The Best of Muscat : Breads

Flour, water and yeast, that’s it. It’s simple, available everywhere, and can become something extraordinary, eaten by billions all over the world, and even causing movements such as the French revolution. Some places call it life. We call it bread.

That simple, divine loaf that has been on breakfast tables across the world and in many different cultures. Known throughout a 5,000 year history from the Phiron era to the ancient Metasopenia and Greece. It was mentioned in the Quran (Surat Yousuf), the Bible and the Torah.

In Paris, there is a yearly bread competition where the winner supplies bread to the presidential palace for a year. Bread is cherished around the world with different names and different ways of baking, however the ingredients are the same: flour, water and yeast.

At muscathome.com, we tasted and tested many varieties of bread or loaf in Muscat, Oman to pick the best of them all for you. Our verdict? Dough by rk, as referred to on their instagram page is the best bread bakery in Muscat. A home business run by Rahila and her 3 daughters. Rahila started baking when she was 14, learning mainly from books on the subjects purchased while on visits to England with her parents - there was no internet or social media those days! Her passion was baking, and bread, to her, was life. She eats bread everyday no matter the occasion or the meal, even if it was only one slice of bread with butter.

Time passed, Rahila got married, had kids, worked, and helped run the family business. Then one day the world changed, COVID happened, and as everyone suddenly stayed home. Bored, she found the time to rediscover her old passion. She started to bake again, this time, with her daughters. They worked together to create the perfect loaf. It got better and better with each variation they created; testing different types of flour and naturally occurring yeasts as well as a variety of different baking methods and temperatures.

The process took time and effort, however, perfection is an art best achieved with time, passion and dedication, and Rahila was well equipped with all of these traits to bake the best loaf in Muscat.

And one, delicious day, the aroma of baking bread in the air, she found it. The perfect balance of crispy from the outside and soft in the inside. She had baked the absolutely perfect loaf which is the best bread for toast to enjoy with the family.

She called family and friends over to test the bread, and that was it. Everyone agreed, it was the best bread in Muscat they had ever tasted! And that was the start of dough by rk. The word spread, and family and friends called asking for loafs of bread. That is when she decided that she could start a business.

It began with a few loaves a day, growing quickly on a weekly basis, delivering orders for family, friends, and friends of friends. An instagram page was initiated for those who wanted to buy fresh bread in Muscat and grew exponentially without paid ads. Rahila’s eldest daughter Maithaa was also stuck at home due to COVID, studying online at home. She had time on her hands, and decided to take over the marketing aspects of her mother’s social media page. Maithaa learnt about business and then also found her way into the kitchen. Following her mother’s footsteps, she also learnt how to bake, and discovered a special joy in baking pastry. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and she too found she had a talent for baking. You can feel her passion and the love she has for baking in her voice and through her eyes as she talks about her plans of graduating with a business degree from New Zealand attending the prestigious Le Cordon Blue. She wants to master the art of baking and open a family owned bakery and patisserie in a few years Insha’Allah. Her ambition is high on turning their family business into the best bread company in Muscat, and why not? Coming from a background of the best home baked bread in Muscat!

The journey was not easy, finding the best ingredients was the main problem in Muscat. To bake the perfect sourdough the flour had to be perfect with a high amount of protein, bleached and processed would not work. The local available flour was not good enough to bake the perfect loaf, they had tried many! So they began to try different types of flour shipped from different parts of the world. In the end they went for a German brand.

Creating the perfect yeast was also another challenge. For a sourdough loaf you needed a naturally occurring yeast, different from the instant yeast we find in the supermarkets here. So they nurtured their own yeast, and even took the yeast to Jabel Akhdar to breathe the fresh pure air until they mastered it. If that is not pure dedication then we don’t know what is! Rahila calls her home grown yeast her baby, and she makes sure to feed it on a daily basis.

The loaf might be expensive compared to what is available in supermarkets and other bakeries, but for the effort and love that has gone into it, it sure is worth it. If it’s the perfect loaf and the best bread for protein you are looking for, then this is what you want. Using only the best ingredients, each loaf is made carefully with dedication and passion and attention to detail every step of the way. This is not just any loaf, my friend. It is the most perfect slice of bread you will ever taste. And that is what you pay for. If you buy a small cup of coffee for 2 rials, why not buy a loaf of bread instead? which you can enjoy with the family for a few days, if it lasts that long (it will not, trust us!).

Muscat is changing, and the growing trend is an appreciation for quality rather than quantity, therefore people look to buy the best bread in Muscat. COVID made people more aware of the value of a healthy lifestyle in all of its aspects. This sourdough loaf is healthier and tastier; you can not beat it, however you choose to eat it. Be it in a delicious sandwich, a toast, in tea, and even simply by itself or with just butter as Rahila explains.

Don’t believe us? We urge you to try this perfect loaf for yourself. Buy fresh loaf in Muscat by ordering order via their instagram page: dough by rk, and you will not be disappointed.

Rahila’s advice to the younger generation who want to start their own business is to simply start. To not be afraid of failure, but to keep trying despite it. Perfecting a process takes time; dedication is needed; the commitment to wake up at 4 am everyday to bake, to test different ingredients, recipes and methods, every single day. To accept failure as a necessary step towards achievement, and not a reason to give up. And to keep moving forward, one step at a time, until you reach that perfect loaf.

Watch this space, and stay tuned for our next article to discover the best coffee in Muscat.

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