May 19, 2021
Urban India was accustomed to consuming various forms of commercial, white bread for several decades and authentic European-style bread were available only within the confines of cafes and restaurants of five-star hotels. Outside of them, bagels were often nothing more than ring-shaped, soft, white bread, while croissants were crescent-shaped versions of the same thing.
In the last few years, however, thanks to the enthusiasm and efforts of a growing bunch of bakers, European style bread has become more mainstream than they ever were, becoming available in multiple cities, cafes and restaurants, grocery stores, and online delivery platforms, and even delivered to your doorstep. So now, a bagel is not light and fluffy anymore, but dense, moist, and chewy, like it is supposed to be, and croissants are light and flaky, with layer upon layer of buttery goodness. And then, of course, is the sourdough, which has emerged as the unlikely hero in a year plagued by Covid-19.
Baker’s dozen is one outlet that brought artisan bread to our plates- From the single outlet in Prabhadevi, The Baker’s Dozen has grown to three branded stores in Mumbai and 21 delivery outlets pan-India and plans to expand to 50 stores across 15 cities by the end of 2021.
The bread bakery uses ‘modified atmosphere packaging’ (MAP), which is similar to how products like paneer are packaged. This form of packaging is not used to package bread in India because it is quite an expensive affair, and adds ₹10 to ₹12 per package.
Krumb Kraft in Bengaluru specializes in sourdough bread. On an average, in a week, Krumb Kraft makes between 200 and 300 sourdough bread for selling directly to individual customers; this apart, it also supplies bread to cafes and restaurants.
BigBasket had also launched Fresho brand of bread in 2013, but by 2015, its customers began asking for gourmet bread, as they became more familiar with baguettes and bagels. And with an extensive market survey, BigBasket in early 2015, launched Signature range of gourmet bread.
Of the 30 cities in which BigBasket services are available, the company supplies gourmet bread in eight to nine. In these cities, BigBasket ties up with a local baker, who is then trained to make gourmet bread.
The Signature range of gourmet bread saw sales touch ₹2 crores a month during the lockdown months of July and August. This happened because a lot of local bakeries were closed. After this period, the sales stabilized to about ₹1-1.5 crore a month, which is still double the sales before the pandemic.
There are challenges in adapting the ingredients and techniques of European bread-making to Indian conditions. There are different kinds of grains and flour in Germany, such as Spelt or Dinkel, Emmer, Rye, and Weizen. They all taste different and give the bread different kinds of properties. But in India, you only get one kind of wheat and flour. So we have to innovate.
And also there are cost factors. No one would buy sourdough bread if it costs ₹500. So Indian version makes it pocket-friendly without compromising with the taste. For croissants, which need butter to be in a cold and solid state, and extra-dry variety is used so that it does not melt as fast as regular butter.
When it came to things like proofing, product consistency would always be a problem. So a proofing machine needs to be the best so that consistency could be maintained at all times, regardless of seasonal changes.
Like all the other cuisines that India has adapted and made its own, it is perhaps now time for European style bread too to find its footing and fan following.