We love hearing about independent businesses in Edinburgh and the latest one we want to showcase on Hidden Edinburgh is Riddle Me Rye an artisan microbakery business based in Edinburgh, specialising in sourdough bread, heritage grains, sweet treats and dairy-free options. Find out more about the business, owner Ian and most importantly where you can buy!
Ian tell us a little about yourself and your background?
I’m from Northern Ireland originally but lived in Dublin for 11 years before moving to Edinburgh in 2012 to take a career break and go back to university. My background is in IT and having worked in that industry since 2001 I was looking for a change. I really enjoyed visiting Edinburgh on work-related trips and weekend breaks so I jumped at the chance to move here!
So we have heard of micro-breweries before but not micro-bakeries! Have you always been a baker? How did you get into it?
Funny you should mention micro-breweries as the reason I moved to Edinburgh was to go to Heriot-Watt to do their Masters degree in Brewing & Distilling! After I graduated I very nearly opened a microbrewery business in Glasgow in 2014, but a few factors conspired against me and I ended up having to drop the plans at the last-minute. I went back into IT to allow me to regroup and come up with a new plan.
I’d been wanting to learn how to make sourdough as I was inspired by some of the really great bread I’d been eating so I enrolled in a one-month course at the School of Artisan Foods in Nottinghamshire. It was a really intensive immersion in all things sourdough under the fantastic tuition of Wayne Caddy who is a legend in the baking industry. During that course I knew I’d found my passion and was really excited to get into production and share some wonderful bread with friends and neighbours. I wanted to start small and build it up after my experience with the microbrewery, hence a micro-bakery!
You are fighting against the modern mass production of bread. How is your break-making process different? How does this effect the end product?
Mass produced (Chorleywood) bread is full of additives. It was recently in the headlines as it has been described by French researchers as an “ultra-processed” food. A lot of people have problems digesting this kind of bread and it is unsurprising when you see the list of E numbers and other rubbish that goes into it. It goes from raw material to finished product in a few hours as it is pumped full of commercial yeast and dough improvers. In contrast the sourdough I produce is made from only 3 ingredients – organic flour, water and salt. The process takes 3 days as the dough goes through a long slow fermentation which allows the naturally occurring wild yeast and good bacteria to rise the bread, start to break down the gluten and unlock the nutrients from the bran. Overall sourdough is more flavoursome, more nutritious and easier to digest.
What about the ‘heritage grains’ you use? How are these different? Are they better for you?
Heritage grains like Spelt, Khorosan, Einkorn and some of the heritage wheat varieties such as Hunter’s and Rouge d’Ecosse have recently come into the spotlight as they make fantastically tasty, nutritious bread. They haven’t been subjected to the same degree of cross-breeding as modern wheat, which tends to have been selected for disease resistance and yield. The heritage grains are nutritionally dense and they really pack in some amazing flavour! If you haven’t tried bread made with these grains I highly recommend it!
You have 24 hours in Edinburgh to do whatever you want. How do you spend the day?
I live near Portobello so the day starts with an early morning walk along the promenade, stopping for a coffee and listening to the sea. I love cooking (as well as baking!) so the afternoon would be spent browsing around markets looking for some interesting ingredients for dinner and maybe stopping for a refreshment at the Salt Horse as it is the best bar in the city for craft beer and I love the atmosphere of the old town. Then back home to cook dinner for friends and perhaps a glass of wine or two. As you can see my days revolve around food & drink!
Finally, where can people find you and your products?
From Saturday 3rd March Riddle-Me-Rye will have a regular stall at the Food & Flea market off Canongate. I’ll be there with my sourdough loaves, gourmet scones, bialys and sweet treats almost every week! Keep an eye on our events page as we do pop up at other locations too including Campervan Brewery taproom, where we’ll be on St Patrick’s Day Saturday 17th March.
