High demand for artisanal breads

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http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2012/4/23/lifefocus/11093501

More people  are developing a taste for freshly baked handcrafted breads. If you don’t make them yourself at home, artisanal bakeries are the place to go.

FREELANCE writer and photographer Marion Raj, 38, was taken aback when her seven-year-old daughter Deepa refused to eat the bread she’d baked herself and instead asked for “real bread”.

“She made a face and didn’t want to take more than a bite. She kept asking for ‘real bread’. What she was referring to, of course, was the store-bought white bread we had in the house! I was stunned.

“It’s not her fault, I know as we had been buying those loaves since she was a baby. But to hear her refer to it as ‘real bread’ ... well, it really hit home,” Marion recalls.

The mother of two (she has a four-year-old son, Devan) realised immediately that she had to act fast: she had to introduce her children to the taste and goodness of freshly baked bread (those made without artificial additives or flavour enhancers) before it was too late.

Baking a reputation: The Bread Shop in Bukit Damansara has earned a reputation for its artisanal bread that is baked fresh daily.

“I took a basic course in bread making a year ago because I didn’t want my children growing up on commercially produced bread. The bread you get in the stores isn’t horrible ... but those loaves don’t actually taste like bread. They are way too soft, have no bite and are, too often, unnaturally sweet. Still, it is so convenient to just pick up a loaf from the supermarket. Besides, freshly baked bread is hard to find,” says Marion.

She embarked on a mission to get her children to like freshly made, additive-free bread. The process of weaning Deepa off store-bought bread was slow but successful.

“I started with softer bread like buns, rolls, sandwich bread and focaccia before introducing her to wholemeal, multigrain and sourdough breads. Thankfully, I found a bakery quite near my home that makes fresh breads. Now, her favourite is the multigrain!” she says, with relief.

Marion’s story isn’t unique. Most of us have grown up on commercially produced bread that has no crust (those tough bread ends on sliced bread don’t qualify as crusts), are extremely soft (so soft you can squeeze a slice into a little ball) and they just taste sweetish and sometimes, cakey. They lack the structure and flavour of “real” bread – the golden, crackling crust, a silky, chewy crumb and a rich, mature flavour that is prevalent in bread that’s made by hand.

Also, commercially produced breads stay “fresh” for an unnaturally long time, thanks to the many chemical additives that are added. They are made for longevity, not flavour.

Millet & Flour owner Wilson Low is a self-taught baker who picked up bread making through reading professional books on the subject and then experimenting at home.

These machine-made, prepackaged loaves are in fact impostors.

Ace baker and author of The River Cottage Bread Handbook Daniel Stevens says that there are only two types of bread in this world – “bread that hands have made and bread that hands have not”.

Unfortunately, most of the bread consumed in many parts of the world is the “hands have not” type as the plastic-wrapped, machine-made loaves are so readily available and also cost considerably less than handmade or artisan loaves.

According to a recent article in The Independent, over 80% of the bread produced in Britain is commercially produced using a method called (or based on) the Chorleywood process. First introduced in 1961 by the British Baking Industries Research Association in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, the Chorleywood baking process “revolutionised” bread production in Britain and soon after, the world.

The Chorleywood method not only speeds up the production of bread but extends its shelf-life considerably. The combination of lower-protein flour, increased amounts of yeast, reduced fermentation, the inclusion of an assortment of chemical additives coupled with high-speed machine-mixing techniques resulted in a high-volume (read: profitable) production of bread at very low costs.

And, what you get is what you now see in stores: rows of identical-looking (and tasting) bread that can only be differentiated by its packaging.

Greater demand

Worldwide, there is an increased awareness of the need for change. The Real Bread Campaign in Britain is an alliance of bakers, independent millers, cereal growers, researchers and activists that are championing the return of “real bread”. The alliance’s definition of real bread – be it sourdough, bagels, baguettes or rotis – is that it must consist of just the four ingredients required for bread making (flour, water, salt and yeast – an optional ingredient as unleavened breads like chapatis and lavashdon’t require it). Any additional ingredient used to enhance the flavour of bread – such as seeds, herbs, nuts, cheese or milk – has to be natural.

Over here in Malaysia too there has been an increased awareness and appreciation of handmade bread. Though still relatively small, the demand for “real bread” is evidenced by the sprouting of several small-scale neighbourhood bakeries around the Klang Valley that make modest quantities of fresh bread by hand daily. These bakeries are stand-alone establishments, not franchises, and they tend to stay away from big, busy, commercial malls.

