Jan 19th:So I am making my calls on Monday setting up future bakery visits. It was suggested that I visit 'Flour' bakery http://sourdough.com/bakery/flour, in Southport QLD. I phoned and had a very pleasant chat with the manager, Jesse.
Later in the day, at Jordans, Liam was showing me an article in the Australian Baking Business magazine about the grandfather of Australian sourdough, John Downes. During the course of our conversation I mentioned connecting with Jesse at "Flour" and Liam said John was Jesse's dad!
Filed that away, and also a bit of info about a 150 year old brick oven in Newrybar that John used to bake in....
Fast forward....I have to pick up Patsy in Mulum. We chat about our day and she informs me that she would like to go to a small village called ...you got it...Newrybar, on the way home!
Well, small here means about 4 houses, a general store, an antique store and a garage, and a restaurant.
It was a hot quiet Australian afternoon. I wandered up to the wooden boardwalk of the restaurant called Harvest. I enquired if anyone knew of a bakery that used to be around here, and was informed by the hostess, that there was an old brick oven in the back building, handed us the keys and invited us to go and look.
WOW! there it was, in the low light of this big shed, still in it's original place.....huge, I estimate about 12 feet long and 8 wide. You couldn't see the back and the camera barely picked it the depth. It is an indirect fired oven and had a beautiful casting of a wheat sheaf on the side panels.
How many thousands of loaves had that beast baked over the years?
Very special moment..................!
Check out the lenght of the peels!
Indirect firebox
Full Frontal!
The wheatsheaf detail on the steel side panels.
1 comment:
Thank you Martin for sharing this wonderful oven, yours is starting to look pretty nice!!! Maybe after a few thousand loaves it will have the same patina as this beautiful oven you've shared! Can't wait to see the entire trip, you're going to have to do a show up for us, we'll book the 'little theatre' and we will expect goodies! Missing you at VIU! Tara.
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