i was surfing for some info when i came across this website and was pleased to discover they are based in malaysia! in sungai buloh! after some emails here and forth, we managed to visit mardia and mustaffa's organic artisan bakery over the weekend.
mustaffa (or martin) is one cool guy. my kind of guy. not only he encourages/uses organic ingredients but he prefers wholewheat too. but he's right in that the malaysian market isn't ready for 100% whole wheat yet. i guess later in future.
after communicating him, i just got to visit him. got to try those sourdough starter! and also the coconut soap!
as for the bread, you don't have to visit him. you could buy from the juslife chain of organic shops. yes, mustaffa supplies them.
i've heard/read a lot about baking bread with sourdough starter but never tried it. even considered importing some sourdough starter but never got round to it. guess what? it's just some 30km drive away...
so i got some sourdough starter from mustaffa. you may have heard of the famous "san francisco sourdough"? well, here's the famous "sungai buloh sourdough starter"! no need to use yeast anymore, just refresh the starter, use however much you need and save off a little for the next batch. as i bake every week here, this works out nicely. the above shows the starter in whole wheat flour and water.
mustaffa does provide instructions on how to get there but a friend of mine knows him personally! so i ditched those instructions and just got mark to navigate us there. it's in the middle of a kampung alright, with many wannabe mat rempits along the way. spotted some nice old cars along the way too.
mustaffa's work place is just next to his house. he has the conventional oven and also a clay style fire wood oven! i don't think he could use this for his commercial production.
mustaffa welcomes visitors and bread baking students! so if you prefer a hands on approach with a guru over your shoulders, you should contact him.
http://www.bakerette-cafe.com/
you know what i'll be doing soon... got to put those sourdough starter to work!
Thanks for the plug and the visit (and finding Mark).
ReplyDeleteI do use the brick oven for commercial production of sourdough breads when I can. My main concern is that the oven is really hot and sometimes I cannot avoid some good well baked crusts. Generally, Malaysians do not like 'dark' crusts. I use it to bake my own bread nice and dark and tasteeeeeee.
Good luck with the sourdough baking, send me and email if any problems.
regards
Mardia and Mustaffa
hi mustaffa
ReplyDeletethx for visiting too!
the pleasure is all mine! really enjoyed seeing a real bakery and one using sourdough starter!
i've tried your starter over the weekend. just blogged it. :)
sigh... the compromises we make to satisfy fussy malaysians!
yeo
Hi BG: Hey, this looks really cool. Trust you to find this in Malaysia. Now I want to go find this place too. Nothing stops the baker from finding his sourdough I guess. I even signed up for the King Arthur flour newsletter, thanks to you. ;-) I am so hankering for bread now...been so busy the past few weeks that I had no time to bake nor boil my soups. Haiyah....but I come over to your blog and salivate huh!
ReplyDeleteif you come over next time, i'll bring you to visit mustaffa. cool guy...
ReplyDeleteas i didn't take good care of my sourdough starter, i think it's dead! got another excuse to visit him some day...
btw, mustaffa makes one hell of a soap! seriously, the best soap we've ever used. and we are pretty fussy about this.
Hi BG, I watched 8TV's Ho Chiak today and I was aware of this bakery! I was really impressed and tempted by the bread. I was searching information about this bakery but it seems like the website is down.. I know that the bakery is at Selangor and I'm from Penang, great distance thou. Anyway, is there any way I could contact the owner and maybe send the bread thru postage to Penang? Mission Impossible maybe? Maybe not??
ReplyDeleteAnyway, nice blog here! :D
hi charles
ReplyDeleteaha! yes, i watched the previous night's episode too and i was surprised to see martin's bakery being featured. i haven't called him for so long now... it's about time...
he operates from his wife's house in sungai buloh. it's in a malay kampung which isn't easy to find. each time i went there, i had to bring a friend.
to be honest, i don't think bread will be that fresh once you mail it. do contact martin when you come over kl. or contact me!
i was in penang 2 weeks ago and was recommended to visit rainforest bakery. it's along jalan chulia, not far from yeng keng hotel. jesse, the baker, learned and practiced his trade in europe before coming back here. he even does sourdough bread every tuesday. i'll suggest you visit rainforest bakery one of these days.
btw, thx for visiting!
bg