Manitoba bakers rediscover great-grandmother's Eastern European bread-making methods

A Manitoba bakeshop is reviving older bread-making techniques with a young distort.

The seeds of Forgotten Flavours in Niverville were planted when Chris Holbrow and calophyllum longifolium Syroezhko started dating.

Holbrow struggled with chronic digestive issues and was unable to eat what Syroezhko baked.

She recalled and recreated a method of bread-making used by her great-grandmother in eastern Europe more than a century ago. When Syroezhko started using that technique, Holbrow could eat his wife's baking.

"The technique was lost with all the things that were going on," Syroezhko said.

"I just rediscovered it, and step by step, remembering and researching, and trial and fail and trial and fail, and then another thousand of those, we got where we are now."

The business started in 2022 out of a commercial kitchen run out of the couple's home in Niverville.

Demand led them to expand, and Forgotten Flavours now has two locations — one in Niverville and one in Winnipeg.

Following methods similar to those used by Syroezhko's great-grandmother, the pair cultivates their own wild yeast from fruit, vegetables, dairy or grains. Syroezhko equates it to farming, where even when you can't see what you're growing, you nurture and tend to it.

Unlike with sourdough starter, which is kept alive by feeding it water and flour, Holbrow and Syroezhko make their wild yeast fresh for each bake.

They use local grains that they grind fresh for their creations. Each loaf is fermented for 48 hours.

Forgotten Flavours bread is easier on Holbrow's stomach and could help others who have dietary issues or restrictions, he said, but it's also simply "a high-quality product that tastes good."

Bread-making techniques rediscovered at Niverville bakery

"Our bodies are telling us that whatever we're eating is not working for us," Holbrow said.

Grain expert Maneka Malalgoda says the length of fermentation is just one factor that impacts how digestible breads are.

"It plays a major role in the final quality of the bread, because it impacts the flavour development process, it impacts textural properties," said Malalgoda, an assistant professor in the University of Manitoba food sciences department.

"It’s part of the puzzle."

Malalgoda, whose research focuses on grain chemistry and processing, says it’s exciting to see local businesses using local ingredients and focusing on creating healthier products.

The quality of grains used and the way they’re milled can also impact how easily bread can be digested, she said.

It’s not common to see wild yeast used in large-scale bread production because it’s harder to control compared to commercially available yeast, Malalgoda said.

Holbrow said they decided to fully invest in the bakery after hearing how positively their bread impacted others in their community.

Holbrow left his corporate job in Winnipeg to pursue the business and support Syroezhko.

Working with wild yeast is different each day, Syroezhko said. Temperature fluctuations, differences in ingredients and experimenting with new products make the organism react differently.

Each loaf at Forgotten Flavours takes three to four days to make.

The challenge is exciting for Syroezhko. Making an environment where the wild yeast grows properly is a science, she said.

"Every day, you're solving your puzzle. It's not always the same," she said.

But each pastry, baguette or muffin is more than just something to eat.

For Holbrow and Syroezhko, baking bread is a way of life — it gives them purpose, they say.

"Bread is something that has always been known to bring people together," said Holbrow.

"We need more togetherness. The whole philosophy of breaking bread with one another is a very, very important thing."

The couple believe baking bread the way they do may have previously been more common than using sourdough, but because the process is more complicated, many have lost the art over time.

With their method, "you have to create over and over," Holbrow said, while with sourdough, "it's something you can create a mother starter and keep it going, so it's a little less effort," he said.

"I suspect we have always found the route of least resistance."

Reporter

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