[As published in September/October BayBuzz magazine.]

To bake or not to bake that is the question? 

This takes me on a mission to ‘pound’ local pavements in search of some of the best crusts and baked goods in our neighbourhood. The breaking of bread and the rituals that surround this product have been known to man for eternity. The smell of freshly baked bread makes for an immensely satisfying experience and good bread is always a joy to look at and a pleasure to eat. 

The story of flour is intriguing and its use in baking is varied. Flour refers to any grain that has been ground into a fine powder. From rye to rice, tapioca to corn, the range of flours now available is extensive, but the lead force in the flour world is wheat. A typical grain of wheat is about 6mm long and 3mm thick. It has three parts – the endosperm, the bran and the germ. During milling the wheat kernels are cracked and finely ground. 

The variety of breads now available is staggering, but for me the hero is the sourdough loaf. Although leavened bread may not be recognized at first glance, its flavour and texture are a dead giveaway, and it has the added advantage of having long keeping capabilities. The pain de campagne (country bread) in France is typically a large round loaf made from natural leavening. With sourdough bread the slower fermentation process provides additional nutrients and antioxidants and the prebiotics tend to help keep your gut bacteria happy. 

Our fascination with bread started when we visited the famous Poilane bakery in Paris in 1993. Tasting their country bread with its chewy, grainy flavours was a complete ‘light bulb’ moment. David and I realized that this traditional style of bread making was a pure art form. Obviously their bakers were skilled in the subtleties of fermentation and so it was right back in the 90’s that David experimented with a starter he inoculated with wine grapes. And it is this starter that we still use at Mister D. 

Caring for our starter (which we have named Thelma) is like a long love affair as it needs to be tended to daily. Wednesday is the start of our baking process for the weekend as it takes three days and many steps to achieve the fermentation, rises and baking. Saturday is also the day we bake sourdough and ciabatta for Chantal Organics. This maintains our long -standing relationship with our Napier neighbour. 

Just around the corner from Mister D in Hastings Street is the Lisbon Artisan Pastry Shop. Owners Sofia and Tiago arrived from Portugal over 5 years ago with the aim to set up a small and exclusive bakery. The piece de resistance is their Portuguese Tart which they bake scores of every day. Their secret recipe has been fine-tuned over many years and the result is the most addictive mouth popping custard tart. Stephen Robinson, my trusty photographer and I were lucky to arrive just when a tray of the tarts was being placed in the oven. Like a couple of kids in a candy store we eagerly watched them baking and then the eventual tasting of the crisp, creamy, sweet little numbers. 

The literal meaning of Pasteis de Nata is Portuguese for cream pastries. They were first made over 300 years ago in a monastery west of Lisbon. Monks developed the custard-filled recipe with sugar and surplus egg yolk left from using egg whites to launder clothes. 

By making bread on a regular basis professional bakers develop intuitive skills which may lead them to experiment with different flours and investigate the current demand for gluten free baking. 

One such local baker is the highly regarded and well-known chef Vicki Bruns-Bolderson, whose company The Gluten Free Maker specializes in baking gluten free breads, cakes and pizza bases. The original motivation for her product was the fact that she was diagnosed as being highly gluten intolerant and consequently any bread that she tried was tasteless and uninteresting. 

Vicky experimented to craft her recipes to get them right and now her hand made treats are in hot demand. Her products are made using her own non-gummy, non-gritty gluten-free flour blends, which she mentioned took five months to develop balancing brown rice flour, white rice flour, tapioca, potato starch, buckwheat and corn. 

Vicki also uses Chantal Organics for many of her ingredients. I timed my visit to her kitchen just at the right moment to watch a batch of her delicious breads coming out of the oven and to see for myself the love and care that had gone into baking them. Vicki delivers locally on a Wednesday and also couriers boxes throughout the North Island. Vicki takes orders via email. ([email protected]) 

On the ‘bake vine’ I hear that Long Island Delicatessen in Hastings ticks all the boxes. Kristy and her team bake daily, are passionate about quality and ethically sourced ingredients. With the development of the Municipal Building, curiosity led Kristy to view the space and what stemmed from that was a vision to create this New York styled delicatessen. 

The name of the business stems from the fact that they have a long display counter to showcase the healthy deli range of salads and bespoke baking. As an added option they also have a comprehensive catering menu. Email enquiries to [email protected] 

On the hunt for the ‘humble’ cheese scone I tried theirs and encountered a holy grail of cheesiness. The perfect scone is a matter of debate, but the most important ingredient is a quality cheddar cheese and a little parmesan with a pinch of cayenne. I am told a light touch in the mixing helps to keep the scone fluffy. 

Another true-blue CBD bakery in Napier is the Yeast Coast Baking Co. Twenty three years ago Greg and Annabel Pederson moved from Rotorua, giving up their corporate jobs to start a new life in the Hawke’s Bay. With young children it was a time for them to spread their wings and start a business from scratch. 

Greg originally employed a German baker to assist with the nuances of baking and especially that of sourdough. These days he bakes alone and enjoys the solace of his craft. Most of their flour is sourced from Organic Flour Mills in Palmerston North. This mill’s primary goal is to provide the healthiest grain and flour they can for their customers. 

You can taste the love in every loaf with them at the Napier Urban Farmers Market every Saturday and the Hastings Hawke’s Bay Farmers Market on Sunday. Their artisan breads and pastries are made the old-fashioned way with traditional long ferment methods and their delicious pastries are butter rich. 

With the plan to shop for the weekend, I gather up some ingredients and start to conjure up a salad recipe which will involve, (you guessed it) sourdough. 

Photos: Stephen Robinson

PANZANELLA SALAD (TUSCAN TOMATO AND BREAD SALAD)
Serves 4

This rustic salad is a great way to use up stale ciabatta bread or peasant bread and is a simple assembly. This salad makes a great lunch dish or a side for barbecued meats, roast chicken or grilled fish. Obviously the ingredients are more bountiful in the summer, but fresh is always welcome in the winter too. 

200g stale ciabatta or sourdough bread, roughly torn up

600g heirloom tomatoes (red and yellow if available) or vine tomatoes

½ small red onion, finely diced

Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chopped capers, drained 

1 red pepper, charred and peeled (optional)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil

Small bunch of basil, torn

Toss all the ingredients together in a rustic serving bowl. 

Drizzle the red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil over the roughly torn up bread and with your hands flick all the ingredients together. 

Taste and add a little more salt if necessary. 

If you enjoy the flavor of anchovies you could add at this stage and then finish with torn basil leaves.