Hikerdelic Inner Circle: Pollen Bakery

Waiting for a break in the rain, we did a quick dash from Ancoats to Pollen bakery's new permanent site at Kampus where we had a chat with Connor about what's on the menu, their 28 day sourdough and the other projects on the rise at Manchesters most visually pleasing bakery.

You can also spy on the pastry chefs making your bakes which is a huge added bonus if you like a side of people watching with your coffee. Connor styled out one of our tees (we think he has a second career as a model in the making) and also put together a really nice easy-listening playlist with some of his co-workers, ideal for slow Sunday mornings, we'll be sharing that soon too.

Are you a tea or a coffee person and what's the best thing on the Pollen bakery menu?

Most definitely a coffee person! Best thing on the Pollen Kampus menu at the moment has to be the Isle of White Tomatoes on Toasted 28 Hour Sour. 

What does a good morning look like for you?

I’m very much an early morning person, having an active dog it makes mornings much more interesting and a good morning would be a nice pourover coffee followed by a big walk, maybe pick up a pastry or two from the many wonderful bakeries near where I live in New Islington, Manchester. I do love getting out to the Peak District as regular as I can and that would definitely be a perfect morning for me. 

Please explain, what is 28 hour sourdough??

Our 28 Hour Sour is the name we’ve give our everyday sourdough. It takes 28 hours from mixing the levain to baking each loaf. This applies to all our loaves as we cold ferment the loaves in the fridge and take out in the morning to bake. 

 

Are Pollen working on anything new and exciting at the moment

Pollen are currently looking to set up a new website where folks nationwide can order our sourdough to arrive next day. We are also planning some Christmas bits. It may seem early but Christmas is a huge period for a bakery and we need everything to be planned and confirmed. Including design of the packaging of the items we’ve decided on. 

 

Tell us a bit about the Pollen community and the vibes at Pollen Kampus

Pollen Kampus is a great place to work with such a caring and hard working team. It feels like a real family vibe throughout all sections whether it’s the pastry, kitchen or front of house team, it just feels like a big family and that just makes it such a warm place for customers to enter whether they are regulars with us or it’s their first time visiting the Kampus site. We have two sites, Pollen Ancoats being the original location and last year Pollen Kampus opened its doors.