Baking Industry Awards 2025: French Onion Soup Loaf scoops Speciality Bread Product of the Year

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Delicious loaves that demonstrated originality and exceptional quality were what the judges were looking for in this category, along with a thorough understanding of the market and consumer needs.

Winner: French Onion Soup Loaf, Patisserie Mark Bennett

Judges were delighted to find that the innovative and eye-catching loaf tasted as good as it sounded from the description. They were already on board with the melted cheese topping and “nice chunks of onion” throughout, and warmed to the discovery of cracked pepper notes coming through after tasting.

“Flavoursome”, “aromatic”, and “moreish” were some of the soundbites emanating from the impressed judging panel.

Eponymous bakery owner Mark Bennett had worked out a recipe for the French Onion Soup Loaf following a challenge set to customers to come up with exciting new bread flavours. The finished product went on to receive glowing feedback from testers at his six shops.

Bennett originally thought about using a sourdough as a base, but decided on a yeasted bulk fermentation to give a lighter spongy texture. Instead of water, he made the dough with scratch-made French onion soup and also added the onions sieved out from the broth at the end so that they didn’t break down too much. The loaf is finally topped with Gruyère cheese and thyme that act as a crust, just like croutons do on soup.

”We are lucky that our patisseries sit in affluent areas so we can make things a little more luxurious as the customers are not so worried about spending a bit more for our products,” noted Bennett, while also conceding that they are more demanding and expect top quality products.

Finalist: Beetroot Multiseed Sourdough, Seasons Bakery

This is one of the most decorated products in British Baker history, having been named Britain’s Best Loaf in 2017, winning this same Speciality Bread category at the Baking Industry Awards 2019, and picking up several other accolades since including a gold medal at the most recent Britain’s Best Loaf competition.

Despite its apparent perfection, Dan Nemeth at North Yorkshire-based Seasons Bakery noticed sales dropping and decided to revamp his decade-old recipe. By adding more beetroot and seeds during the three-day fermentation process, he’s managed to develop a slightly deeper taste.

The sizeable pieces of beetroot were “beautifully spread”, commented the judging panel, with the loaf displaying a nice open crumb and providing a “lovely aroma and texture”.

Finalist: Cheddar, Cider & Mixed Onion Loaf, Shelleys Bakery

Another Dorset-based business making the finalist line-up was Shelleys Bakery, whose loaf combines extra strong mature Cheddar, Stilton cheese, and white onion accompanied by sweet notes from cider and red onion with hints of turmeric and garlic. A Cheddar topping provides a crusty finish.

The production method for the oven bottom bread is said to involve a no-time dough, eliminating the traditional bulk fermentation stage which significantly reduces the overall baking time. However, it requires high energy mixing to develop the gluten and create a leavened final product.

Judges revelled in the unusual texture and strong cheese and onion flavour. “Turmeric gives an exotic looking appeal,” commented one.

Finalist: M&S Collection Seeded Sourdough, Jones Village Bakery

The Wrexham-based manufacturer previously updated its sourdough collection for Marks & Spencer in 2023 to include Wildfarmed regenerative flour, and has now redeveloped its seeded variety further to afford a more open, soft and waxy texture.

Visuals have been through a makeover too with the more rounded and bold loaf more akin to an artisan product, but achieved at large scale thanks to the introduction of biga sourdough starter fermented for a minimum of 16 hours. In addition, the overall hydration and softness of crumb have been elevated by soaking the seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, and millet – in-house, while the topping has also been upgraded with a blend of pumpkin, sunflower, brown linseed, golden linseed, millet, poppy, maize germ, and rolled oats.

The crispy crust and sour aroma had judges onboard from the start, and the loaf followed up with its internals. “Texture was brilliant,” expressed a judge while another was loving the “loads of seeds”.