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By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright February 2023
How do you bake the world a better place? Michael Jackson said "Make the world a better place" in his song "Heal the World." Not bake! But Shirley thinks it's possible.
She bakes daily 12 loaves of sourdough bread with natural home grown yeasts cultured in her own kitchen somewhere in a Bangsar South condominium. It's a labour of love. She would get up at 5 am to culture the yeast and goes off for a run. Then return to prepare the dough. It takes a few hours to do that. Then she would need to leave that overnight in the refrigerator to prove.
Shirely says proofing or proving is a step in the preparation of yeast bread where the dough is allowed to rest and rise before baking.
"During this rest period, yeast ferments the dough and produces gases, thereby leavening the dough", she explained.
It sounds easy enough but imagine yourself struggling with the dough for hours just to get a few loaves of bread a day.
Another step in the process is shaping the dough for baking. She would prepare twelve pieces a day store in the fridge to be baked over four hours.
She only bakes a dozen a day simply because her Electrolux oven can only fit 3 pieces of bread per hour. She would need 4 hours to bake 12 daily. Then she would quit for the day. Then she would distribute the breads to immediate neighbours who wait for them anxiously. But besides individuals she supplies to small cafes in KL too.
Her bread she claims can rival any sourdough in town. It's tasty and will not make your stomach bloat, a feeling you tend to get from breads bought at bakeries that do not use cultured yeast.
What prompted her to bake?
She and her husband wanted to open a cafe in Croatia. The plan was she would bake fresh breads daily while her husband attended to guests.
They fell in love with beutiful Croatia where the "Game of Thrones" was shot, but unfortunately, the place does not have good cafes and restaurants like we do in KL.
Breakfast joints merely serve toasts or rolls and coffee. Very bare continental breakfasts indeed!.
They found a few picturesque sites in Croatia for a cafe and were seriously going forward, negotiating terms with owners.
She came back to Malaysia and worked as an apprentice at a New Zealand coffee franchise in Bangsar and studied to be a qualified baker with an Academy in Petaling Jaya 16 hours week for 3 months. She qualified and she said she knew well enough how to manage a cafe.
They were all set to go to Croatia but the covid19 pandemic struck. She could not leave while her husband was stranded in Sweden.
The dream fizzled.
But they have not given up. The latest plan is to open a cafe in the Mediterranean. Possibly Greece.
Yes, Shirley why not.
Go bake and make the best breads and serve better breakfast for the world.
Greece is as good place as any to start one breakfast joint. It could even turn out to be better than your original dream place in Croatia.
Shirely is on @IG Bakeworld8 https://instagram.com/bakeworld8?igshid=OTJlNzQ0NWM=
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