Skip to main content

The Bread Whisperer



What do an electrical engineer, a monk and an IT trainer have in common? These are all the things Abhilash was before he turned his attention to bread baking. Not the one to pick an easy path, Abhilash started with the most temperamental of breads - the sourdough - as his baking adventure. At first, he was baking these loaves for himself. Accolades from friends and family quickly followed and much to the delight of this writer, he turned his passion into a full time career six months back.

For the uninitiated, a sourdough bread is made by fermenting the dough with naturally occurring yeast, making it harder to perfect than the bread made with commercial yeast. The bread's signature tang and the open crumb, with lots of holes, is only made better with a high hydration dough that is super tricky to master. While extremely popular around the world, good sourdough is an elusive commodity in Mumbai and there are only a handful of bakers I would trust when I am looking for bread.

Thoroughbread, Abhilash's delivery-only bread brand, easily makes it to the top of my list of favourite breads. My first loaf, full of cranberries and walnuts, had both a delightfully open crumb and the chewy texture that is the hallmark of a good sourdough. The crust was less toothy than other sourdoughs I've bought in the city. Abhilash said this was a deliberate choice, based on his customer's feedback, and the loaf tastes better for it.



Similar care seems to go into every aspect of bread baking. The flours are locally sourced and turned into a secretly fine tuned blend for each variety that Abhilash bakes. My favourite San Francisco loaf is a blend of three different flours. And for the more tricky breads, like the whole wheat sourdough, Abhilash mills and grinds his wheat in house. The equipment and special ovens came from Europe. And for delivery, Abhilash works with a team of differently abled people. The very sweet gentleman who's now been to my home a few times is a big fan of Abhilash as well as his breads.

Thoroughbread primarily focuses on sourdough loaves for now though the menu also has its fair share of baguettes, ciabattas and bagels. Abhilash says cheddar and jalapeno is his most popular flavour, and there are plenty of others like olive and pesto to catch your eye. Plans are also afoot to cater to folks who don't like sourdough (who are you people!) so there will soon be sandwich loaves made with regular yeast on the menu.

I know the world seems to be going a bit crazy around us right now so if you are looking for a little pick me up this weekend, go order yourself a sourdough!

Practical Information
Thoroughbread delivers all over Mumbai. Call or message Abhilash at 96196 03524 a day in advance to order.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but
10 comments
Read more

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru
14 comments
Read more

Of Brun and Bun Maska

There is more to Bombay's breads than the pao that goes into pao bhaji and vada pao. There's Brun. and there's bun. We will get there. First, you have to get to know the city's Parsis. And Iranis, who are also Zoroastrians, but came to city a little later, in the late 19th or early 20th century. And when they came, they brought with them these little cafes that dot the city. I am no expert on Irani chai cafes. And I can't tell you whether Yazdani Bakery will provide you the best experience or Kyani's. But I can tell you a few things you need to ignore when you get there. Appearances don't matter; so ignore the fact that the marble/glass top tables and the wooden chairs look a bit dilapidated. Also ignore the rundown look the place sports. Instead, get yourself settled. And order a bun muska. This one's familiar to you as a first cousin of the soft hamburger bun. It's similar, but just a tad bit sweeter. Maska, of course, is the generous dollop o
13 comments
Read more