From Iyengar bakeries to artisanal bakers, Bengalureans are starting to enjoy the crusty and dense European naturally fermented bread as much as they relish milk bread. Having experienced total shutdown following the lockdown in March, the artisanal bakers are now slowly trying to inch back towards business, albeit with half the staff strength and a reduced offering.
Pranav Ullal(37) a Bengaluru boy from Malleswaram fell in love with bread during his stints in France and Germany. "Keen on bringing this back home, I returned to India and founded Loafer & Company in 2018." His team includes head chef Anahita Girish and Raji the binder, who hails from Shimoga. His mother who lives above the bakery in Malleswaram joins the team to help out during these trying times. While they make 20 varieties of bread, which are a mix of yeasted and naturally fermented bread, also called sourdough (a type of bread that is more acidic/tangy, chewier and crustier) Their supply from Jivabhoomi an organisation which works with a community of farmers across the country who do not use chemical pesticides has been hit and the menu is limited which changes depending on the raw materials in hand.
Being a South Indian, Ullal ensures to suit the dietary needs by using a lot of millets and grains. Talking about the current situation in the country, what made him come back in week 3 to resume baking were messages in multiple WhatsApp groups talking about the bread shortage in Malleswaram. He resumed by making basic pav and spread the message that they can be collected with no contact. This move was appreciated by the community and orders increased. After meeting the initial need, he started making a few more varieties for the regular customers and started doing community drops by himself and leaving it with their security or their door step. His average sales are 300 a week ranging between Rs`180-250. A unique grain he uses is an Egyptian wheat called ‘Emmer wheat’ which is extremely nutritious."Artisanal breads are more versatile and healthier, since they don't contain maida. They also have a longer shelf life of 3-5 days without refrigeration," he adds. He also mills his own flour.
While Ullal had a ready customer base, the lockdown came like a big jolt to Selvan Dandapani, who had moved to his Sour House bakery a newer and bigger space in Koramangala this February. Dandapani says things are slowly coming back to normalcy now. "We have also managed to include a new item on our menu, the sourdough pizza that has been been received well," says Dandapani, who calls sour bread the oldest form of making bread "until people discovered dry yeast and became lazy".
Fermentation has been his specialty, with his speciality being items such as the Kombucha drink. Post the partial lifting of the lockdown, Dandapani says his orders from apartments have increased, but they are working only with 50 per cent staff.
When they moved to the new place, their vision to not only open a bakery but a cafe and a workshop space for people to watch the process as well has been deferred indefinitely.
Samruddhi Nayak, on the other hand, has chosen to open her Krumb Kraft in Indiranagar with only her family members doing the baking thrice a week.
"We are in the business of providing food and would not like to be irresponsible, as it changes a lot of hands and our staffers use public transport to travel," says Nayak, who got hooked on to sourdough bread after multiple visits to Germany. “I was too spoilt with good bread and had to start baking my own as I couldn’t settle for anything lesser,”
A B.com graduate took to her first love when marriage brought her to Bengaluru. She holds a Diploma in European Baking which got her offers to teach as well. She has been a visiting faculty in Christ College and used to teach full-time at White Caps Culinary School. She said – “The first time I conducted a class, it as a nerve wracking experience. I never thought Iwould be on this side of the table someday." Soon the German Embassy caught wind of this news and became her customer who introduced her to the Indo-German council in Pune. They loved her bread and asked her to host a stall in their beer festival at the Embassy in Mumbai. Thus her journey began and there was no looking back.
She recalls, adding that when artisanal bread hit the market initially, it felt like people were catching up to it as a fad. "But today, people understand its nutritional value and how it’s kinder on the gutt," she says. "The demand has been overwhelming since we reopened."