There are already plenty of reasons to visit Toklas Bakery, off The Strand in central London: fruity danishes, burnished sourdough loaves and sticky cinnamon buns, plus some of the punchiest coffee this side of St Paul’s. Now, another excuse: a new range of Roman-style sandwiches filled with seasonal ingredients. It’s part of a menu switch-up by Adam Sellar, who helped launch Toklas Bakery in 2021 as a consultant and has recently been appointed executive baker.
“I think the Italians have got it right,” Sellar tells Broadsheet. “They’re ingredient-focused, they’re flavour-led and their approach to sandwiches and bakery culture is really inspiring.”
The sandwiches are inspired by Sellar’s time working in Bologna, where he’d make pala romana – “big flatbread, which we call a Roman sandwich”. Pala means “peel” in Italian and refers to a wooden peel or paddle used to put the bread in the ovens. Sellar was so dedicated to the pala cause he took Toklas owners Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharpe to Italy so they could see firsthand why he kept talking about it. “They fell in love with it as well.”
The bread is light and delicate; at Toklas each sandwich is pre-made then heated to order, resulting in crisp, crunchy edges. Sellar makes the bread from Italian soft wheat flour and a long-fermented biga (pre-ferment or starter), as well as heritage wheat.
Fillings will change regularly and are deliberately simple. First up, expect what Sellar says is a take on a classic ham and cheese sarnie: prosciutto cotto, scamorza and mustard mayo. There’ll also be a vegan courgette, white bean cream, lemon and basil number, and a cheddar and confit tomato version. Then there’s one for salty tooths: stracciatella, with “very good anchovies spread all over the top of it” and pickled fino lemons.
At breakfast there’ll be an Italian take on a classic bacon butty; the bread will be brushed with a honey and mustard glaze then topped with Swaledale streaky bacon and confit tomatoes. “It’s like a bacon-ketchup sandwich, but taken to new heights.” There’s even a sweet sandwich: the pala romana with a chocolate and hazelnut ganache similar to gianduja, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. “It’s a little cheeky chocolate sandwich”.
The sandwiches are just one part of the equation: there’s a new trio of “escargot” laminated pastries shaped like snails, which allows for a good distribution of ingredients. For launch, there’ll be slow-cooked tropea onions with ricotta, pecorino, rosemary and lemon, and a chocolate-orange version. Then there’s a bacon and prune, inspired by the mouthful of prune you often get from the centre of a terrine “and it’s got all the onion and [terrine] stuck around it, and it’s a delicious little mouthful”.
Toklas Bakery’s new line soft launches from May 13 to 17. From 11am each day during soft launch, the first 50 sandwiches will be £5.
