005. Highland & Herringbone
The inspiring journey of a young entrepreneur and her first business.
This is the story of Founder Angelica Christiansson and how Breakin’Bread evolved from a humble Swedish family recipe, to being shared with friends and now enjoyed by many.
The early days
It all began when I moved from Stockholm to London back in 2013, to start my undergraduate. Having grown up in a country where the shops have aisles upon aisles of all kinds of varieties of crispbread (us Swedes love a good crispbread), I quickly started missing great ones to have with cheeses and dips. Ryvita just didn’t cut it!
Luckily, my mum had a fabulous recipe to hand, one that happened to be gluten-free and packed full of nutritious seeds.
These became a go-to when hosting, served on a cheeseboard, as canapés or with dips. People loved it!
Realising a gluten-free, super-seeded and deliciously crunchy crispbread was something others had been missing too, I started selling it at my local farmers market in 2019.
I pulled a suitcase with stock and decoration and roped my boyfriend into carrying a table to our local market.
I was so nervous setting out and was sure I wasn’t going to sell anything. But almost immediately upon setting up someone came and bought the very first pack! It was off to a flying start, and I sold out before the day was over and had to pack up early.
I started doing markets more or less every weekend, increasing the number of packs I brought each week as it kept selling out. It became a challenge making enough, as I worked full-time in an office and would have to bake in the evenings when I came home.
At the time I lived in a flat with just one oven, so it took hours and hours to make enough for just one market. Soon enough my boyfriend and I moved and the capacity increased thanks to more ovens, just in time for our retailer list to grow and orders increasing each month.
Going full time
Until late 2023, I kept working full-time as Head of Marketing for a drinks brand, and would only occasionally have time to bake myself. Luckily, I have some lovely and talented friends who I trained, and they became my part-time bakers.
One of my talented friends is still helping out a few days a week while I’m becoming a jack of all trades, filling my days with baking, marketing, social media, accounting and all things start-up business.
It feels amazing that I’m now focusing full-time on Breakin’Bread and that we’re now in the process to future-proof the brand and be ready for continued growth and great things.
Since that first farmer’s market, Breakin’Bread has steadily been growing in to a crackin’ little business, now stocked with the likes of Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges, Daylesford and many fantastic independents, and I’ve finally taken the leap to focus on the business full-time.
Bakery Life
I’m lucky to live in a very unique house, where we’re currently in the process of building a bakery in the basement.
I’m looking forward to having a fantastic Breakin’Bread bakery to pop downstairs to every day and come summer, host cheese & wine tastings in the beautiful conservatory at the back of the house.
A day in my office or bakery, includes blasting everything from Fleetwood Mac to Paul Desmond or listening to a podcast.
Days are often rounded off by having friends or family over for a meal or a dreamy cheeseboard.
What is crispbread?
Famously, Scandinavia loves crispbread, and Sweden is certainly a hub of the tradition.
It’s been baked in Sweden since around 500 AD but became a true staple in the 1800s.
Traditionally, it’s baked round, with a hole in the middle to be hung on sticks in the roof. These versions are still around, as we have aisles and aisles of crispbread in all shapes and sizes in the shops.
Our recipe
The Breakin’Bread recipe is my mum’s and I brought it with me when I moved to London.
It’s made with buckwheat flour (making it naturally gluten-free) and packed full of seeds (making it high in fibre, protein and omega-6), so pile on the cheese or enjoy it with dips. It’s disappearingly good, I guarantee!
Wondering about the name? It’s leaning on the Swedish word for crispbread, ‘knäckebröd’. To ‘knäcka’ means to crack/ break, which brought me to Breakin’Bread but I also loved the communal underpinning of ‘breaking bread’ as something we do together.
There will be more of that in the near future!
The year ahead
2024 is going to be a really pivotal year for Breakin’Bread, and for myself.
I’m finally able to focus on growing the business full-time and am ensuring there is space for growth by building my own bakery.
This year will also see the Breakin’Bread community growing.
We make award-winning crispbread but will also be hosting cheese & wine tastings, share restaurant & bar recommendations, offer summer picnic hampers and partner with other exciting brands in interesting ways.
Join us on the journey, we’re just getting started!
As Breakin’Bread embarks on a pivotal year, expanding its offerings and inviting more people into its growing community, let Angelica’s story inspire you to embrace the values of simplicity, sustainability, and sharing.
Thank you for sharing your inspiring story Angie, we’ll be thinking of you in your wonderful new basement bakery whenever we spot Breakin’Bread.
-Lyndsey
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