For a long time, our bread dish has been a cornerstone of our menu, perfectly encapsulating the philosophy of SALT. This beloved sourdough bread made with rye flour is also the flagship product of our new SALT Bakery, which opened in December.
The past 4 years brought about many changes in the story of SALT and hospitality in general, however, the now iconic rye flour sourdough bread had been a staple since the beginning. It is not only a part of the degustation menu, but it was also one of the most popular products of our deli that operated during the pandemic which, our regulars have been asking for even after the restrictions were lifted. Since December, customers can enjoy Chef Szilárd’s bread, blood pudding-filled snail-shaped pastries, and woodruff-flavoured butter cakes in our new bakery and workshop at Buda’s Tárogató Way. Led by some of the well-known faces of SALT—business manager Ádám Zsigó, general manager Lea Lefkovics and under the professional supervision of Szilárd, our 10-member team welcomes our customers each day.
In December, we opened our pop-up store in the former grocery store reimagined with a Scandinavian atmosphere by Bummm Design, and experimented with putting together the list of our products. Our bakery offers a sophisticated, limited, but exciting selection of pastries for those looking for high-quality classic and modern flavours. All our loaves are sourdough, and besides our classic half-rye bread, we have wholewheat and cooked rye versions as well as seasonal specialities: for the opening, we prepared bread seasoned with fig leaves, our Christmas special was made with chestnuts, while our current limited offer has walnuts in it. As for pastries, you’ll always find the beloved classics – buttery croissants, cocoa-filled rolls, Scandinavian-style yeast-leavened, cardamom bullars – as well as some unique products inspired by the philosophy or dishes of SALT.
Our snail-shaped onion and blood-filled pastries are made with the same blood pudding as one of the appetizers in the restaurant and similarly, our SALT experiences made us fill our kouign-amanns with woodruff cream. Besides the selection of pastries, you can also enjoy American-style cookies made by Lea Lefkovics, one of the core members of our team.
We believe in gradual change: the products and interior of SALT Bakery are still evolving. Right now, our guests can sit on hay bales while they enjoy their cakes, and our record player gently plays on top of crates. We also continually develop what we offer according to what our customers are looking for. It is also increasingly exciting and challenging to adapt the concepts and philosophy of SALT in an everyday selection, in an entirely different domain of gastronomy.
During spring, we are planning on introducing more exciting pastries that showcase the fundamental values of SALT even better: they will be seasonal, made with local ingredients, according to the traditions of Hungarian gastronomy. Soon, even more seasonal, seasonally picked or preserved, fermented or pickled ingredients will get a spotlight in the bakery so that we can offer flavours which are rooted in Hungarian gastronomy yet can still surprise our customers. Our goal is to reimagine forgotten recipes and give these flavours a new life with local ingredients and a modern twist.
Right now, we are working on our savoury dill, cottage cheese and fermented millet-filled bun, and for popular demand, we are also introducing our very own kifli (Hungarian crescent-shaped bread) made with hempseed flour and decorated with even more hempseeds after baking.
Education is a fundamental pillar of SALT which manifests in our bakery under Szilárd’s professional supervision. We believe that even a simple sourdough bread can encompass what we mean by gastronomically and culturally relevant and valuable food.
Our dog-friendly bakery was well-received by the local community that was hungry for a similar shop in the area, and we are also pleased to see that our customers are even willing to travel from the other end of the city to experience what SALT has to offer this time.
