likely to be promoted by bigger commercial brands though, with customers of artisan bakers more concerned with taste, texture, flavour and authenticity.  

France is not the only influence

For years, as historic pioneers of premium pastries so close to the UK, France was the main foreign inspiration for introducing new styles of bakes into the British diet. With croissants now commonplace as a breakfast item, British bakers are looking for new sources to tempt their customers.

Baker & Graze claim an “innovative approach to using classic French techniques and modern Middle Eastern flavours”. Their range includes Portuguese custard tarts which are becoming more widely available and rivalling the traditional British variety.

Scandi-style baking is on the rise, for instance a cardamom snurr - cardamom dough swirled with cardamom butter, and topped with nibbed sugar - is a popular item at the Forge Bakehouse. BRØD Danish bakery in Cardiff makes Scandi classics like Spandauer – layers of sweet pastry filled with custard and drizzled with icing - Kanel Snegl, Kanelstang, Overskårne and Københavner.

Margot Bakery housed in a former post office in London, makes many traditional Jewish cakes and pastries like sesame-encrusted simit, babka, and brioche.

Once these niche products gain more popularity, major suppliers such as supermarket chains are often quick to stock a mass-produced version.  The cruffin (a cross between a croissant and a muffin) was invented in San Francisco, adopted by artisan bakeries around the world including the UK, and is now stocked in Marks and Spencer.

However, it’s the innovation of the small bakers that keeps them one step ahead of the game; for instance, a cookies and cream cruffin from the Thoughtful Bakery in Bath, winter honeycomb sourdough cruffins from the Cornish Sourdough Bakery and a changing cruffin menu with fillings such as lemon cream, chocolate brownie or fresh blackberry cream made every Saturday at the Baltic Bakery.

These fillings tap into a trend for the new and exotic. Japanese wasabi, yuzu and miso caramel, Middle Eastern spices such as cardamom and sumac, and rose, saffron and jaggery from India are just some of the flavours being introduced. 

Bake at home

With people wanting to limit their trips out to buy food during lockdown, frozen options have become more widespread.

Two Magpies Bakery sells white chocolate raspberry cookie dough which is a convenient compromise between homemade and shop-bought. Customers can order unbaked, frozen sourdough croissants, pain au chocolat and pain au raisin from The Cornish sourdough Company. The Artisan Bakery advises “All our products freeze well” and give advice about defrosting and reheating on their website.

Online cookery schools

A rise in home baking was a well-publicised result of people being confined to their houses with more time on their hands during lockdown. Bakeries who offered cookery courses have pivoted to teach them online. These include French chef Richard Bertinet in Bath, Two Magpies Bakery, the well-known Hobbs House bakery in Gloucestershire, and Loaf in Birmingham where any profit made by the business is funnelled back into its social objectives. There’s a demand for these schools to teach more challenging skills like pastry making. 

In addition, many are selling ingredients and kitchen equipment required for home baking, from flour to books and utensils and even sourdough starter.

Tradition meets the future

So whether you want a trip down memory lane or something new and different to tempt your taste buds, it’s an exciting time for baking in the UK. Pastries are a good example of how British tastes combine nostalgia for the past with an appetite for the new.