Pretty sure I first stumbled across a photo of Bread Ahead’s famous doughnuts on Instagram, or maybe my best friend sent me a screenshot of them (I don’t know what dominates other twenty somethings’ camera rolls, but mine is filled with screenshots of food). On Saturday I finally made the relatively short trip to London Bridge to wander around Borough Market and accidentally spend twice the amount I had intended whilst there. As such, I stupidly only had enough cash on me for one doughnut by the time I meandered my way to the Bread Ahead stall. As ever, I must return for more and also for some of their foccacia, which looked ridiculously good – especially the classic and the individual sized pesto ones.
But back to the doughnuts. Those doughnuts. Crowds were queuing for those doughnuts, edging closer and closer with panic as the trays emptied only to breathe again when they got replenished. Standing nearby were individuals and small groups of friends in silence alike, savouring every morsel of these famous doughnuts. And with good reason. They are magnificent. And I say that as someone who has never even really considered themselves a doughnut person (my time in Melbourne made me see the light). Since I had one shot at this due to my dwindled cash, I went classic. Vanilla cream.
Oh my GOD. Seriously. It was delicious. The sugared dough was light, not greasy at all and HOW MUCH FILLING CAN YOU FIT IN A DOUGHNUT? It was messy. And as I always say, all the best food is. There was so much of this gorgeous vanilla pod cream in said doughnut that after I’d actually eaten the thing, I had (yes, had) to scrape my finger along the inside of the paper bag four times to get all of the cream. And yes of course I ripped the bag for better access; none of this was going to waste.
Aside from vanilla cream they had chocolate (yes please), raspberry cream, jam and salted caramel topped with honeycomb(!) Actually writing this now I’m pretty furious I didn’t get one of those to go. From what I can tell they are constantly coming up with new flavours, too – they recently had an orange flavoured one up on Insta. What’s more, you can even partake in a half day doughnut making workshop at the Bread Ahead Bakery just around the corner, which is just one of the plethora of workshops they offer, including gluten free baking, hot cross buns and a New York bagel and pretzel workshop. The potential to become truly Bread Ahead obsessed is very real. One doughnut and I’m already a total convert.
