As an already dedicated sourdough fan, a chat to a super enthusiastic Jon from Crabbes Creek Woodfired has us convinced; it’s the best foodstuff on the planet and there is no wonder it has been around for millennia.
Jon originally worked in construction but always knew food was in his future when, along with wife Gina, bread just came their way.
Working as a woodfired oven builder, mostly with pizza ovens Jon and Gina decided to install an oven on their property in…Crabbes Creek. They began baking bread from the pizza oven but weren’t getting the results they hoped for. Jon travelled to Tasmania to research purpose built, dedicated wood fired ovens and discovered the Allan Scott brick ovens. Allan Scott was a blacksmith and baking traditionalist who designed and built bread ovens. Building an Allan Scott oven back at home they now have the perfect oven for sourdough baking and after producing some loaves for the local store, found they couldn’t keep up with demand and decided to give the markets a go.
Their oven now holds 70 loaves at a time and Gina sells their bread at three markets including Mullum and New Brighton. They live and breathe bread which has its benefits. As the oven loses only 30 degrees a day, from the Markets bake on Thursday they can still enjoy a slow cooked roast on Sunday.
The wood is sourced from sawmill offcuts and the flour comes from Gunnedah, they grow their own pumpkins for seeds or source these from other stallholders along with macadamia nuts. The olives are from another market stallholder, Grumpy Grandmas.
Crabbes Creek Woodfired now bake 14 varieties of sourdough from white through to pumpkin, khorasan, ancient grains and 100% rye.
When asked about the bread eating habits at home Jon laughed, “I don’t think Gina eats anything else, she loves it fried in olive oil with avocado and red cabbage.”
“People shy away from bread because they are worried about intolerances, but the great thing about sourdough is it is literally just flour, water and salt and with the slow 16 hour process it is really very digestible and great for your gut”.
Jon and Gina are rightfully very proud of their product – and support from the locals makes the long hours and six days worthwhile. “The markets are so much fun! The stall holders and also the customers, it’s a vibrant community and they’re all really supportive of us, we’re really lucky.”