Dough makers close to “blind rage”

Who doesn’t like the smell of fresh baked bread and fresh coffee? That’s exactly what one will find in Bakery Lyck, which was founded in 1919, and is my favorite bakery in Kiel. It is located in the area of Ellerbek, and I want to hereby introduce it to the reader.

Getting up early is worth it

The working day begins early at 1am, when employees are already taking care of a wide array of baked goods in the early morning hours. So before the working day starts it is already possible to meet for a relaxing breakfast or to pick-up some bread and rolls on the way to work.

Bakery Lyck has 4 stores nowadays and has been continuing their traditional craftsmanship for four generations already, despite many drawbacks between their foundation and now.

Although there were some personal tragedies, from the times of Second World War to a big fire in the year 2010, the bakery managed to survive some bigger difficulties and their craftsmanship persevered.

Craftsmanship with tradition

In an interview Mr. Kai Lyck explained to me what distinguishes his bakery from others. “The crucial point is that we don’t use machinery which would help us with production. What’s important to us are the people and their hands. Everything we do is artisanal.” He furthermore explained to me, that Bakery Lyck adopted old and traditional techniques of handwork, which disappeared hundreds of years ago but now has been brought back to life. Because of this, they have the possibility to bake bread which completely distinguishes itself from industrial products or goods from more mechanical wholesale bakeries.

A further emphasis is on the recipes, which are used at Bakery Lyck: “We largely relinquish flour treatment agents and even if we use them then they are clean-label-products.”

This means, that the flour treatment agents decompose almost entirely, so that they are not verifiable anymore in the product and are only used for operational reliability and the specific volume of all standard products. “Furthermore, we have a wide variety of recipes and therefore not only one specific type of dough which every product is made out of. We have a specific pre-dough, a specific sour-dough, a specific recipe, and this (high variety) brings our dough makers almost close to “blind rage”. In a metaphorical sense of course.

Delicious and caring

I’ve determined that their baked goods differ in taste and consistency from other products and therefore the customer is getting something really valuable here. Also, on a social level Bakery Lyck has a commendable concept: Products that are leftover get picked up daily and then donated to the food assistance center (Kieler Tafel). Furthermore, a farmer comes along every 14 days and picks up leftovers for his animals.

Due to all of my impressions, I advise everybody to have a look, get convinced by the quality, and then support traditional craftsmanship at the same time.

The branches of Bakery Lyck are located at: