The Real Bread Festival

Join us at the second annual Real Bread Festival for a day filled with delicious bread and good times!

The festival is a celebration of the city’s best independent bakeries, showcasing real bread; made without chemical raising agents, so-called processing aids or other additives.

Discover a wide variety of breads from local bakers, each with their own unique flavours and techniques. From crusty sourdoughs to fluffy baguettes, there's something to satisfy every bread lover's palate. There'll also be coffee, preserves and more available for purchase.

Indulge in mouthwatering samples and pick up freshly baked goodies to take home. You also have the option to drink your bread by enjoying a pint in the Dominion City Beer Garden -- there are 17 taps, including cider, wine and NA beverages available for purchase. The Real Bread Festival is a true feast for the senses!

Your festival pass includes a keynote talk with Dawn Woodward, founder and baker at Evelyn's Crackers, an inspirational whole grain bakery in Toronto.

This event promises to be a great day for bread lovers, foodies, and anyone looking for a great day out.

Festival Passes are available for $10 (+ HST and Eventbrite fee) and include access to the fest, keynote talk and free sample bites from each bakery vendor.

Festival Bundles are $20 (+ HST and Eventbrite fee) and include a festival pass, plus an Almanac tote bag (60% recycled cotton) and a $5 voucher good for fresh-milled flour from the Almanac retail store.

Love bread baking? Sign up for the Real Bread Festival Home Baker Competition and be considered for the top prize! Entries are available as an add-on purchase for $15.

Our judges will slice and sample entries received the day of the festival.

Loaves can be submitted upon arrival at the check-in tent anytime before 1pm the day of the festival (Sunday September 22) and winners will be announced at 2:45pm. Please purchase an entry add-on ticket at checkout and complete one entry form for each bread submitted for judging.

The winner of each category will take home a flour bundle from Almanac. One entrant will be named Best In Show and take home the Black Ribbon for 2024 and be recognized as Ottawa's best home bread baker and win a deluxe prize pack featuring fresh-milled flour, Almanac prize pack and lame.

Please purchase one competition entry per item you plan to submit.

The Real Bread Festival Home Baker Competition entry form is available here (please complete one form per entry.)

Categories:

Sourdough - Water, flour and salt. (Genuine sourdough, as defined by the Real Bread Campaign, made without added yeast or commercial leavening agents)

Cheese - All styles welcome, must contain cheese!

Enriched / Inclusions - bread made with additions of seeds, fruit etc. Can be sweet or savoury (except cheese loaves which should be entered in the Cheese category)

Whole Grain - Loaves made with 100% whole grain flour

Fresh-milled / Heritage - Made exclusively with flour from Canadian-grown heritage grain, freshly milled in Canada (inclusions allowed)

Pastry - Brioche, Viennoiserie, croissants/ Danish pastries, sweet or savoury

Please purchase one Home Baker Competition Entry per submission. Registration closes 20 Sept 11:59PM.

Almanac Urban Mill & Bakery

The Black Walnut

Bread By Us

Coconut Lagoon

Edible Ottawa

True Loaf Bread Company

The Artery Coffee Roasters

Top Shelf Preserves

Eldon's Pantry

Loaf Artisan Bakery

Almanac is an urban mill and bakery in Ottawa's East End. We're committed to sharing delicious, restorative and healthy Canadian food. We source certified organic heritage grains farmed with integrity and transform them into fresh stone-milled flour with purpose and intention. We believe that by growing the demand for good food we make space for better farming and ultimately create a more sustainable planet.

The Real Bread Campaign launched in the UK in 2008 and has become a worldwide movement finding and sharing ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet. Whether your interest is local food, community-focussed small enterprises, honest labeling, therapeutic baking, or simply tasty toast, everyone is invited to become a campaign supporter.

GOLD

Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall LLP

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Almanac Urban Mill & Bakery, 5510 Canotek Road, Ottawa, Canada