A BORDER microbakery is restoring a strong food tradition at Bonegilla.
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The Bicycle Baker began operating out of the Bonegilla Migrant Experience Function Centre last week.
The Bicycle Baker co-owners Nicky Bruce and Tim Alexander said they felt lucky to work in a space that was steeped in Australia’s migrant history.
“Our love of bread has come from our cycling adventures in Europe so Bonegilla feels like a perfect fit for our little bakery,” Ms Bruce said.
Bonegilla Migrant Experience team leader Bernadette Zanet said cooking traditions would have evolved at the migrant centre, which operated from 1947 to 1971.
“During that time they would have adapted the menus to bring in more flavour and techniques from Europe,” she said.
“Migrants would have worked in the kitchen sharing their cultural traditions.”
Having travelled throughout Europe before settling on the Border in 2002, Ms Bruce and Mr Alexander wanted to replicate traditional sourdough bread at home.
The Bicycle Baker operated out of Albury Wodonga Community College for 12 months before moving to Albury CBD in March 2017.
Ms Bruce said they baked 10 varieties of sourdough bread from Wednesday to Saturday.
She said their bread would be available at Bonegilla Welcome Centre on Saturdays as well as its other retailers.
“From spring we plan to run workshops based around different breads tied to migrant groups,” she said.
Ms Bruce said they were also experimenting with organically-grown Woodstock Flour from Berrigan.
“We have started using some of their rye and stoneground flours,” she said.
The Bicycle Baker was founded two years after Mr Alexander bought Ms Bruce a 1936 Malvern Star butcher’s bicycle, now affectionately known as Crusty.