What's it all about?

Dench Bakers use fully certified Australian organic flours. The bakers at Dench use natural yeasts and traditional European methods to make bread that has been hand-moulded and baked on the hearth of the oven, to give a product that is nutritious and hearty with a wonderfully dark and flavoursome crust.

Who are Dench Bakers?
Dench Bakers have been baking artisan style bread since February 2005, when we started supplying the hospitality industry and public from our shop located in Fitzroy North. During that time we have provided a number of successful and well-known cafes and restaurants with quality hand-made sourdough and specialty breads. Owners of the bakery and café, John and Tony Dench,a father and son team, actively take a role in the business, from hand-moulding the bread to serving it over the counter and plating the meals, this connection to the consumer is as valuable to us as our passion for creating quality produce.

How is the sourdough bread made?
The process starts the day before with the mixing of the leaven (sourdough culture) it ferments for almost nine hours. Then it is at least another six hours from mixing everything together to the first hot loaf of bread; most of that time is resting, allowing the yeast cells to do their work and to develop as much flavour as possible. The time invested in the process is the only way to achieve a loaf with body, flavour and a crust that acts as its own preservative. Keeping close to our product means we understand and allow for any changes there may be in temperature or humidity, it also means each loaf reflects its maker, some may be short, others a little ugly.

Can you tell me about the ingredients?
We bake all our bread on our bakery premises in Abbotsford, using certified organic flours sourced from central NSW and Queensland. Where available and economically realistic we substitute organic produce for conventional ingredients. Loaves are weighed, moulded, slashed and loaded into the oven by hand. Here’s an example:
The grain loaf contains stone-ground organic wheat (plain and wholemeal flours), leaven, organic linseed, sunflower kernels, Murray River salt, water, sesame and Vitamin C (to help firm the dough.)

Related Keywords: bread bakery sourdough

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• conventional retailer

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