Find out what goes on behind the scenes of a bakery
Glistening slices of onions and fermented apples are gently folded into pillowy dough. Silky egg custard is drizzled into flaky tart shells while a fragrant curry mix is wrapped within the pastry. Thin layers of rich butter, 16 to be exact, and dough are laminated, resulting in croissant dough. This is sliced into elongated triangles that then get rolled up into small, compact pastries. After proofing, the curvaceous crescents swell and puff up.
“There is an ideal jiggle to a proofed croissant,” laughs Jonathan Leon Lim, the founder of Bray Bakery, who talks us through the bakers’ tight schedule each day. Timing is of the essence, as an over-proofed pastry is as unwanted as an under-proofed one.
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Unbaked pastries sit, stuffed with weird and wonderful fillings, waiting for their turn in the oven. Loaves of sourdough are swapped for laminated pastries in the oven in a choreographed routine.
Chomping on a slice of sourdough reveals a difference to other loaves I’ve tried, though I can’t immediately put my finger on the distinction. The crust is thinner and less tough on the gums, while the crumb is tender and pillowy. Large holes that are classical of other sourdough loaves are absent, resulting in an ideal surface for slathering spreads. In the case of this particular slice, fermented apples and tangy onions are scattered generously throughout; the sweetness of the fruit marries well with the pungency of the root vegetable.
