Have you met our head baker, Didi?
Didi leads the bakery team at our flagship site and state-of-the-art bakery in Collingwood, who together bring us freshly-baked artisan sourdough each day, despite Melbourne’s ever-changing weather. The bread is then served in our cafes, alongside our house-roasted coffee and inspired breakfast and lunch menus, which all come together to bring you the very best Melbourne brunch experience.
You can also find our sourdough and pastries served at our market stalls, to catering customers, and wholesale customers across Melbounre and Victoria, all of which supports our work with marginalised young people.
In this video, which you can also read below, we find out what it’s like to work with our young trainees on their work experience shifts, how the sourdough is made, and what’s Didi’s favourite way to eat our bread – you might be surprised by his answer!
Hi, my name is Didi. I’m the Head Baker at STREAT, and me and bakery team are part of the STREAT team that help to train the young people.
Q: What is like working with the trainees?
It’s pretty good to be able to show them how the bakery works and to give them a chance, and to help teach them to make and appreciate the food, and how to do it the proper way.
Q: How do you make STREAT sourdough?
Well, it’s a three-day process. We start preparing the starter. We use sustainable flour from Wholegrain Milling and then we ferment the starter for a minimum of 12 to 15 hours, and then after that, on the mixing day we make the dough, rest it for a couple hours, shape it and then rest it again, for minimum of 16 hours before we bake the bread in the oven.
Q: How does the changeable weather in Melbourne affect your process?
We have to check the weather every single day, like what’s the temperature gonna be like, what’s the humidity like? Because, yeah, we need to adjust like the temperature of the water and the final temperature of the dough and then also the temperature of the retarder prover. If it’s a hotter day it means we have to, you know, mix it with colder water and then the final proof also will be at a colder temperature compared to like on the cold days, and in winter.
Q: What’s your favourite way to eat STREAT sourdough?
One of my signature sandwiches is peanut butter, kimchi and cheese. You should try it!