#brasseriebread

After making our way inside and receiving our trusty nametags, Dad made a b-line straight to the friendly baker standing behind mountains of freshly baked bread. 

Nigel, the head baker in Melbourne, was absolutely wonderful. We spoke at length about baking bread (of course!), the new single origin flour and the two breads on show tonight–sourdough and sprouted. Nigel cut us slices of the freshly baked (and my goodness, still warm) single origin bread. I absolutely loved both–each had such a crisp and crunchy crust that was to die for and the warm, soft centre ticked all the boxes. I adored the sprouted bread, which was made by soaking wheat for over a day to start the germination of the grain, releasing all those extra nutrients, before the bakers mash it up and add it into the dough.

Nigel said you can taste the land it comes from and I 100% agree. The flavours were earthy and the smell of the bread reminded me of the feed we give our chickens (in a good, wholesome way of course).

The food served throughout the night was absolutely delicious and featured the star of the event, the Single Origin flour. I never thought you could use the same flour for bread as you would pizza dough and soft rolls and still achieve amazing, mouth-watering results in all forms. Brasserie Bread have done it, highlighting their true love and understanding of the Single Origin Flour.

After Dad and I enjoyed multiple slices of the fresh hot bread Nigel was slicing, we tucked into even more topped with deliciously smooth Pecora Dairy she eps curd. The cheese was served two ways: honey sweet and savoury. As a sweets fan myself, I absolutely adored the flavour combination of the curd and the Kangaroo Island Honey. Yum yum.

Sourdough pizza was being served throughout the night and my goodness, I’ve never eaten a pizza base so perfectly thin and crispy. Michael said that the pizza doesn’t lose this crispiness or go soggy and that’s thanks to the amazing flour! 

The first pizza I tried was the classic margarita. Although the toppings are often considered simple and boring, this was definitely not the case! The freshness and flavour of every bite was absolutely superb and really let the delicious single origin base do the talking. 

The second pizza I tasted was the Pizza Bianca topped with fontina, kipfler potatoes, rosemary and salt. After digging into this pizza, I came to the conclusion that Brasserie Bread know their pizzas. This combination was absolutely delicious and I loved the soft potato contrasting the crusty base.

Lastly, we tried some insanely delicious lamb sliders. After watching Chef Jared slice away at the most wonderfully roasted lamb from Mirrool Creek, he quickly asked me to check the second lamb on the spit outside to “make sure it’s not on fire”! The crisis was averted when I was able to confirm the lamb wasn’t ablaze, but was roasting away perfectly. The sliders were served in two lamb and filling combos–radicchio was one and fennel, pomegranate and coriander was the other. It was clear that ‘simple ingredients with bold and beautiful flavours’ was the theme of the night.

Both sliders were insanely tasty–a lamb lovers dream. The meat was cooked to perfection. It was so juicy and tender; you could tell it was lovingly and slowly roasted with care all afternoon. The milk buns were a standout for me. I don’t know if it was my childhood in Singapore and being used to sugary bread, but this sweet bun struck a yummy cord with me. The buns were cooked with a method that included boiling which gave them their slightly sweeter taste (from what I remember being told?!) and they were so incredibly soft and fluffy inside. At the end of the night I actually took an empty milk bun and stuffed it with the honeyed sheeps curd–oh my goodness, dessert was definitely served.

As the Single Origin flour was beautifully celebrated tonight, so were the farmers from Flinders Ranges. Dad and I spent so much of our evening chatting away to these wonderful and incredibly passionate farmers, and I honestly learnt so much from them. 

I loved speaking to Farmer Andrew (6th generation farmer) about his amazing property in SA that produces so many different crops from wheat (of course!) to barley, vetch, field peas, beans, canloa, lupins and oats to name a few. It was really interesting to hear about his desire to source and grow some of the most ancient grains in history and how farming had evolved over time. Later on during the night Andrew gave a beautiful and passionate speech about his chance meeting with Michael, which led to the sourcing of their single origin wheat at Brasserie Bread. His speech made us laugh, smile and appreciate how special this collaboration between the farmer, baker and consumer was.

I also spoke to Farmer Peter and learnt about how scientific and mathematical farming has become. He told me “I was on the tractor at 4am yesterday morning and I’ll be on the tractor same time tomorrow”. The farmers’ dedication and absolute love of their hardworking livelihoods was so evident in the passion they spoke with. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such sensational and thought-provoking conversations about farming and single origin wheat before–but I loved it and seriously thank each farmer for the time they happily gave me on the night and for their endless hard work in the fields.

We managed to speak to co-founder Michael and discuss all things bread (of course) and his journey to source the Single Origin Flour. Michael’s passion for single origin bread was so infectious, exciting and motivating–I felt like putting my hand up to join him on his next flour sourcing adventure! 

It was rather funny; Dad and I were so immersed in the wonderful conversations, individuals, and food on offer that we didn’t realise the declared end of the event time had already passed us!