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The Dusty Knuckle bakery in Dalston has had that coveted word-of-mouth popularity ever since it launched in a Hackney shipping container in 2014, but during lockdown it became the epicentre of London’s sourdough zeitgeist. With the bakery closed, the Dusty Knuckle team took to a milk float to bring their potato sourdough loaves and sandwiches straight to the people. Every weekend, they’d share a time and location on Instagram, and the queues would appear at that spot in seconds. Word of mouth turned to word of WhatsApp. Suddenly my group chats were pinging with updates that Dusty K had ‘dropped their location’ like my friends were letting me in on an illegal rave.
With all the buzz around it, it’s no surprise that The Dusty Knuckle is growing. Recently, the bread slingers announced plans to open a second location in Green Lanes (more specifically, 429 Green Lanes, at the former site of Sri Lankan restaurant Yaalu, so says Hot Dinners). It will also operate as a pizza restaurant, three nights a week.
On the Dusty Knuckle Instagram, the team said that the past year has been ‘especially brutal’ but that they are ‘100% confident in our plan and at peace with our decision’ adding the caveat that ‘it’s a terrifying time to be taking a leap of faith of this size’.
To help make the Green Lanes location a reality, the business is planning to launch a crowdfund in exactly one week to help generate funds. Rewards include ‘a year-long bread subscription’ and a ‘ten-loaf bread card’. If carb credits aren’t quite enough to tempt you to open your wallet, it’s worth noting that The Dusty Knuckle actively trains and hires young offenders to help them retain stable employment.
For all the WhatsApp updates, I never once made it to The Dusty Knuckle Milk Float before the potato sourdough ran out, but one DK devotee friend describes it as the ‘perfect combination of crunch and chew’. Please let this Green Lanes location materialise, so the sourdough scavenger hunt can come to an end. We all deserve to experience the perfect combination of crunch and chew.
In other hefty sandwich news, Dom’s Subs has opened a new location in the bloody City.
Want more? Find London’s best takeaway sandwiches, according to ‘sarnie fiend’ Kate Lloyd.