Dough Re Mi…

Fa So La Ti Dough :)

This one’s been a long time coming. A couple of months ago on my long way home from work, I drove past an attractive black and white sign that read, ‘The Bakers Dozen’ and I thought wow, there’s a new bakery in town and so, the next day I decided to pay this trendy signed shop a visit.

I walked in expecting to buy me a chocolate croissant or a cheesy puff but instead all they had was a selection of beautifully baked breads. At first I was a little surprised but then I took a minute and thought hey! where in this city can you find yourself a really good, authentic, gourmet loaf of bread? Ok, the five star hotels maybe, but that’s about it. So along came The Bakers Dozen who had the exact same thought before they started up.

Aditi Handa, her husband Sneh and her brother Siddhart left their respective corporate jobs to partner together and pursue their own business. They wanted to translate their common passion for food into reality. They wondered what it was that would work and after sifting through a number of ideas and options thought about opening a bakery. Initially, the idea was to open a generic bakery that served up a selection of breads, cakes and pastries. One that we are all familiar with but as the concept took form, it made them stick to the promise of offering their customers quality bread at convenient prices.

Aditi, the face behind the kitchen, who I had the pleasure of catching up with, told me that three days into her bread making course at the International Culinary Centre in New York, she realised that she’d found her life’s calling. Her passion while narrating the story itself said it all. She loved every minute of her course and made some great friends along the way that she gets tips and pointers from to date. When she tried her hand at pastry making it didn’t seem to excite her as much as baking bread. “It’s a totally different experience” she said. “Making bread requires a special skill and patience in a hot and humid environment. It’s not impossible to learn and if you enjoy it, the rewards are plenty.”  And so they were. After days of endless trials and errors, Aditi and her team of young bakers that have been trained by her, have put together a lovely selection of fresh stone-baked, natural, artisan breads in a number of interesting varieties.

I had the pleasure of sampling a few:

Pain de Complet Multigrain; a multigrain sandwich bread that is a little hard in nature compared to your average packaged breads.  Aditi explained to me that the reason for this is, that contrary to other processed breads, The Bakers Dozen breads are baked in a stone oven as compared to a regular oven resulting in a slightly crunchier texture. The other reason is, that all the breads at The Bakers Dozen are hand-made and have no preservatives. No bread improvers have been used to soften the dough which gives the bread a more wholesome and rustic feel. The pain de complet multigrain is excellent for toast and you can taste the goodness of the grains throughout the bread which gives it that extra crunch.

Four Grain; this delicious German bread was by far my favourite! A rich, hearty bread that has a mix of pumpkin, sesame, flax and sunflower seeds incorporated throughout the perfectly crusty top and soft doughy inside. Makes lovely, wholesome sandwiches and beautifully crunchy toast.

Challah; a deliciously decadent Jewish bread that is made with egg, sugar or honey and oil. A dense but fluffy bread that is similar to brioche in that it is slightly sweet in taste and goes excellently well with jam, peanut butter or nutella. I did a little research and also found out that Challah is the best bread to make french toast and bread & butter pudding and my Bombay brethrens, it is now available at your local bakery for the taking.

Ragi Crackers; little brown triangles of nutritious, crunchy crackers that are yummy just plain and even better when dunked into a pot of creamy homemade yoghurt dip. A healthy all day snack and something different to add to your chips and dips platter at parties.

Currently, The Bakers Dozen has set up shop in the suburb of Prabhadevi but fear not South Mumbai, there’s going to be one due to open its doors around the first week of August in your neighbourhood as well, Kemps Corner. YAY!

Before I leave you, another amazing fact that I learned about these speciality breads that I just must share. Every slice of bread from The Bakers Dozen menu, will give the same amount of protein as a bowl of dal (lentils).  Amazing! a couple of slices keep you feeling full and very satisfied.

I absolutely can’t wait to go back for more and make my way through their selection of other traditional European breads like; the sweet French Brioche and the Pain Au Levin with walnuts and raisins, the olive laden Italian Focaccia and the assortment of mini Dinner Rolls.

Aditi assured me that their menu is only going to get better and they will soon be adding croissants, muffins and possibly even ready sandwiches to their collection.

Oh and watch out, Aditi also plans to open her own gourmet school someday and I for one am sure she will and it will be just as great as her freshly baked crusty loaves of bread :) 

Ratatouille

Address:

The Bakers Dozen,

9, Jayant Apartments,

Near Century Bazaar,

Appasaheb Marathe Marg,

Prabhadevi,

Mumbai- 400025.

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The Bakers Dozen