No sugar for Northern Ireland's award-winning Krazibaker

Northern Ireland's award-winning Krazibaker is completely sugar-free. All breads from the popular baker are made without sugar.

Experienced baker Mark Douglas, known as Krazibaker in Northern Ireland, has noticed a growing interest from shoppers in the ingredients of his wide range of traditional Irish breads. The products are also produced without yeast or preservatives.

"Many shoppers are now asking if I use any sugar in baking Irish soda breads, potato cakes, treacle farls, cinnamon and whiskey sides, wheaten bread and potato apple. I've been finding that people are now looking more closely at ingredients on packs. I am happy to tell them that all my breads, all griddle baked, are completely sugar-free…and always have been. Bread really doesn't need sugar," he says.

Based at Dromore in county Down, Krazibaker has been reviving interest in traditional Irish breads baked on the griddle and has won a series of awards, including UK Great Taste Awards, for his products. He's also showcased his products and baking technique at events in London and Dublin.

In addition to the development of traditional Irish breads, he also operates a successful bakery school, the only one in Northern Ireland dedicated to spreading skills in traditional Irish bread making. It followed requests from foodservice organisations here to demonstrate his skills. "Setting up a bakery school had long been an ambition. I realised that there was a gap in the market," he explains.

"While Northern Ireland, unlike Great Britain, has managed to preserve a heritage in home bakeries, I noticed that griddle baking was declining steadily. The days when traditional potato cakes and soda farls were regularly baked in many homes have long gone. It appeared to me that the skill was in rapid decline, and that's sad because griddle bread is tastier. This led me to try to keep the tradition alive," he adds.

He set up the business in 2013. Among recent product developments in the launch of a sourdough loaf in response to the growing demand here for a type of bread favoured by the UK's Real Bread Campaign.