For years, these with gluten intolerances or coeliac illness have been pressured to accept crumbly, dry, and usually subpar imitations of beloved baked items. Gluten is the overall title for proteins generally present in wheat, rye and barley, which act because the glue that helps form a loaf of bread or makes a croissant gentle and ethereal – it’s an integral a part of conventional baking, that means it’s arduous to copy the identical outcomes with out it.
As of late, the initials GF are acquainted and ceaselessly discovered on cafe and restaurant menus. And in Sydney, devoted bakeries equivalent to Wholegreen Bakery, Hudson’s Bakery and Nutie have reimagined the world of gluten-free consuming.
That record has now grown longer, with one among Wholegreen Bakery’s former star pastry cooks, Parisian-born and French-trained Sebastien Syidalza, opening a gluten-free bakery and cafe in Leichhardt. At Sebastien Sans Gluten, every part is gluten-free, from the meat pies to the chocolate eclairs.
There are additionally sausage rolls, ache au chocolat, brioche, quiche Lorraine, cream puffs, chocolate tart, lemon meringue tart, bread loaves, Paris-Brest and, after all, baguettes. Diners can order a deal with and a espresso made with Black Market beans and luxuriate in them propped up at a counter in entrance of the window, or at a communal desk arrange within the petite area.
The newly opened Marion Road location can also be rolling out Syidalza’s gluten-free croissant, a Wholegreen Bakery best-seller. The truth is, the baker spent greater than six months perfecting the recipe to do one among his residence nation’s most treasured culinary icons justice.
Ultimately, it’s also possible to anticipate heat and comforting toasties made with the house-baked loaves, and inventive initiatives like Syidalza’s work-in-progress ham-and-cheese croissant.
So, how did a French-trained pastry chef with twenty years of expertise – who hadn’t labored within the gluten-free realm earlier than transferring to Australia 4 years in the past – and no first-hand expertise of gluten intolerance find yourself taking this path?
“I may have gone for a traditional pastry enterprise with all my expertise, however I liked doing what I did,” he tells Broadsheet. “Essentially the most rewarding time for me was after I was working within the gluten-free enterprise.”
For the progressive Syidalza it’s all about providing those that comply with a gluten-free weight-reduction plan the identical high-quality baked items that almost all are afforded. He remembers a buyer flooded with recollections of her journey to Paris 20 years earlier whereas consuming his eclair. “She gave me a hug and had tears in her eye,” he says.
“While you’re a chef, you don’t simply prepare dinner as a result of it pays the payments or no matter. You wish to make folks joyful and are available again for extra.”
Sebastien Sans Gluten
131 Marion Street, Leichhardt
(02) 9564 0539
Hours:
Tue to Fri 6am to 4pm
Sat & Solar 6.30am to 2.30pm
