Green bread is crowned Britain's best loaf

Miyo Aoetsu says her speciality is a "fusion of Japanese and Western baking"

A green loaf of bread flavoured with matcha, white chocolate and fruit has been crowned the best loaf in Britain.

The bread, called Brioche Japonaise, was baked in Derbyshire by a woman who started baking as a hobby.

Miyo Aoetsu now runs Kuma-San Bakehouse professionally from her home in Matlock, supplying local businesses and baking loaves for customers to collect.

Her award-winning loaf was inspired by her Japanese heritage and also her time living in France.

"In my country it's quite common to use matcha for sweets, cakes, cookies and things like that," she said.

"There's the bitterness of the matcha and the sweetness of the chocolate and white fruit, so the balance of the taste is quite exciting."

The Brioche Japonaise was highly praised by judges

The bread won top spot in the Britain's Best Loaf competition, run by trade magazine British Baker, and also won the Innovation category.

Craft Bakers Association president Neil Woods said: "In all the years I've been judging, I haven't seen anything like this before."

The loaf was praised by the judges for its "outstanding use of ingredients, wonderful texture, and decadent white chocolate inclusions", which they said remained "almost gooey to deliver a wonderful eating experience".

Miyo now bakes her bread professionally from her home in Matlock, after starting as a hobby

Miyo first moved to the UK to study at the University of Manchester, where she met her husband.

The couple later lived in Luxembourg and France, where Miyo got a taste for French bread. She then started baking her own bread after moving back to England.

"I missed French bread a lot because it was very different from the bread here," she said.

"I started making my own bread as a hobby. However, when I baked for friends and family they really, really loved it, and they encouraged me to be a professional baker."

She said she was "very excited" to win awards for her Brioche Japonaise because it reflected her Japanese culture and identity.