Specialists in German and French bread

Press, 17 March 1987, Page 32

Specialists in German and French bread

Ye Olde Bake, is a bakery with a difference at the Countdown Centre.

It specialises in daily fresh-baked breads such as oat and honey loaf, bermaline — a type of malt bread — kibbled-rye bread, corn, and many other interesting German and French-styled breads. Although not mass-pro-duced, all loaves are carefully dusted down in the style of the eighteenth century bakers who handkneaded their bread and used few, if any preservatives.

Ye Olde Bake is located opposite the main entrance to Countdown food market. The set-up is simple but very complementary to the bread and other items such as cakes and buns which it sells. Designed to look like a little chalet bakery, it is a very comfortable shop in which to browse. The bakers behind the shop are Steven Evans, the main baker, and his helper, Steven Glen. “It’s not the usual type of bakery that provides hot pies and so forth, we try to specialise in quality breads.” Asked whether he seriously thought there was a market in Christchurch for such a bakep', Mr Glen said there definitely was. “People are sick of the boring taste of white bread where most people have to slap on heaps of jam or peanut butter to give it taste,” he said.

“With our unusual

breads, we’ve already given them taste by all the natural brans, and other types of flour we put in them. We also bake savoury viennas and add garlic and the like, giving even more taste,” Mr Glen said.

Although Ye Olde Bake makes Old English-styled bread, the bakery was tending more and more toward the Continental style of baking.

"New Zealanders are learning to appreciate the Continent much more than they used to when they were strongly influenced by England. Bread is becoming a bigger part of the everyday diet, and people are looking for new textures and tastes to complement their diet,” said Mr Glen.

“It’s good to see that New Zealand’s traditional peas, pie and potato days are nearly over, and that we’re getting more adventurous with the wider varieties of foods,” he said. Other unusual loaves made by the bakery are purple wheat bread and soyabean bread, made from pure soyabean ground flour. Mr Glen says they are still experimenting with different types of bread, so customers would never get bored with what was sold at the shop. “We’re only interested in providing a variety which can vary each day, and we’re enjoying it very much,” he said.