Baking bread, AT LAST
For The Larder’s Jacob Brown, opening a bakery in a city awash with them was a matter of passion.
Maybe we won’t do ant sin croissants but don’t count it out. It’ s our dream to really push the boundaries. Jacob Brown
Wellington chef Jacob Brown is renowned for pushing boundaries with food – for serving everything from offal to sea urchin icecream.
Co-owner of The Larder, an eatery in Miramar which he set up with his wife, Sarah Bullock 12 years ago, Brown has recently turned his attention to bread and baking, where he is being equally adventurous.
The couple have gone against the current mode in hospitality for closing businesses during Covid by opening a bakery in Wellington central.
“There’s a lot of contraction in our industry so hopefully it will inspire others to push forward too,” says Brown.
The bakery is named after Bullock’s grandmother, Myrtle, who was a wonderful baker “and the essence of love”, says Bullock. Brown is joined at the ovens by baker Zoe Paris, who started her cooking career at The Larder.
Wellington is awash with bakeries so what is different about Myrtle? Brown says it is a small batch bakery, making a mix of staples, such as ciabatta and sourdough, and bespoke breads – there are often only a dozen of a loaf variety, such as the aged cheddar and thyme loaf.
Brown intends to forage in Mt Victoria for pine, wild raspberry and blackberry leaves, in a similar way that he forages for natural ingredients in the bush and around Miramar ’s coastline for The Larder menu.
Wild honey, kombucha and rye are some of the savoury flavours they plan to add to their baking this year.
“There’s a certain playfulness to it,’’ he says. “Maybe we won’t do ants in croissants but don’t count it out. It’s our dream to really push the boundaries.’’
Says Paris: “We’re coming from a background of being chefs. We’re both thinking about creating flavours in the same way we would think about making flavoursome dishes.’’
On Kent Terrace just along from the Embassy Theatre, Myrtle is reminiscent of a bakery in San Francisco with a high stud and huge windows.
It serves coffee and baked goods, and a couple of tables are out the front for customers who want to sit and eat. Baking smells waft out of the ovens at the back.
Each loaf takes about three days from start to finish and their mantra is to only serve fresh bread baked that morning.
When Stuff visited, Brown had baked black pudding and apple croissants that morning.
“It feels like a playground here. It’s like putting a 5-year-old in high school,’’ he says.
The chef has been baking his own bread for The Larder since the eatery opened. They expanded into a commercial kitchen a couple of years ago, which gave him the confidence to think he could open a bakery.
Both Brown and Paris have fine-dining backgrounds – she started her career at The Larder years ago. When the site came up, they fell in love with it.
Myrtle is a shift in Brown’s schedule. Previously, when The Larder opened for evening meals, he would work late into the night. Now he starts baking at midnight.
“I always said to myself when I was younger: I’m never going to be a chef. Then when we were working in a restaurant, I remember looking at the baker and saying: ‘I really like baking bread but I’m never going to be a baker because the hours are terrible’. And here I am. I’ve got very good at doing everything I said I wouldn’t do.
“But when I bake something it takes my breath away. It’s magic,’’ he says.
The arrival of the bakery suits the couple’s three teenage sons who are competitive swimmers.
“Sometimes I bring home a loaf of ciabatta and Elliott will say, ‘Oh I could eat a whole loaf ’ and he does,’’ Brown laughs.