Bread that takes the cake
FOUR of Australia’s best bakeries - from Bondi to Subiaco.
1. Loafers Organic, Perth. “Fantastic bread,” says The Australian’s restaurant critic John Lethlean, fresh from a visit to Subiaco farmers market. And like a lot of fantastic breads, Loafers Organic started out small and rose to the top in response to demand. Owner-baker Damian Norvilas and his wife Alaine kicked off at the Subiaco Farmers Market five years ago: a thriving wholesale business soon followed and Loafers now has six bakers and myriad support staff processing more than three tonnes of flour a week. “Most of our breads are sourdough, some are fresh yeast, but all are long fermentation,” says Norvilas. Try it also at Jamie’s Italian, Perth; Sayers, Perth; Little Creatures, Fremantle; Bib and Tucker, North Fremantle; and the Cutting Board Cafes, Perth.
Loafers Organic is sold at Subiaco Farmers Market every Saturday. Phone: (08) 9355 5351
Loafers is thriving with its long-fermentation bread. Source: Supplied
2. Piper Street Food Co, Kyneton, Victoria. If the sine qua non of a food destination is quality bread, then Kyneton, a thriving little town in central Victoria, has hit the big time. In September, village hub Piper Street Food Co opened a seven-day-a-week bakery and cafe, an expansion to its three-year-old charcuterie business. “Well, you can’t have good rillettes without good bread,” reasons owner Damian Sandercock. So he hired gun baker Philip Bottomley, sourced organic biodynamic flours from Laucke and Powlett Hill flour mills and focused on 100 per cent sourdough from natural leavens; the baguette is a semi-sourdough and contains a little fresh yeast. There’s standard white; the 1.8kg whopper, Miche; a 100 per cent rye; a light rye with caraway; a fruit ficelle: all very fine.
Address: 898 Piper Street, Kyneton, Victoria, (03) 5422 3553
3. Apex, Tanunda, SA. When Corey Fechner’s grandfather started working at Apex Bakery in the Barossa Valley, he was 12 years old and the year was 1924. He’s now 100 — must be all that good bread, paleo nuts take note — and the business is still in the family. Behind its longevity, says Fechner, is an approach unsullied by modern, commercial bakery imperatives. “We’ve always used a nine-hour ferment (to make the bread, compared with one hour for mass-produced) and we always will,” he says. “It renders the gluten much easier to digest.” Unlike so many other new-wave artisanal bakeries, sourdough bread is not the focus at Apex, though it is available on weekends. Most of the breads here, including the wonderful, plain wholemeal loaf (how many bakeries do real wholemeal any more?) is made with fresh yeast. And you can buy it at the Central Market, too.
Address: 1 Elizabeth St, Tanunda, SA, (08) 8563 2483
Bondi Organic’s bacon and egg pie. Source: Supplied
4. Bondi Organic Republic Bakery. Man does not live by bread alone, a mantra the owners of Organic Republic appear to have taken to heart. He or she also needs good coffee, decent pastries, cut-above sandwiches and … a gluten-free bacon and egg pie, made in a muffin tray and sold with the muffin papers still intact. Such is its popularity, locals report arriving at 6.30am some days to find they’ve nearly sold out. Others take to social media to bang on about the spelt scones, the gluten-free bread and the all-round inspirational nature of this ethically focused business and vital community hub. It’s rare for a bakery and cafe to excel on both sides of the ledger; the odds of it also being right near the beach, on a corner site with sunny outdoor seating, are up there with winning Tatts, we think.
Address: 98-100 Glenayr Avenue, Bondi, NSW, (02) 9300 8804
