The Life-Enchancing Quality Of Bread As Seen Through 5 Bakeries
Text by Angela Hui
Illustration by Janice Chang
Bread is life. It’s one of the cornerstones of civilization. The term “making dough” derives from bread, because to earn one’s living is to earn one’s bread. Aside from being a means for survival, it’s also used as a scale to measure how good things are in the world. It is widely available in all shapes and sizes, affordable to all, delicious and easy to make while ensuring high calorie nourishment.
This ancient carb remains symbolic of salvation from hunger and oppression, largely thanks to its connections to politics and deep roots that are embedded in the fabric of social and cultural history. People started baking bread some 30,000 years ago and we humans have used it to serve a multiple functions for countless millennia: as a form of currency; a bargaining tool; a barrier to sandwich other ingredients together; and a shovel to dunk in oils, dips and soups. It’s a universal staple where one size really does fit all.
Yet there’s more to bread than its reputation as just a primal foodstuff. In terms of its symbolic potential, it transcends its sustenance value, and possesses the power to bring people together. But most importantly, bread is synonymous with the idea of goodness. So join us on a whistle-stop tour of the globe to meet bakers who are using bread to not only make a living, but to put their own unique stamp on the rolling bread landscape.
The Simple Bakery
Pelican - Tokyo, Japan
Pelican has been dubbed the ‘treasure of the bakery industry,’ and the menu at this venue in Tokyo’s downtown Asakusa is so good that they haven’t changed it since they opened 76 years ago. Fourth-generation owner of Pelican, Riku Watanabe, manages the bakery alongside a team of 30 employees. They retain principle and tradition by selling only two items: shokupan (white bread loaves) and dinner rolls. Founded by his great grandfather Kazuo Watanabe, Riku Watanabe Jr. worked his way to the top after graduating from university and then inheriting the bakery in 2014.
The team begin work at 4am and, because it’s the same recipe every day, there’s still a strong, old-school artisanal spirit in the produce. Their perfectly square shokupan loaves are unbelievably fluffy and soft—milky white cloud on the inside with a tender golden brown crumb. It’s a loaf that’ll transport you right back to childhood and a place that really plays up the nostalgia factor—the only change to their set-up is the recent addition of a cafe on the same street. The pared down food menu continues to lure in customers and when the bakery officially opens at 8am, there’s guaranteed to be a queue of people waiting. “I think it is my job to tell everyone how fascinating and nice Pelican bread is,” Riku says. “We’ve never changed over the years and that’s our brand. We refuse to stray too far from our focus because you can’t overstride nostalgia with something new.”
The bakery produces 400 to 500 white bread loaves and 4,000 dinner rolls a day. Thirty percent of its revenue comes from selling wholesale to neighboring coffee shops, restaurants or grocery stores, while the rest is from direct sales to consumers at its storefront and cafe, where the bread is displayed on wooden shelves. Pelican isn’t your run-of-the-mill local bakery, it’s a piece of history that has managed to survive World War Two. Bringing customers a continued sense of reassurance, and a feeling of security that comes from being able to buy the exact same product in the exact same packaging at the exact same spot for the last seven decades, is what keeps this Pelican in flight.
The Caring Bakery
Better Health Bakery - London, UK
Founded in 2012, the east London-based Better Health bakery works as a social enterprise with mental health charity, Centre for Better Health. It uses locally sourced ingredients to produce artisan sourdough bread and provide trainee placements to help people with mental illness. “Our ethos is that you leave your diagnosis at the door. Things like medical histories and issues aren’t shared with anyone,” says Lisa Donohue, Social enterprise manager of Centre for Better Health. “It’s more about the support that an individual needs, which can vary from person to person. For some it could be around building confidence, gaining workplace skills or improving wellbeing.”
About 90 percent who enrol in the 12-week trainee scheme are referrals from GPs and hospitals, but people can also self-refer. Better Health Bakery is a stepping stone for people to ease back into their day-to-day life and get used to being in a work environment. And in terms of the products served, it’s not just slow fermented loaves on offer. The bakery also has a cafe and shop attached where customers can sit down and enjoy other popular offerings such as sandwiches, cheese toasties, breakfast buns, cookies, cakes and brownies. As well as sourdough pizzas on a Friday.
Production levels here are at a slower pace compared to a regular bakery. People learn in a supported environment, where they’re not being rushed or trying to produce bread in large quantities. A lot of the bread is sold on the weekend at farmers’ markets and commercially to cafes, delis and restaurants, with all profits earned finding their way back into running the enterprise. Even though there’s a lot of work to be done in terms of filling wholesale orders and keeping its own bread racks stocked, the atmosphere is surprisingly calm, cool and collected.
“Everybody works around one main table. It’s non-hierarchical, and trainees and volunteers get involved in all aspects of producing bread,” Donohue says. “There’ll be people with a great deal of sourdough knowledge or others that are just starting out—everyone learns together.” After trainees have finished their placement, they can either go into full time employment, further training, an apprenticeship, volunteering or back into education. But wherever they end up, they’ll have come from an oasis of holistic contemplation.
The Alchemist Bakery
Weichardt-Brot - Berlin, Germany
Walking into the Weichardt-Brot bakery in Berlin is a bit like entering a time capsule. Its interiors have a charming, grandma-esque feel (in the best possible way) and not much has changed since the store opened in 1977. Husband and wife duo Heinz Weichardt and Mucke Weichardt were frustrated by the cheap, factory produced, cardboard-like bread in the city, and so decided to be the first to found a wholemeal and demeter (biodynamic) bakery to Berlin.
