A FRENCH country-style sourdough from a small Bournemouth bakery has won the title of Best Loaf of Bread in the UK.

Husband and wife team Istvan and Marta Nadhazi of M’s Bakery in Pokesdown were crowned both winner of the Real Bread Campaign award and overall winner at the World Bread Awards.

“My wife and I have been baking together for more than 30 years.

“We used to have a bakery in Hungary before we moved to the UK in 2011.

“We set up our bakery two years ago. The secret is the quality of the flour,” says Istvan.

“We use organic stone ground with 90 per cent white flour, five per cent wholemeal and five per cent whole rye.”

The couple say their flour is sourced from Michael Stoats, a fifth-generation miller at Stoate & Sons mill near Shaftesbury.

“These days, people are much more interested in buying sourdough and ‘real’ bread.

“It’s good for the the gut, better for balancing your blood sugar, easier to digest, lower in calories, and contains fewer chemicals and preservatives,” he adds.

Nadhazi’s sourdough was judged by a panel of 90 master bakers, including stars of the bread-baking world Richard Bertinet, Stephen Hallam of Dickinson and Morris (famous for its Melton Mowbray pies), and Dr John Foster of BBC’s Victorian Bakers.

Another Dorset-based baker, multi-award winning Mark Bennett of Patisserie Mark Bennett in Poole, also shone on the night, scooping Winner of Speciality Savoury and Runner Up in Speciality Sweet. Mark has previously won Best Baker of the Year.

Istvan added: “ I wanted to move out to the countryside with my family, so I joined Mark Bennett’s patisseries near Poole.

“He’s a legendary baker in the area, and he became a great friend. I learned a lot from him, but my dream was to open my own independent bakery.

“My wife and I bake everything from scratch: viennoiserie, French patisserie and cakes for special occasions as well as bread, and both sweet and savoury pastries. I love croissants myself – I need to eat less croissants.”

The World Bread Awards, sponsored by Tiptree and Brook Food, was founded in January 2013 to celebrate the very best of British bread baking.