Acton · baked here since 2019
Dough that’s had a long night.
Eighteen hours of cold proof, boiled in honey water, tops rolled in rosemary salt. Everything’s usually gone by three.
Four things worth coming in for
All fortyWe wait eighteen hours because the flour needs it
The dough goes into the cold room at half four in the afternoon and comes out at half ten the next morning. At four degrees the yeast almost stops, which gives the enzymes time to break the flour’s starches down into sugars. Those sugars are what brown in the oven and what makes a bagel taste of something other than bread.
Then forty seconds a side in honey water, a roll in rosemary salt, and twelve minutes at 240°C. Any longer in the water and the chew starts fighting back.
How the shop worksNadia has run the bake since 2021. She writes about the overnight prove in the journal.
Seven boards. Breakfast is the one we would order.
39A Acton High Street, four minutes from Acton Central
Level entrance, no step. Twenty-two seats and a bench outside. We are loudest between eight and ten on a weekday, and quietest just after two.
- Mon
- 7am – 3pmToday
- Tue
- 7am – 3pm
- Wed
- 7am – 3pm
- Thu
- 7am – 3pm
- Fri
- 7am – 4pm
- Sat
- 8am – 4pm
- Sun
- 8am – 2pm
Every needle is half an hour of today.