It’s National Honey Month, and once again we’re partnering with some of the best retail bakeries in the United States to promote honey, honey bees and the use of this 100% all-natural ingredient in breads, pastries and sweet goods.
Why use honey in bakery foods? Flavor, functionality and marketing. Honey is the perfect ingredient to deliver all three. It makes bakery foods taste better, it naturally inhibits mold growth and consumers love honey!
Throughout September, check out one of these retail bakeries and purchase their made with honey bakery foods!
Floriole, Chicago, Illinois
We’ve been working with Floriole for the last five years and are excited to partner with them once again for National Honey Month. Owner Sandra Holl first attended our Honey Baking Summit in 2014, and then took part in our Honey Baking All-Stars collaboration project in 2016.
These in-depth honey education opportunities helped inspire the use of honey in her bakery, and she even has kept bees on her rooftop garden! Her favorite honey varietal: Orange Blossom. “I love orange blossom honey’s slightly astringent, floral and orange notes. They really come through in the honey, and it works very nicely in an assortment of bakery foods.”
She uses Orange Blossom honey in a pepita sesame honey bar as well as countless other products such as breads and an upside-down honey and pineapple cake. Visit Floriole Café & Bakery in Chicago or online.
Back in the Day, Savannah, Georgia
We first met Cheryl and Grif Day at the 2018 Honey Baking Summit, and since then, we’ve loved every opportunity to work with them. At their bakery in Savannah, Georgia, you’ll find an assortment of delicious bakery foods to choose from, but we recommend the biscuits. Make them even better by choosing one of three varietals of honey to top them. This September for National Honey Month, they will be sampling lavender, blueberry and tupelo honey. Check them out online or visit them in Savannah.
Born & Bread Bakehouse, Lakeland, Florida
A Lakelander, lover of all things food and owner of Born & Bread Bakehouse, Jenn Smurr bakes honest breads, uses the word quality with emotion and believes in community, because bread is better broken together. Since starting her bakery at the end of 2015, Born & Bread Bakehouse has established a reputation for quality and excellent in breads and pastries.
“One of our customer favorites is the Milk & Honey cruffin. It’s filled with a vanilla bean cream and drizzled with our house made honey syrup” Smurr says. “The syrup is infused with lemon and cardamom. Ooooooof!”
Besides being a nostalgic flavor combination, the honey in the Milk & Honey cruffin provides balance, rounding out the sweetness of the pastry cream with more complex flavors. If you’re in Lakeland, visit Born & Bread Bakehouse or check out their Instagram, which will leave your mouth watering.
Gracious Bakery + Café, New Orleans, Louisianna
Megan Forman of Gracious Bakery is another two-time Honey Baking Summit attendee, participating in events in both 2014 and 2016. More recently, Megan worked with us on our recipe book, contributing two excellent formulas, a Honey Glazed Donut and Honey Thyme Cakes. The Honey Thyme Cakes are truly outstanding, balancing the sweetness of honey with the herbal notes of Thyme. We recommend making these cakes today! Here’s the recipe.