A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How Wholesale Bakeries Ensure Quality & Safety

Step into our bakery early in the morning. And the first thing you’ll notice is the smell – crusty loaves, toasted grain, maybe a hint of caramel from the sourdough crust. Behind that smell is a system we’ve built over the years. At Novak’s Bakery, supplying restaurants, hotels, shops, and cafes across Limerick means one thing above all else: quality and safety are non-negotiable.

Here, we take a look at how artisan wholesale bakeries like ours make sure every loaf, every roll, every sourdough that leaves our ovens is as safe, fresh, and consistent as it is delicious.

It All Starts with Local Ingredients

We believe good bread comes from good produce. That’s why our story always begins with ingredients sourced as close to home as possible.

Limerick has some of the richest farmlands in Ireland – lush grass, fertile soil, centuries of farming tradition. The same land that produces world-class beef, fowl, and dairy also supports the farmers, millers, and suppliers we work with.

When flour arrives at our kitchen, we ensure top-notch quality. We check the texture, the protein content, and the freshness. Eggs are stored at the right temperature, butter is handled with care, and even the water quality we use matters. Every delivery is logged and tested. We use the freshest ingredients. It’s that simple.

For us, sourcing locally isn’t just about freshness – it’s about supporting the community we belong to.

Maintaining Hygiene and Sanitation Standards

Inside our bakery, food safety isn’t an occasional checklist – it’s our daily rhythm. The layout of our kitchen is designed so that raw materials never mix with finished products. Our mixers, ovens, trays, and workshops are stainless steel, easy to clean, and scrubbed down constantly.

We wear hair nets, aprons, and gloves. We sanitise our hands more times a day than we can count.

The Importance of High-Quality Dough

Now to the part we love the most: the dough. Whether it’s our classic sourdough resting over 24 hours, or a soft brioche enriched with butter and eggs, every recipe is part craft, part science.

We weigh ingredients to the gram. Mixers knead at precise speeds for exact times, ovens are set with precision, too, and then we add our instinct – pressing dough with our hands, feeling its stretch, breathing in the scent of fermentation. Experience guides us, but tradition leads us.

This balance of old-world artisan craft and modern precision is everything that makes Novak’s bread special.

Stringent Quality Checks 

Our products go through checkpoints at every stage:

• Before Baking: we test dough texture, fermentation, and volume.
• During Baking: we calibrate ovens consistently, balancing heat and steam.
• After Baking: we weigh loaves, inspect crusts, and test structure.

We also run shelf-life tests – setting aside loaves and monitoring them for days. If we say a sourdough will stay fresh for three days, it must still taste just as good on day three as it did on day one.

The Importance of Accurate Tracking 

Every ingredient, every batch, every oven run is recorded. If a supplier recalls an ingredient, we can track exactly which loaves were affected and where they went. This paperwork has its benefits, enabling us to build trust.

When you buy from Novak’s, you know where your bread came from – from the soil of Limerick to the oven in our bakery.

A Team of Artisan Bakers Behind the Magic

Behind every batch of products stocked on our shelves is a team of artisan bakers, a team we’re proud of. Each of them plays a part in maintaining quality and safety. We stay up-to-date on the latest hygiene practices, allergen awareness, and new recipe development.

And we’re proud of what we do. Every sourdough loaf, donut, and bun feeds families, is supplied to schools, supports restaurants, and serves guests at Limerick’s hotels. This sense of purpose is also a sense of achievement for us – every day.

Honouring Limerick’s Rich Tradition 

Novak’s bakery is more than just an artisanal bakery. We see ourselves as part of a much bigger food story. From Ireland’s oldest food markets to the families who still work the land the way their grandparents did, Limerick has always retained its farming traditions while adapting to modern innovations.

The rich soil, rich pastures, cheesemakers, butchers, farmers, and other artisans – we’re proud of them all and love every bit of Limerick. The journey between what grows in the fields and what comes out of our ovens is what keeps our bread authentic and true to Limerick’s roots.

Our Artisan Offerings

From breads to donuts – every product is tested, tweaked, and baked until it earns its place. No additives, nothing artificial. Just a handful of artisan magic that enchants people, and that Limerick food businesses can rely on.

Sourdough

Our sourdough loaves are long-fermented, crusty on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside – time-honoured bread that works whether it’s sliced for toast, stacked into sandwiches, or plated up with butter and nothing else.

• White sourdough
• Wholemeal sourdough
• Poppy seed sourdough
• 100% Rye sourdough
• 100% Rye sourdough with multi-seed
• 100% Rye Sourdough with cranberry and walnuts
• 100% Rye sourdough with caramelised onion
• Wholemeal Bread
• Rustic Baguette

Brioche Buns

The brioche buns are soft, golden, slightly sweet, and buttery. They’re strong enough for messy burgers, light enough for breakfast rolls – and we can size them to fit your menu.

• Poppy Seed
• Cream Cheese
• Black Currant
• Cinnamon, Cherry Confiture
• Chocolate, Vanilla Custard
• White Buns
• Granary Buns
• Poppy Seed Kaiser Rolls

Pizza Buns

Then there are the pizza buns – swirled dough with sauce, cheese, herbs, baked until gooey and golden. They’re hit on counters and practically fly off our shelves.

• Margarita
• Pepperoni
• Mushrooms

Donuts

And, of course, donuts. Hand-rolled, filled fresh, glazed, and finished with delicious flavours. No pre-mixed fillings, nothing artificial – everything made in-house.

• Mix Berry jam
• Custard
• Rhubarb and strawberry
• Mango and passion fruit
• Chocolate
• Coconut
• Toffe
• Cherry confiture

Taste the Result of Artisanal Labour 

We source and bake fresh every morning. This is the rhythm we love. Because every loaf we bake carries our name – and Limerick’s centuries-old tradition.

So next time you slice into one of our sourdoughs, take a mouthful of our donut, or bite into a burger at a local cafe made with our brioche: you taste heritage. From Limerick’s soil to Novak’s ovens, from our hands to your table.