Wilson Low, owner and resident baker at Millet & Flour, a small bakery-cum-café at the Riana Green Plaza (which adjoins the Riana Green apartments in Tropicana, Petaling Jaya), says he has witnessed a definite rise in customers looking for freshly baked bread.

“There is more demand for good quality bread. Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable and are making smarter food choices. People look for bread that is made without any artificial additives,” he says.

The 28-year-old is a self-taught baker who learnt the art of bread making by reading books on the subject and by getting his hands dirty – trying, failing and trying again.

“The first loaf of bread I made – I remember clearly that it was in December 1997 – was very stiff. It was basically stiff baked dough and I ended up giving it to my dog. I had many failures following that first loaf before I eventually learnt how to make bread. I learnt the foundations of baking bread by reading professional books on bread making and the rest was just a lot of trial and error,” he says.

Low has a regular customer base for his handmade loaves. He doesn’t make large quantities of bread daily – just about a dozen or so French baguettes, rye, multigrain, muesli and sourdough breads, and more if he has special orders – and he bakes all the bread himself.

He mixes the dough in the evening, lets the dough ferment overnight and just after dawn, he kneads, shapes and bakes the loaves in his small but well-equipped kitchen at the back of the bakery.

“A good quality bread should have the flavour that comes from the fermentation process and not from any additives or enhancers. And, good bread also has structure and isn’t too soft as a result of chemical bread improvers,” says Low, who lists sourdough and rye as his personal favourites.

Another bakery that is committed to selling only authentic, freshly made bread is The Bread Shop in Bukit Damansara in Kuala Lumpur. The three-year-old bakery-cum-café has been steadily earning a solid reputation for its bread (and also its coffee) which is baked on-site all day long.

Owner Wai Peng Merican explains that the idea behind The Bread Shop was actually her husband’s (though he prefers to remained unnamed). The couple both enjoy a good loaf and having had the good fortune to travel and taste artisanal breads in the US and Australia, the Mericans wanted to bring home some of the goodness they’d savoured abroad.

“It was my husband’s idea. He wanted to open a bread shop after seeing various bakeries in New York, San Francisco and Melbourne. Bread is wholesome and is eaten daily and there weren’t many good breads sold in KL. We wanted a mixture of good old-fashioned white breads and traditional European loaves that are crusty and more chewy. We also wanted to bake healthy breads that have more fibre in them. And, we use fine ingredients and absolutely no preservatives,” says Wai Peng.

The Bread Shop produces 15 varieties of bread each day. Their top sellers include the cranberry-walnut loaf, organic broom bread (a super-high-fibre bread), multigrain bread, sourdough bread and their baguettes.

“We usually have about eight to 10 loaves left over each day which we give to charity or to homes around the Klang Valley. We never sell bread that isn’t freshly baked,” stresses Wai Peng.

Though neither Wai Peng nor her husband bake the breads themselves, they have a team of skilled bakers whom they trust with their vision.

“We have a good team of bakers. I won’t lie. In the beginning it was hard to convince them that we wanted everything made from scratch, every day. No premixes, no short cuts. You’d be surprised how widely premixed flours and doughs are used in bakeries but we weren’t going to compromise. It took a while but now, everyone is on board,” she explains.

The Bread Shop employs an open-plan kitchen where customers can actually see the bakers at work.

Not quite daily bread

Although The Bread Shop was initially supposed to be just that – a shop that sold good, authentic and artisanal bread, the owners discovered soon after they started operations in 2009 that selling loaves of bread alone wasn’t going to cut it.

“When we started out we had a tough time selling our breads, mainly because nobody knew us. It was our pastries that attracted the customers. But even that wasn’t enough so we started selling sandwiches,” says Wai Peng candidly.

Its location in Bukit Damansara – home to many expatriates in Kuala Lumpur – has also helped make The Bread Shop a popular spot for bread and sandwiches.

The situation is the same across town at Millet & Flour. Apart from his breads, Low sells pastries and hot meals like Malaysian staples nasi lemak and chicken rice.

“In Malaysia, bread is still secondary. Rice is still our staple and most Malaysians still like having a hot meal, even for breakfast. But things are changing ... we are slowly changing our staple and starting to eat lighter, more healthy meals.

“Some diners order a hot meal but also buy a loaf back for dinner,” says Low.