Totally Delicious Bakery, located on Mannings Hill Road, is known for its daily offerings of freshly baked hard-dough bread and delicious, comforting cakes and puddings. What
Thursday Food recently discovered was its garlic hard-dough bread. Better late than never, we surmised, as we tore into the buttery, herb-laden, gummy bread and jerk chicken. A visit to the source was an imperative!

A simple customer inquiry some three years ago about different varieties of breads, according to Totally Delicious co-principal Verne Williams, triggered a reaction from in-house baker Simone Martin.

“She was the one who came up with the idea that we could do a garlic bread,” Williams shared with
Thursday Food. Martin, who had experimented with it prior, gauged customers’ response with small quantities, allowing demand to grow organically.

“Customers were buying it on a small scale,” she informed. “However, the entire trajectory changed when a friend introduced the garlic hard-dough bread to content creator Tallonn Zeparti. He reviewed it on his vlog… that’s when it really started to take off.”

Indeed, the garlic hard-dough bread has quickly become a hot staple at Totally Delicious, taking its place alongside signature offerings like the classic hard-dough and round bread.

The gourmet favourite is available on Tuesdays and Fridays, with almost 60 loaves baked per day; and is available in two convenient sizes: The large loaf is priced at $900, while the smaller option costs $500.

“We see this as a gourmet bread,” says Williams. “A real departure from our traditional daily staples like the hard-dough or grotto. It offers a sophisticated twist and has quickly become a caterer’s favourite.”

For Haynes, the bread’s variety is its key appeal. “It is a personal favourite because there are so many uses for it,” Haynes noted. “It’s so versatile — it works as a meal by itself, or you can pair it with anything from pasta to lasagne. It provides a different flavour, and the fact that garlic is also healthy is definitely an added benefit.”

Totally Delicious Bakery principal Verne Williams shows Thursday Food the in-demand garlic hard-dough bread. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Totally Delicious Bakery (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Operations manager Samantha Giscombe (right) pays cashier Imani Golding for her loaf of garlic hard-dough bread.Joseph Wellingston

Merchandiser Sheena Parker packs the garlic hard-dough bread on the shelves. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Showcasing the array of garlic hard-dough loaves are Totally Delicious principal Verne Williams (left) and supervisor Winsome Haynes. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Step 1 Oven ready garlic bread dough (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Step 3 Totally Delicious baker Simone Martin sprinkles a liberal amount of parsley atop the garlic hard dough bread (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Step 4 Totally Delicious baker Simone Martin brushes garlic butter across the bread. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Step 2 Straight out-of the-oven tray of four loaves of garlic hard- dough bread (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

Step 4 Totally Delicious baker Simone Martin brushes garlic butter across the bread (Photo: Joseph Wellington)