CARDIGAN’s Bara Menyn has won the accolade of ‘Best Bakery in Dyfed’ – covering Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire - at the National Bakery Awards.

The competition is open to bakeries throughout the UK, both retail and wholesale and now owner and head baker Jack Smylie Wild will be heading to Piccadilly, in London, on June 4 for the finals, where the St Mary’s Street business is in with a chance of winning overall best bakery at both Welsh regional and UK national level.

Jack is recognised as having lead a resurgence in Wales with regard to artisan (especially sourdough) methods, and is regarded as a spearhead in the Real Bread movement in Wales. He is also a member of the Welsh Grain Forum.

Having cut his teeth back in 2014 at Watson & Pratt’s Lampeter Bakehouse, he quickly rose through the ranks to open his own café and bakehouse in Cardigan where he dedicated seven days a week - while also living above his bakery - to honing and mastering the art of wild fermentation with organic flours.

A true purest, Jack kept his range small to begin with. As time moved forward, Jack added new types of bread, always 100 per cent sourdough, to the cooling racks.

Alongside his famous daily loaf (essentially a pain de campagne style bread with added wholegrain spelt) other breads soon gained a following: ancient grain, sprouted rye and caraway, super seedy, Torth Gymreig (meaning Welsh Loaf, made using locally grown and milled grain), spelt and porridge.

In recent years Bara Menyn has added a range of Viennoiserie and patisserie to its shelves – developing a distinctive and ethical approach with organic ingredients including organic Welsh butter and grain.

The bakehouse has been vegetarian for the past 12 months and is now powered by 100 per cent green energy - 71.58% offshore wind, 27.6% onshore wind, 0.12% solar, 0.7% hydro.)

“It feels like a really positive step for our business, which is continually striving to work with more and more sustainable businesses, grounded in holistic models revolving around local, seasonal, organic produce, and renewable energy,” said Jack.

“It is fantastic to achieve recognition at the National Bakery Awards and we are looking forward to the finals.

Bara Menyn was also a finalist at the recent Food Awards Wales and was highly commended

at the Welsh Independent Retail Awards.