West Kirby micro bakery takes two stars at Great Taste Awards 2024

Little Eye Sourdough, a micro bakery based in West Kirby, had their black olive and fresh herb bread and their cheese and cayenne oatcakes each bring home a one-star rating this year.

The Guild of Fine Food’s Great Taste Awards 2024 are dubbed the Oscars of the food and drink world.

Nearly 3,500 companies entered Great Taste this year, between them offering 13,672 products for review.

Each entry was blind-tasted by the Guild’s expert judging panel of more than 500 food critics, chefs, recipe creators, buyers, retailers and other specialists in the field of food and drink.

Malcolm Williams has been baking in his kitchen since 2011

Malcolm Williams opened Little Eye Sourdough Bakery in 2011 and has been baking in their West Kirby home-based domestic and bread oven for the past 13 years.

Their bread is sold at shops and markets from West Kirby to Hoylake, Heswall and Oxton while attending The Gardeners Question Time Summer Fair at Ness Gardens and Wirral Food Fair at Claremont Farm.

They currently sell at West Kirby Farmers Market on the fourth Saturday of each month.

The stall at West Kirby Farmers Market

During lockdown, they started a click and collect bread group with locals picking up their bread from the front garden and paying online and this has evolved into a permanent weekly bread group.

Malcolm said: “I set up Little Eye Sourdough alongside my work as a freelance consultant,

“In the 1980s, I worked for Natural Rise Foods – London’s only sourdough bakery at the time – and helped develop a new range of organic, slow fermentation handmade breads.

“Together with my wife, we have been running bread classes for a number of years and have trained more than 700 people to make sourdough breads.

“We haven’t tried to grow the business beyond west Wirral and we remain a micro bakery – a niche provider of award-winning products for local foodies and health-loving people.

“We are keen on promoting quality breads and teaching sourdough skills rather than going for mass production.”

Bread making classes are popular at Little Eye Sourdough

The Great Taste Awards, now in its 31st year, judge products made anywhere in the world with organisers saying it is the largest global accreditation scheme for food and drink.

Entries were analysed across 92 judging days, each receiving detailed feedback, whether or not they obtained an award.

The judges said the black olive and fresh herb bread was “a generously sized loaf with a good looking crust that cuts to reveal an airy crumb with clear stripes of vibrant olive paste”.

Judges loved the natural appearance of the biscuits.

They said: “The cumin was evident on the palate and the cheddar shone through with the cayenne giving a subtle lift on the palate.

“The biscuit had a decent snap and would hold a topping successfully.

“[They’re] very versatile and have a homemade vibe.”

Malcolm said: “It’s always good to get a professional, outside view, endorsing my recipes and the quality of what I make.

“Little Eye is a small island off the coast in the Dee estuary and our micro bakery retains the resilient character, local focus and natural ingredients that inspired our choice of name.”

Two other Wirral businesses featured in the award for 2024.

READ MORE: Port Sunlight honey feels the buzz of success at Great Taste Awards 2024

Churn and Chill, a family-run gelato shop on Grove Road in Hoylake, had a three-star: exquisite rating bestowed on its honey, rose and lemon zest gelato with two-stars: outstanding given to the salted tahini and honey offering and one-star: simply delicious for its coffee product.

Sunlight Bees received a one-star rating for his delicious tasting honey.

Little Eye Sourdough Bakery won a Taste North West award in 20212, just after the business opened, and five other Great Taste Awards in 2022 and 2023.