Bake your own bread in a traditional oven at Katong’s ‘village baker’ – for free
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Bake your own bread in a traditional oven at Katong'southward 'village baker' – for free
Firebake eatery is opening its ovens to the community, as founder Konstantino Blokbergen shares his love of sourdough bread – and some handy blistering tips, too.
Buns in the oven are a regular occurrence at Firebake. (Photo: Aik Chen)
29 Jul 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 10 Jul 2022 02:33AM)
If you're a dwelling baker, you've probably fantasised about what it would exist like to bake your bread or pastries in a traditional wood-fired brick oven – y'all know, sort of like the kind that Hansel and Gretel pushed the wicked witch into.
Well, starting in September, you'll be able to do that at Firebake. The restaurant, which specialises in baking its own breadstuff, pies, cakes and other goodies – along with a menu of tartines, stews, grilled and smoked meats and fish and more than – is opening its ovens to the public to use.
This ways you lot can bring your ain loaves from abode and have them baked the old-school way – and run into if they come out with that old-school taste, too.
They should, because these are no ordinary ovens. Hand-built from 5,000 bricks by specialised craftsmen over a six-calendar week menstruation, they comprise 37 tonnes of brick, gravel, sand, mortar and cement. They are heated to a temperature of effectually 800 degrees Celsius past burning sustainable, recycled wood.
Firebake's founder Konstantino Blokbergen and his team will exist on hand to assist you, as the bread has to be put into the oven using a long paddle – which is quite a show in itself.
Thanks to the ovens' high arches, they are able to extract moisture from the dough and spread it around to get a overnice deep crust, said Blokbergen, explaining that they extract moisture steadily from the dough downwardly to the grain, to progressively stretch the crumb and build the crust so that it's more evenly stretched. "At home, most conventional ovens will crave manual spritzing of water to increase wet in the oven crenel," he added.
"In Europe, yous have some generations-onetime woodfired ovens that produce breads with amazing results in flavour considering the ovens continue to flavor themselves. The breads taste then much amend over time with the natural environment of stones, flour and water. This is unique in a woodfire oven."
E COAST'S Village Baker
Why does he want to share his ovens with the public? "The whole thought goes dorsum to my childhood memories of villages in Greece," said Blokbergen, who has lived in Singapore for more than a decade. "In the olden days, the baker'due south oven was the only one available in the village, and then the village folks would bring their food – from dough to pots of nutrient – to the baker to terminate. It was a way for the baker to build relationships with the community." Hither in Singapore, "to be in the heart of the customs has always been our intention – to be Katong's community bakery," he added.
Simply bringing traditionally broiled sourdough to Singaporeans hasn't been all that piece of cake. Some, thinking that the name "sourdough" refers to the taste, come in and inquire for sour breadstuff, he shared. Sourdough is as well often mistakenly believed to be a specific blazon of breadstuff, with many customers thinking it ought to look similar a French boule; when in fact it is a baking technique using natural fermentation.
Firebake hopes to help its community understand staff of life meliorate. "It is about creating awareness of woodfire baking, and bringing people dorsum to the days of traditional bread blistering techniques. It is also our fashion of giving back to the community nosotros are function of," Blokbergen said. "Burn down has always had the ability to bring people together – and we would like to gather people around the woodfire ovens, and to grow the woodfire sourdough family."
While you lot're waiting for your bread to bake in the oven – a process that takes about 40 minutes – you can besides choose to gather around a rather scrumptious table for some sustenance. Firebake's menus include dishes such equally craven liver pate, wild mushroom soup and blue mussels, all served with freshly baked sourdough; baked eggs with mushrooms, onions and grilled bacon; woodfired pumpkin with burratina, pistachio, dukkah, orange blossom and molasses; and a signature staff of life and butter pudding.
Newly introduced dishes include a cheeseburger made with potato sourdough buns; a very delectable seafood risotto laced with sherry vinegar and sprinkled with Grana Padano; Argentinean striploin with salsa verde on rye sourdough; and sourdough tartines that change from week to calendar week.
TIPS FOR Blistering YOUR Own BREAD
If you're just starting out on your home baking journey, accept these tips from a professional person. Firstly, "Keep things simple – don't become overly obsessed with maintaining many sourdough starters which may generate excessive daily feeds and wastage. Instead, focus on one or two good starters that you can look subsequently well, which is sufficient to produce many dissimilar baking results," Blokbergen said.
Secondly, follow your gut. "In contrary to making pastry, dwelling house breadstuff baking is not perfect science; it is all in the power of intuition," he said. "Look, discover, and suit the recipes accordingly. Information technology is good practice to keep a logbook of all these adaptations for futurity references."
Lastly, if your bread isn't upwardly to your expectations, it might exist because of the quality of the flour you lot're using. "One weakness we have in Singapore is the sourcing of a good bread flour," he said. "You lot will need to find a flour that gives yous good elasticity every bit well every bit structure." To find information technology, "Practise a bread window-pane exam."
Starting Sep 4, on the showtime Wednesday of each month from 5pm to 8pm, baking sessions volition be available free-of-charge for up to 10 home bakers. Bookings must be made, and are available on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Firebake is at 237 Due east Coast Road. https://firebake.sg
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/dining/where-to-bake-bread-traditional-oven-singapore-250856
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