Customers browse shelves of specialty breads and pastries inside “Qamhiyah Bakery” in the Engineers neighborhood of eastern Mosul, which offers health-focused and diet baked goods. Photo by 964media.
Mosul bakery offers more than 110 varieties of health-focused bread and pastries
MOSUL — A bakery in eastern Mosul is reshaping traditional market norms by offering more than 110 varieties of bread and pastries tailored to health-conscious customers, reflecting growing demand for diet-friendly and specialty baked goods in the city.
Qamhiyah Bakery, located in the Engineers neighborhood on the left bank, describes itself as the first in Mosul to focus on diet breads and pastries for people following nutritional plans, older customers and athletes.
Bakery manager Saja Muzahim told 964media the decision to open came after studying the Mosul market and identifying demand from fast-food restaurants for locally produced European-style sandwich rolls, as well as from customers with diabetes and a broader shift toward health awareness among residents.
Pakistani pastry chef Zain Maher, who has more than eight years of experience and relocated to Mosul last year after working in the Kurdistan Region since 2018, oversees production. The bakery’s offerings include sourdough made with live yeast that takes three days to prepare.
The bakery supplies around 40 stores in Mosul and Hamdaniya with items including almond bread, multigrain loaves and cheese and chocolate croissants, as well as four fast-food restaurants. Its range spans sugar-free cakes and chocolate, gluten-free and oat products, multigrain brown toast, French baguettes, brioche, muffins, carrot cake and a rotating selection of cookies including cashew, pistachio and jam-filled varieties.
The bakery’s branding and product range signal a broader shift in Mosul, where the traditional makhbaz is increasingly marketed as a “bakery” offering international-style and health-oriented products.