Korean-baked European bread a winner
Lex Roh has baked his whole life – and now to the delight of Christchurch locals.
Originally from Seoul, Korea, Roh moved to New Zealand in 2015. He was after a change of pace and found it at Bohemian Bakery in Sumner.
‘‘I was born in Seoul, I grew up in Seoul, a big city, very big city. It was full of big buildings and cars everywhere,’’ Roh said.
‘‘I wanted to find somewhere I could relax and find a bit of nature.’’
The 38-year-old found a job at Bohemian Bakery, which opened in 2016.
Run by Slovakian Maka Angyalova, the bakery quickly established itself as a staple in the tight-knit Sumner community as well as drawing customers from across the city.
Angyalova bakes bread from traditional Slovakian and Czech recipes.
Roh said European bread was ‘‘crunchier and crispier’’ than Korean bread, which was inspired by a Japanese style of baking – softer and less crusty.
Some of his earliest memories were selling and packing bread in his father’s bakery.
He started baking straight out of high school before completing compulsory military training.
‘‘My father had a friend with a big bakery so I worked there. I also worked for about eight years at Paris Baguette in Seoul. They opened a shop in Paris too.’’
Roh said the work environment at Bohemian Bakery was ‘‘very open-minded’’ compared to Korean bakeries.
‘‘In Korea it was very high pressure. They just say, do it, do it, do it – here it is different.
‘‘I don’t know about other bakeries in New Zealand, but here we are not pressured by our boss, she is very open-minded.’’
He was a finalist in the 2017 Farmers Mill Great New Zealand Bake Off, a who’s who of New Zealand bakers. He was the only baker of Asian descent in the competition.
‘‘I made a traditional Czech sourdough bread. I hadn’t made a 100 per cent sourdough in Korea, never.
‘‘We usually use some of the sourdough and some yeast, but Maka makes 100 per cent.
‘‘It was really her recipe, I just baked it, so I don’t think really it was my win that I was in the finals.’’
Angyalova said to have Roh working at her bakery, making specialty European breads, was ‘‘truly one big world coming together’’.
‘‘Our other baker, Pat, is from Sri Lanka and is now an expert in our techniques and is a master of all the sourdough making steps.’’
Roh said he was ‘‘very happy’’ living in New Zealand and had since learned to fish. Learning to swim was next on his list.
‘‘I love to see the sea and the seaside, but I can’t swim.
‘‘When I lived in Korea I had never fished, so here I searched on YouTube and on Google to study fishing, so now I can catch very big fish – so enjoyable.’’
"I wanted to find somewhere I could relax and find a bit of nature."
Baker Lex Roh