“I was born in Denmark and I was the naughtiest kid in my house. My parents are from India and my father is originally from Oman. My sister always wanted to study medicine and she is a Doctor in Sydney. My other sister is also a Doctor in Christchurch NZ. They came here at Christmas time. They ask me what is your dream? I had no idea what I wanted to become. I could not see the picture clearly in my head.
We grew up in three different cultures. I spent ten years in a small countryside in Sweden where I learned the baking industry in a professional way. I also learnt more in Denmark and did many small courses. I started baking very young. I used to help my Mum bake. In my home, cooking is a huge part of our life. As soon as you wake up you get a hot meal every time. We used to go to the supermarket and the bread was not good and sometimes old.
I was travelling and was in Sydney and then I settled in Lismore through Covid time. I worked at Bernies bakery in Goonellabah but it was not something I was passionate about in my life. I wanted good sourdough made from the heart, 40 hours of processing. Once you eat proper bread it is good for your digestive system, has a great taste and is good for your body.
I have a lot of knowledge and I thought I can use my knowledge to sell my bread. We started very slow from my home in Lismore. I just started making my sourdough for people and gave my bread to people through the flood time. My home flooded too but it made me stronger and it made me get together with my community. After the flood Lismore has got up again and it makes me proud.
Baking was my hobby which turned into a passion and now it has turned into a business. We moved into the Embassy Arcade last year. It was a hard decision because I wasn’t sure if I could succeed. I was sure of my skill though and the knowledge I had gained all over the world and I wanted to share that with the Lismore community. You can buy cheaper bread but sourdough takes time. It is a process. I have deep thanks to my community for supporting me. I wake up at 2 to 3am every morning to bake and when my customers turn up at 10am saying…It smells so delicious here, it’s really worth it. I’m not a business man but I know at the end of the day when people tell me they love my bread, that to me is what counts.
I think it’s important to bring what you learn from other cultures to your community. I made Saffron bread. This type had never been here and I made it for the whole month of December and I made my own Mince Pies for Christmas. I had long queues every day wanting them, almond cream and all my own spices. This community is diverse and I like to make my food to suit our community.
I’m 35 now and it’s important to do something which makes you happy in your life. When we started here I wanted to start slowly with beautiful organic sourdough and then add products by the seasons. At the moment we make Danish Rye with organic Rye grain which we mill freshly ourselves, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds. Being a dense bread I thought people may not like it but it is my best seller. We make our Cinnamon buns with Cardamom, organic doughnuts with custard and we started fruit buns last week. We have Semlor coming end of February, which is a very traditional Swedish dessert which has almond cream inside a beautiful Cardamom bun.
In the future we will bring more pastries. We need a bigger space now and we are working towards it. I do love the space I’m in because we have Hanging Rock Flowers next door and Linda is lovely but our space is small.
In the future I would like to start a course to teach people some basic things like how to make a Sourdough. I think what we need is for parents to spend time with their kids doing activities together like baking. Baking is an art and is a huge industry but baking from the heart, not the factory bread with artificial additives and preservatives. Flour, water and salt can create magic.”
@simplysourdough2023