iba.TOPIC: Artisan bakery

Shortly after eleven o'clock, Michael Kress's bakery in an industrial estate in Weinheim has only just opened. Despite this, a queue has already formed outside the shop door. The trained bread sommelier only moved into the historic yellow and red brick building two years ago, in July 2023, with his small but exquisite shop. Word of quality travels fast.

A year before the opening, the baker's son decided to take a break - he did not take over the management of the family business. A 98-year era came to an end in Weinheim in northern Baden. ‘I wanted to do everything differently,’ assures Kress with a winning smile. Bread is his passion, for which he is not prepared to compromise. ‘I have reduced the range to 15 to 20 items and work with sourdough, mainly from organic flours, and very long maturing times.’ He makes all of this transparent: in the shop, customers can watch his employees through large glass panes. If they look to their left, they can see a baker rolling out dough pieces by hand. And if you turn round for a moment, you can look directly into the modern electric oven. ‘The glass factory is intended to create trust,’ explains Kress. And show that real artisan bakery is practised here.

With this model, the Weinheim quality baker, who has also been nominated for the World Bread Sommelier Championships at this year's iba, is following the trend. "There are more and more small micro and mini bakeries that focus on just a few products and produce top quality products. And these businesses are also doing well economically," says Thomas Muschelknautz, Deputy Director of the German National Bakers Academy in Weinheim.

 The new generation is doing away with baking mixes and cutting down on the list of ingredients. They are rediscovering old traditions, using sourdough and allowing the dough to mature for a long time. At Kress, for example, it takes three days before a spelt bread is put in the oven.

Old grain varieties and sourdough are popular

‘Sourdough bread has made a real comeback in recent years,’ says Roland Ermer, President of the German Bakers' Confederation. The same applies to grain varieties that were used by our ancestors - such as einkorn, spelt and emmer. Celestina Brandt, Thuringia's first bread sommelier and Baker of the Year 2023, is an expert in this field. In her wholemeal bakery in Buttstadt, she uses grain that grows in her region. ‘I've just added forest rye to my range,’ she says. Every Thursday, the prominent baker from rural Buttstädt takes a trip back in time and heats up the wood-fired oven in the bakery in neighbouring Burgwenden.

Even though the bakers uphold the old craft, they are by no means backward-looking. ‘Artisan bakery and knowledge of traditional production methods are the valuable basis for food innovations,’ emphasises Ermer. New creations are also constantly being tinkered with in the 110 square metre Kress bakery. ‘As we don't use ready-made mixes, we have the freedom,’ he assures us. The bread sommelier and his team also sometimes come up with recipes for after-work beers. ‘Then someone came up with the idea of making something with cashew nuts, curry and orange juice,’ he explains. That's how the spelt curry cashew baguette was born, which is now a big seller.

Committed bakers benefit from bread sommelier courses

Baking high-quality bread is one thing, making it palatable to customers is another. Bakeries focussing on artisan bakery are also creative and flexible when it comes to marketing. The know-how for this is passed on in the bread sommelier courses offered by the German National Bakers Academy in Weinheim. Celestina Brandt and Michael Kress confirm that they have benefited from this. If only because you learn to talk about the smell and flavour of bread in the same way as you would about good wine. Does the bread smell of chestnuts or rather honey? ‘I really enjoyed smelling and tasting it,’ Brandt recalls fondly of her 2022 course.

Knowledge that Brandt and Kress also impart to non-professionals in their baking courses. ‘These courses are a super spreader,’ says Kress happily. ‘When you can bake bread yourself in the bakery, you gain a completely different appreciation for the profession.’ Brandt also promotes her bakery with events such as bread tasting evenings, concerts and events with winegrowers from the nearby Saale-Unstrut wine region.

Who will be world champion? 

The World Bread Sommelier Championship will be held at iba for the first time this year. ‘iba offers the perfect stage to highlight and present excellence in the bakery trade through competitions,’ emphasises Roland Ermer, President of the German Bakers' Confederation. 44 bread sommeliers have applied to take part, 16 have qualified for the final via an online preliminary decision. The competition is divided into three disciplines: First, the bread sommeliers have to prove their knowledge of bread varieties from all over the world, followed by the flavour challenge and finally, each participant has to present a bread in their own words.

Creativity and sustainability are essential

Baking bread can be more than just a craft. Some bakers are bread artists in the truest sense of the word. "The term “artisan baker” really does go in the direction of art. At the professional competitions, you can see how artistic bread can be," says Muschelknautz. The reigning German champion Lea Wagner from Aschfeld in Lower Franconia has brought bread painting to perfection. On social media and on television, she shows how she conjures up portraits on a syrup dough using a mixture of cocoa and water.

In addition to traditional artisan bakery and innovative recipes, sustainability plays a major role for the new generation of bakers. To this end, Kress has invested in modern high-tech equipment, such as an electric oven that can be heated in tiers. ‘We no longer use fossil fuels in production and use green electricity to reduce our carbon footprint,’ explains Kress. Here, too, tradition meets modernity.