Monday 31 October 2011

Brasserie Bread visits Gundowring


The Brasserie Team with their road trip van

It is always fantastic when like-minded people come together, which is exactly what happened when Brasserie Bread visited Gundowring on Monday the 10th of October as part of their Wild Sour Dough road trip. You can read all about their epic road trip here. The crew at Brasserie are a lot of fun, which was plain to see when they visited Kiewa Valley Primary School, where a number of the  Gundowring ice cream teams children currently go to school (and where Stephen and James went to school, albeit 30 years apart and some years earlier!), to teach the kids about making real bread . All involved had a ball, and the kids are still raving about it!

Table laden with Brasserie bread and local goodies
Brasserie then made their way to Gundowring where we made some ice cream, and tasted straight from the churn. We had a delicious lunch including what else? Bread and Ice Cream! Michael even whipped up some buckwheat pancakes that had everyone salivating as the smell wafted from the kitchen. We got to talking about the benefits and challenges of Artisanal production, and came to realise that there are many similarities between making great bread and great ice cream, as well as some unique differences. It was a fantastic opportunity for us at Gundowring to hear the Brasserie team talk about their experiences and plans for the future.

Ice cream and pancakes... Michael looks content!
The Brasserie team invited us to attend the opening of their new premises in Melbourne, which is located in South Melbourne. It is quite an impressive set up, with brand new ovens that were already releasing the heavenly smell of baking bread as guests were ushered into the production space. We sampled the wares of not only the brand new ovens, but also of the producers that Brasserie had visited as they heralded their mother culture on its voyage from Sydney to Melbourne. It was a great night, and it was a thrill to watch the short film of the trip, which you can find here.

Stephen gets up close and personal with the mother culture
Thanks must go to the Brasserie team for the visit and for having us down to the opening of their spectacular new venue in Melbourne, we are sure it will be a hit, and we look forward to getting some ‘Breaducation’ there (as well as some great food) in the future!

Sarah goes in for a closer look at the Gundowring flavours

Thursday 27 October 2011

Jazz It Up


For those not in the know, Wangaratta is the jazz capital of Australia. That’s right, forget the once smoky bars of Melbourne and Sydney, Wangaratta has consistently drawn the best and brightest to its annual Jazz Festival for the last 21 years.

This year we will see the likes of Barney McAll, Dale Barlow and Walter Lampe and the Australian Art Orchestra. This year will also be the second year Gundowring will be gracing the streets of Wangaratta soaking up the atmosphere and dishing out delicious ice creamy treats.

It should be a great festival, hope to see you there!