Located on a small street in the Wilmersdorf area, Weichardt–Brot’s main bakery and mill are right next door to each other, where the flour is ground daily on three natural stone mills and everything is baked in a traditional stone oven. Focusing on time and tradition, the Weichardts only use organic wholegrain flours and raise their own sourdough by hand using Backferment, a mildly sour natural leavening agent based on lactic acid bacteria rather than acetic acid. This means it’s easier to digest and produces a wonderfully neutral aroma and flavor. “It took a while for us to figure out how to apply the dough with water, salt, and natural yeasts from the baking fermentation,” says Mucke. “At the start we didn’t use baker’s yeast or demeter honey yeasts to help with the rise, and it took us a while to get on the right track in terms of taste.”
The pair retain a core team of 30 bakers and most of them have been there since day one—job satisfaction levels are astronomically high. The team work alternating day and night shifts to prepare all the breads for the shop. It also trades from a mobile truck at the Kollwitzplatz market, and delivers to selected organic outlets. “In the past there were no organic supermarkets,” explains daughter Yvonne Neumann. “Nowadays, you’ll be able to find wholemeal bread on every corner and it’s so cool to think we were the pioneers of that.” Aside from their famous bread, there’s plenty of cakes, rolls, traditional German sweet treats like Schweineohren (Palmier), Spritzgebäck (butter biscuits) and Plunder (knotted breads) on offer. The shop also sells a variety of its own muesli, Zwieback (rusk), Knäckebrot (crispbread), whole grains, and flours.
Today, the Weichardts refuse to bake more than 600 loaves of bread a day. Otherwise, they’ll have to scale up operations and opt to use machines instead of people, which goes against everything they believe in—and also the customers’ wishes. Sometimes, simple really is best.
The Iconoclast Bakery
Nahoum and Sons - Kolkata, India
There are historical landmarks and then there’s Nahoum and Sons bakery in south Kolkata. It is renowned for its legendary Bengali confections and interesting baked takeaway goods such as challah bread, cheese samosas, fruit cakes, plum cakes, and cream puffs.
Added twist: This family-owned venture is the last remaining Jewish bakery in Kolkata. It was set up by Nahoum Israel Mordecai, a Baghdadi Jew, in 1902. During the early 20th century, the city was once home to a 6,000 strong Jewish community, though that number has fallen drastically due to emigration, people losing interest in India after independence and the creation of Israel in 1948. This left the century-old bakery fighting to preserve Kolkata’s Jewish heritage tucked away in the labyrinth that is Raj-era New Market—a colorful wholesale market that houses over a thousand sellers stocking everything from food to fashion.
Mordecai started his bakery business by selling door-to-door. Eventually, word got out about his sweet treats and unique bakes, and he grew in popularity, gaining cult status among locals, tourists and even the British colonial rulers. Nahoum and Sons bakery is proof that a venue which is merrily out-of-sync with its surroundings can withstand the test of time if the product is of a high enough quality. Its layout, decor, and old homemade family recipes have remained the same for the last century. It still uses the same wooden cash register, teakwood furniture and display cases that have been with the shop since the very beginning.
Mordecai’s grandson, David Nahoum, who passed away in 2013, made the decision to keep things running exactly as they were, and remained loyal to its limited traditional menu. Today, younger brother Isaac and J. Halder, the manager who’s been associated with Nahoum’s for the last 37 years, run the place together. The old bakery gives the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke...’ a whole new meaning, and demand has never been higher as the business thrives despite the rapid diversification of the area. They claim that tourists return to the shop year after year, because they once tried the cakes and believe that the taste is still the same after decades. And the only change? They’ve just started accepting card payments.
The Peace-seeking Bakery
Homeboy Bakery - Los Angeles, USA
Meet the ex-gang members who are baking their way to redemption. They’re all part of Homeboy Industries, the largest nonprofit gang rehabilitation centre based in Los Angeles that helps former gang members to become valuable members of society. Its founder is Father Gregory Boyle of Dolores Mission Church (aka ‘Father G’), who started the program in 1988 when it was originally called Jobs for a Future. He began to counsel and mentor thousands of ex-gang members. Eventually he took over an abandoned bakery across the street from the church, which led him to create Homeboy Bakery, an 18-month youth program that combines baking with a view to reducing recidivism. Customers can buy artisan breads, pastries, and cookies that are made every day from scratch by the formerly incarcerated and soon-to-be-rehabilitated.
“Gangs are bastions of conditional love, and one of the ways to counteract that is to offer community, which will always trump gangs, and that’s what happens at Homeboy Industries,” he explains. “My job isn’t to fix or rescue or to save. It’s to accompany, see people, listen to them.” It’s not just the bakery that works as a social enterprise. Homeboy Industries is an umbrella organisation that spans a variety of services: Homeboy Grocery sells chips and salsas in all the supermarkets; Homeboy Silkscreen and Embroidery offers clothing customisation services on branded merchandise; and even Homeboy Electronics Recycling, where trainees learn how to transform old computers, monitors and mobile phones into new products. Over the last 30 years, Homeboy Industries has become one of the most successful re-entry programs in the United States.
“We take pride in all the work that we do here,” Cynthia Zuno, the bakery production manager explains. “It makes me feel good every time I come to work that I’m able to help train others and because I came from the same place I understand what they go through.” Every purchase of a baked product, whether it’s the sourdough loaves, Danishes, muffins, scones, cakes, cornbread, brownies, or any other treats, sees all proceeds going back into supporting Homeboy’s mission to help ensure all programs and services remain free. Alongside that, they want to keep a range of services open, including everything from legal aid to substance abuse counselling and tattoo removal. Whatever else is needed to give people a second chance at life.
