Bread by Dench Bakers
Dench Bakers use fully certified Australian organic flours. The bakers at Dench use natural yeasts and traditional European methods to make bread that has been hand-moulded and baked on the hearth of the oven, to give a product that is nutritious and hearty with a wonderfully dark and flavoursome crust.

Who are Dench Bakers?
Dench Bakers have been baking artisan style bread since February 2005, supplying the hospitality industry and public from our small shop located in Fitzroy North. During that time we have provided a number of successful and well-known cafes and restaurants with quality hand-made sourdough and specialty breads. Tony Dench, Judy Newman and John Dench, who each take an active role in the business, own the bakery and café. From hand-moulding the bread to serving it over the counter and plating the meals, this connection to the consumer is as valuable to us as our passion for creating quality produce.

How is the sourdough bread made?
The process starts the day before with the mixing of the leaven (sourdough culture) it ferments for almost nine hours. Then it is at least another six hours from mixing everything together to the first hot loaf of bread; most of that time is resting, allowing the yeast cells to do their work and to develop as much flavour as possible. The time we invest into the process is the only way to achieve a loaf with body, flavour and a crust that acts as its own preservative. Keeping close to our product means we understand and allow for any changes there may be, it also means each loaf reflects its maker, some may be short, others a little ugly.

Can you tell me about the ingredients?
We bake all our bread on our bakery premises in Abbotsford, using certified organic flours sourced from central NSW and Queensland. Where available and economically realistic we substitute organic produce for conventional ingredients. Loaves are weighed, moulded, slashed and loaded into the oven by hand. Here’s an example:
The grain loaf contains stone-ground organic wheat (plain and wholemeal flours), leaven, organic linseed, sunflower kernels, Murray River salt, water, sesame and Vitamin C (to help firm the dough.)

Is it yeast-free?
Our bread is not yeast free as it has many and varied natural yeasts that are present in the leaven (sourdough culture). The leaven itself contains bacteria and yeast that consume starch (present as carbohydrates in the flour) and give off carbon dioxide, allowing the dough to rise while it rests. Wheat free Schwartzbrot style bread is available from Dench Bakers in Fitzroy North and Bread and Jam for Frances in Hawthorn.

What else do Dench Bakers do?
We love bread and we love food. The popularity of our bread has grown hand-in-hand with the popularity of the food that we prepare in our cafe - food made with the same care, time, and passion as is our bread. So the once tiny 10-seater cafe in Fitzroy North has now grown into a 50-seater: still serving breakfast, lunch, Genovese coffee and organic juices. And of course we bake our own croissants, pastries, bombolone, cakes, tarts and biscuits, and prepare sandwiches and baguettes for eating in the cafe, back at the desk or out in the park.

Our bread-friendy menu is also available at our funky little cafe in Hawthorn: Bread and Jam for Frances, named after the food obsessed badger who loved bread and jam so much that that's all she wanted to eat (until the rest of the menu won her over!) The full range of Dench artisan sourdoughs, pastries, and cakes are also available here fresh daily.

Bread and Jam for Frances
1/701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn 3122.
Ph: 9819 2122. Enter via Linda Crescent, or through Readings.
www.breadandjamforfrances.com.au