Seriously good dough
Iremember back in the ’90s when a focaccia sandwich was about the coolest thing I could imagine eating. I liked them stuffed with roasted red capsicum, pickled vegetables and mozzarella, then toasted until they were crunchy on the outside and full of molten cheese on the inside. Then, suddenly it seems, focaccia wasn’t cool any more – I think Turkish pide took over – and it disappeared from my weekend lunch rotation.
Until Covid hit and we were all stuck at home, and it seemed like a good idea to create a sourdough mother and work on our no-knead focaccia. While I didn’t jump on the sourdough wagon (I’ll leave that to the professionals). I did try my hand at focaccia – studding it with garlic and rosemary and a healthy slick of olive oil.
So I was very pleased to see focaccia on the menu when I visited Baked for brunch recently. Like all of Baked’s menu and bakery items, the focaccia is gluten-free, but that certainly wasn’t the thing I noticed about it. The slow-braised lamb sandwich ($22) was a generous helping of tender shreds of lamb, dressed with a vinegary white slaw and enveloped by two golden slabs of perfectly oiled focaccia that was crispy and fluffy. Every mouthful was a texture and flavour combination that hit all the right notes and, not surprisingly, owner and baker Jess Mackeen says it’s one of their most popular items.
Jess and her partner, Chicko, used to run the Straight Up coffee shop in the city before moving to their current premises in a light industrial street in Moonah about four years ago. The light and airy warehouse space houses the cafe and the bakery – which supplies gluten-free baked goods to restaurants, cafes and shops all over the state. With a mixed Aussie rock soundtrack playing in the background we enjoy an excellent coffee (Chicko is the head roaster and looks after the coffee side of the business) and a pot of tea while waiting for our meals. Although we’re here for the more substantial offerings, there are plenty of goodies on offer including spiced banana cake, chocolate whoopie cookies and chocolate freckle bundts if you’re just after a sweet snack.
Baked has been 100 per cent gluten-free since day one and Jess says it came about as a result of her many years as a chef. “I was frustrated with the attitude towards glutenfree food – toast was cooked in the same toaster, it was more expensive. I enjoy knowing about food and health, and knew that gluten-free wasn’t just a phase people were going through. When we moved from Straight Up, I said to Chicko that I was going to do mainly gluten-free and she said, let’s just go 100 per cent. I hadn’t done it before, but everything here is all our own recipes. Anyone can come here and eat everything, it’s not alienating for anyone.”
In addition to being gluten-free, much of the menu is also vegan or offers a vegan option.
A colourful cauliflower salad ($19) is the next dish we try. Spiced, roasted cauliflower is piled on a bed of bright purple beetroot hummus and rocket leaves. It’s scattered with vegan feta and crunchy almonds – a nice contrast against the creamy puy lentils – and there’s the opportunity to add a serving of braised lamb for $7.
Recently, Baked has opened their doors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for “pizza and booze”.
“It’s proving quite popular,” Jess says. “Usually, gluten-free pizzas come in a smaller size and are more expensive. Here the focus is on size and value. We want to get rid of the stigma of gluten-free.”
I’m not usually one for ice cream before noon (or after noon) but I break with tradition and we order the vanilla waffles with berries and miso caramel ($18). Fluffy waffles are topped with a scoop of ice cream that has been drizzled with a dark caramel containing just a hint of miso. An apple and blueberry compote is tucked under the ice cream and there’s enough to include some in every spoonful.
Not willing to leave a bakery empty handed, I grab a loaf of super seedy ($9.90) on the way out and enjoy avocado and Vegemite on toast for breakfast the next morning. Gluten-free has certainly come a long way since cardboardy slices first hit our toasters and with champions such as Jess working on it, I’m sure there’s more great gluten-free baked treats to come.