When local baker Will Petersen, and his sister Sophie, teamed up with mate and fellow baker, Dan Watts, Sequel Bakery was born and their handmade sourdough breads and pastries quickly gathered a cult following.
Each Thursday morning at Byron Farmers Market you’ll find a queue of local devotees, waiting patiently for their fix of fresh, locally-made croissants, cinnamon scrolls, Danishes and sourdough baguettes, rolls and loaves.
According to Will, the secret to great bread (and pastries) is all about ingredients and process.
‘We focus on organic sourdough breads with super-long fermentations and lots of hydration,’ he says. ‘So, ingredients are the main event for us! We take a very basic grain and turn it into a tasty loaf of bread with not much intervention.’
‘We use only three ingredients – flour, water and salt! That’s all we start with and by fermenting and developing those properties we end up with what’s known as sourdough bread. Flour is our key ingredient and we use organic flour from Wholegrain Milling who are based in Gunnedah and have been milling grains for over 40 years.’
A firm favourite with marketgoers is Sequel’s rustic sourdough, which is a mix of stoneground, wholewheat, and white flour, which Will says offers the flavour from the wholewheat and the structure of your regular bread. While on the pastry side, their cinnamon scrolls get the top gong – perfect, paired with a coffee!
Will’s favourite? ‘The tank loaf, which is our rustic dough baked in a large tin, and close second would be the large round – I love the big loaves. When it comes to the pastries, my pick is between the almond croissant and the cinnamon scroll.’
Will says the difference between locally-baked bread and its supermarket counterparts is like comparing night and day.
‘There are three keys to making a great loaf of bread – lots of time, quality ingredients, and a love of the process! And that’s the big difference between our breads and those in the supermarkets. They don’t take time to make bread, they use cheap ingredients (therefore they need additives) and they don’t love the process – it’s about mass production.’
You can find Sequel Bakery at Byron Farmers Market every Thursday morning.
Byron Farmers Market is held every Thursday from 7am to 11am at Butler St Reserve, and Bangalow Farmers Market is held every Saturday from 7am to 11am in Piccabeen Park.
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