WITH voting for The Northern Echo’s Best Coffee Shop now well and truly open, your favourite needs your support!

Every day over the next ten days, we will be featuring one of our top ten finalists, chosen by our readers.

Today we speak to Phil Elliott, who runs Breaking Bread Kitchen and Bakehouse in Bishop Auckland with John Monaghan.

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Phil said: "We opened in 2019, but Breaking Bread has been around since 2017 but as a micro bakery. We took over the Bishop Auckland Market Place premises in 2019.

"We turned a former garage behind the cafe into the bakery so we're all on one site.

"We specialise in sourdough, and we're quite artisan and experimental with our flavours.

"We sell our bread at local artisan markets, including at Barnard Castle. We used to do Bishop Auckland and other local regular markets but we just do the monthly artisan ones now – it became the best way for us to cover both the markets and the cafe.

"We do try to be seasonal with our flavours, but we do get people asking for their favourites! We have some regular loaves we never change, such as our cheddar and jalapeno, but currently we have walnut and fig; and turmeric and fennel seed which is very popular."

Despite starting life as a bakery, Breaking Bread is now just as well-known for its cafe, serving up top-quality breakfasts.

Phil said: "I trained in London, and later taught cookery, focussing more on butchery than baking. But bread always fascinated me, especially sourdough because its completely different to yeast bread.

"The idea was to start a business from home while we were raising our kids, but it sort of took over.

"We did our first market in 2017 and started delivering in 2018. It just took off and before we knew it we had a cafe, and were selling at markets and wholesale."

Phil said he believes what makes their cafe special is their breakfast stacks of black pudding, sausage and brown sauce hollandaise.

"We serve until 3pm and always get a crowd in wanting breakfast sandwich, or our lunchtime specials of lasagne, gammon and chips, or Mexican pulled pork.

"Bishop Auckland has a lot of independent shops and cafes now, and I think we all support each other in bringing people in."