Bakery 47

76 Victoria Road, Glasgow

0141 237 9470

Brunch/Lunch: £5-£12

Food rating: 9/10

WHO'D be a baker? What a soulless job you’d have in one of those industrial plant bakeries, an automaton churning out concoctions of chemicals and air by the thousand. Artisan bakeries are the hyper-fashionable alternative, but if you’re working in a real artisan set-up, as opposed to some lazy supermarket tanning parlour for frozen pre-bakes, or one of those delis that passes off “pseudough” or “sourfaux” as sourdough, it’s hard work. All those heavy sacks of flour that need lugged around and the perpetual back issues bakery work generates; encounters with idiosyncratic wood-fired ovens; shifts that start at 4am, or earlier; the perpetual battle with tiredness or insomnia; the constant need to educate customers as to why a loaf patiently made with stone-milled organic flour can never before be sold for the price of a standard sliced and wrapped white. Thus far, being a genuine artisan baker has demanded a preparedness to build your personal life around your work.

Is there another way? Bakery 47 in Glasgow seems to have found one by managing customers' expectations. It bakes fresh from scratch from Thursday to Sunday, closing when it sells out. Fine by me. Real bread keeps well. A proper sourdough toasts well a week later, no need for enzymes and additives to keep it soft. So my visit to Bakery 47 was an excuse to bulk buy, which I did. To be honest, I defy anyone not to get a little bit carried away here. The premises ooze the indie spirit of our times, the cheap rent, make-do-and-mend decor that typifies enthusiasts who refuse to be in hock to bankers and who see themselves as part of their local community, not some exclusive address for self-styled “foodies” who arrive in four-by-fours.

The sensory pleasure of the place is supplied in spadefuls by the contours of the breads, pastries, and cakes and the marvellous smells they generate. Actually, walking into Bakery 47 was an emotional experience for me. It gladdens my heart to see such creative values flourishing. I filled up two bags with purchases, bracing myself for the bill, only to be favourably surprised by the cost – the opposite of greedy. I ate a very delicious breakfast, then did a second round of shopping because breakfast illustrated just how good this stuff is. Here was a doorstopper-sized slice of sourdough to die for, spread thickly with muhammara (a cumin-spiced dip of red peppers, tomato, chilli, and walnuts), under a dollop of lime-sharp guacamole, crowned with golden-fried slices of Halloumi cheese and a ruggedly divided, rather stunning, soft boiled egg. Incredible value for £5. A warm mushroom, squash, and sage pie with buttery handmade puff pastry, flanked by a fat slice of cheddar, pickled cucumbers, and a Cumberland sauce-style pickle fragrant with gin, made a compelling ploughman’s brunch, although I could live without the wedge of iceberg lettuce.

The core proposition here – the bread – is absolutely excellent: properly proved and leavened, fabulous crumb and crust, the requisite sourness and salt. Bakery 47’s pan-baked Khorosan loaf is an absolute stunner. This unusual wheat produces a golden crumb and pliant crust that’s supremely easy to cut. It tastes so special. You can buy croissants filled with peanut butter and chocolate, or almond paste, but the key thing is that the croissants themselves are terrific, layer upon crisp layer. The one disappointment in the pastry department was a cardamom custard bun, too dense and insufficiently risen.

Many of the cakes have inch-thick frosting, or a thick layer of icing, too much for my sugar-reduced palate, but of their kind – variations on carrot cake using beetroot, courgette and so on – they’re high standard. An immaculate lemon marzipan cake and lemon tart are a tad more sophisticated. Fresh Amaretti biscuits, one with a blob of jam at its heart, the other fragrant with orange zest, and the darkest of dark chocolate cookie flecked with silvery sea salt, ignited my long dormant interest in cookies.

I’m absolutely entranced by Bakery 47 and yearn to go back.