From fine dining to food for all

Imma The Bakery is a child of the thought: if we are going to strive for something special, then the soul-touching experience that comes of our passion and effort should be for everyone. 

I came from a world of fine dining and Michelin stars, a 15-year journey that gave me passion and purpose. However, I began to grow aware that the experiences I was trying to share through my work, couldn’t reach most people. That world of clinking glasses, white tablecloths and choreographed stages is only available to those who can afford them. I felt this even more keenly after we opened our own fine-dining restaurant. We crafted each plate with care, dedication and love, yet the intimate, nourishing connection I hoped to share through food wasn’t reaching the people I spent my days with or passed on the street.

The answer came in the form of a humble but deeply symbolic food: bread. Bread is for all people: for the family breakfast table, for hurried workday lunches, and for thoughtful, solitary moments. It is foundational, universal, and has sustained entire cultures for thousands of years. Directing my culinary passion towards Real Bread allows me to create something with all the skill, attention, and love that fine dining requires, but in a form that I can share with everyone. 

Mother dough

We named our Oxford restaurant Imma, which means ‘mother’ in Hebrew, as a fitting backdrop that evokes memories of a mother’s kitchen. It resonated with our intentions: to bring people that same comfort and love through food. Now, at Imma The Bakery, the name embodies our commitment to creating meaningful, everyday food for everyone.

Passion and purpose

Our journey hasn’t been easy. Growing the business to meet demand has come with its own challenges. The more our bread resonated with people, the more pressure was on us to expand. Every loaf we make holds an expectation of quality, and we felt the pressure of those expectations as our community grew. When we decided to scale up, we turned to that same community for support by running a crowdfunding campaign. People backed our small-town, local bakery by signing up for bread subscriptions, having us cater their events, and even ordering bouquets of croissants. Their support helped us to hire new team members, invest in better equipment, and meet the growing demand, without compromising our standards or principles.

We didn’t build our bakery around financial growth. It isn’t about maximising profits or expanding for the sake of it. For us, the goal was to create something we enjoyed, something rooted in passion and purpose. We wanted a business that could give us a modest, honest living, while bringing joy and sustenance to people in our local community. Growth came naturally when people connected with what we offered, and we’re incredibly grateful for that.

Curiosity and craft

Our whole bakery team are bread nerds at heart. We get our satisfaction from diving deep into the art and science of baking, constantly iterating and refining. Breadmaking is a skill of repetition, of endlessly refining single processes to uncover new insights and, hopefully, closer to that ever-elusive ‘perfect’ loaf. Our bread is simple, but it reflects hours of practice, care, and a constant push to improve. It’s our way of honouring an ancient tradition while adding our voice to it. 

This dedication to our craft paid off in April 2024, when our Oxford Country Loaf won the plain sourdough category of the Britain’s Best Loaf awards. Seeing our trophy on the coffee machine every morning is a reminder that beauty exists in simplicity. At the same time, this category is probably the most complicated: a plain loaf is nothing more than flour, water and salt. Knowing that we had turned those three, basic ingredients into something that stands out - sparking imagination and feeling – assured us that we had fulfilled the mission that we started with. The best things don’t have to be complicated, they just have to be done well. 

Better than the day before

Our vision remains wanting to make Real Bread that brings people together. We want our bakery to stay true to its purpose: a place that nurtures connection, sustains our community and offers a little bit of that kitchen warmth with each loaf we make. We’ll carry on doing what we do, always trying to be just a little bit better than the day before.

@immathebakery

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Originally published in True Loaf magazine issue 61, January 2025.