The Baker
“Bread is steeped in history, or really history is steeped in bread! ”
James is the owner of the Rose Bakehouse in Rose Bay, one of those serendipitous connections from my partner Ceridwen Foster, who is constantly connecting people everywhere. She connected with James on a Facebook group called Viral Kindness, when James offered her some of his 100 year old Spanish sourdough starter after her own starter went mouldy. When Ceri collected the starter from James, she also picked up some of his delicious pastries as part of our family’s “Take-away Tuesdays”.
Take-away Tuesday is our way of actively supporting local businesses to survive during the isolation protocols of the Corona Pandemic. Every Tuesday we get some sort of take-away or treat (pastries, books, cocktails etc) from a local business. I photograph the items (keeps me busy ;)) and send the photos to that business for them to use on social media free of charge, in the hopes that this helps them keep at the front of customers minds and drives more business their way.
Somehow or other, Ceri got James and I connected to collaborate on another of my darker series of portraits (The Bee Keeper & The Jeweller). The following week Wednesday, I got to spend the morning chatting with him at his Rose Bay Cafe, the Rose Bakehouse and taking photographs while he made bagels.
It had been ages since I had the opportunity to spend a morning capturing a story, especially of something as simple as flour, water and salt, which are the three basic ingredients that form the base to the multitudes of bread we eat. It was really great learning about James and the history of bread making whilst occasionally stealing something yummy to eat.
The image above was the final portrait of the day; as the oven cooled, the smell of bread lingered in the air and he had a moment to stop and rest.
James’ Story
Bread is steeped in history, or really history is steeped in bread! It's always been such an important part of bringing people together and dates back for around 10,000 years, as far as we know. Community is so often brought together with food and I'm really drawn to those stories where something so simple, made from just three ingredients (flour, water & salt), can really bring people together.
I was made aware of that when, like many, I had started to experience what I thought was some intolerance issues. Sure enough, I followed the popular view and blamed gluten, but after looking into it more I really discovered it wasn't the gluten necessarily causing an issue. Gluten (a protein contained in wheat), after all, had been consumed by people for thousands of years without these issues. It was in fact the other 30 something ingredients being pumped into our overly refined "supermarket bread" that seemed to be the culprit.
It was at that point that I came across the real bread campaign a source of inspiration to help get things back on track when it came to how we make bread. Put simply it's a movement to strive to make "honest-to-goodness bread, made with skill, care, well-grown ingredients, and no funny stuff. The rest is detail" (Andrew Whitley, Author of Bread Matters)
Similar to myself (IT background), James came from a career in advertising and whilst living in London, he sidestepped into a completely different industry. Coming back to Australia he took over Rose Bakehouse (previously Europan), a bakery cafe in Rose Bay, making it his own and currently using his design and advertising skills to rebrand it.
I took over the cafe in July 2019. But the bakery dream if you will was underway a while before that. I spent a good chunk of time through 2018 heavily researching the idea and working in a range of bakeries in London including e5 Bakehouse, which is where I spent most of my time.
With a global pandemic shutting so many small businesses and keeping people at home, it is a daily challenge to run a bakery as well as keeping yourself and everyone else safe. I asked James how he was dealing with the whole quarantine and social distancing side of life and baking.
Coming together while staying 1.5 meters apart no doubt presents its fair share of challenges, but I've certainly seen a really warm side to the Rose Bay community.
It's also great to hear stories of people dusting off their aprons and getting into some baking or trying some new things. We're keen to help people with that and have been sharing our Sourdough starter with some local home bakers to try their hand at bread making.”
In the spirit of ongoing community connection and supporting local businesses, take a swing past James’ cafe and pick up some freshly baked bagels on a Wednesday or even order a delivery of one of his great breakfast or lunch options. Ceri loves the granola and also recommends the halloumi salad. Stay safe and stay connected.
Some of the yummy food available from Rose Bakehouse (including Ceri’s fave, the Granola)
Behind the scenes setup for some of the food photos that I took for James
