Bakestone Bread's Baker's Dozen and I

I saw an appeal from Bakestone Bread company recently, looking for new members for the bread testing panel. How could I not try my luck?! I was delighted to receive the news that I am one of the chosen testers.
Bakestone has enlisted thirteen bakery aficionados to join The Baker’s Dozen, a panel of taste testers who will sample their new products to help perfect the newest recipes.
I could write an essay about bread and how much we love it. Being born and bred in Russia, I cannot live a day without it. Bread is the most sacred food, and in the old times guests were welcomed with a bread and salt. Just like this Russian beauty greeting her guests.

But my post today is not about Russian traditions, perhaps I should post about them one day.
Today I am talking about the Bakestone Bread and being a part of the Baker's Dozen.

Their motto is: At Bakestone, we pride ourselves on creating the tastiest, wholesome baked goods using traditional recipes and only the freshest ingredients. However, we know that we have to keep innovating and refining our recipes to make them the best they can be for the British public.

My first parcel contained all sorts of bread products: Bakestone's classic white and brown loaves, fruited teacakes and a selection of potato cakes (bubble & squeak, leek and spring onion).

I first made toast with the brown bread, and offered a slice each to my guys, who were more than happy to be testers. As you can see, happy indeed.

Sasha is very particular about trying new foods, and I was very pleased that he enjoyed the brown bread. In fact he enjoyed it so much, that I am in trouble now. The loaf is finished, and when I bought another brand brown bread, he sniffed at it, had a bite and decided it is not for him. I wish Bakestone bread was more widely available.
Apart from the toast, I also made simple butter and cheese sandwiches with it.

Sasha lives on tuna pate sandwiches, and the white bread from Bakestone is perfect for this purpose. We also tried it as a toast with butter and jam.

My favourite part of the parcel was potato cakes, these are far the best potato cakes I ever tried. My, aren't they scrummy!
We had them as they are, warmed up, we had them with a bit of cheese and prosciutto. My husband was asking for seconds and his verdict was Excellent! And again, I wish they were available in the local shops.

My personal favourites among the selection were Bubble & Squeak, they were absolutely delicious.

I hardly ever buy fruited teacakes, as this is a product I am never sure what to eat with. Bakestone fruited teacakes are made with sultanas, and are plump and on the big size, perhaps too big (that's my only issue). We had them toasted and served with a bit of butter and jam. I also used half of the pack to make a bread and butter pudding (with an egg, milk, apricot jam, sugar and a small fromage frais) to be served with custard. Yum!

The Bakestone range is widely available in the North, I believe, and I say: bring it down to the South.