With the rise of bakery chains like BreadTalk and Four Leaves, Jie Bakery remains one of the few traditional bakeries that make their loaves from scratch without preservatives
From down the street, you can smell it. The yeasty aroma of freshly baked bread wafts out of the bakery and lingers in the air. We followed the scent into Jie Bakery & Confectionery, located along Upper Paya Lebar Road. Further in the shop, you’ll see neat rows of downy loaves lining the cooling racks and a few bakers hard at work, rolling out and kneading the dough before popping them into a large gas oven that can bake up to 200 loaves each time.
Traditional bakeries like Jie Bakery & Confectionery are a rare sight. Its old school signboard and well-worn interiors offer a glimpse of Singapore in the bygone days before modern technology made its mark on our lives. Owner Jimmy Mah estimates that there are now less than five bakeries like his left in Singapore. “In the 1970s, there used to be more than 200 of such bakeries, but due to the long work hours and low profit margins, most of them have closed down,” he says.
For the past 30 years, Mah and his team of bakers have been baking traditional white loaves from scratch.
“I started out as an employee, baking breads for a bakery located close to this shop. I worked for my boss for a few years before he decided he wanted to sell off the business as it was not very profitable. I ended up taking over the business as I have a passion for baking. I renamed the shop and moved to my current location,” Mah shares.
Denne historien er fra May/June 2018-utgaven av WINE&DINE.
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Denne historien er fra May/June 2018-utgaven av WINE&DINE.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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New Blood
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Sharing Is Caring
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The South Asian Misnomer
Incredibly diverse and varied than most know, Indian food is far more intriguing than butter chicken or thosai. Here is a crash course on the extensive cuisine from region to region, recognisable for the seemingly infinite ways of using spices.
Keepers Of The Spice Trade
From its glory days along trade routes to pantry staples all over the world, spices have become so commonplace that we’ve taken them for granted. For these three trailblazers, however, spice is their livelihood and motivation: Langit Collective working with indigenous rural farming communities in Malaysia; IDH’s Sustainable Spice Initiative; and chef Nak’s one-woman mission to share forgotten Khmer cuisine.
Sugar, Spice And Everything Nice
Like food, spices bring vibrancy and variety to alcoholic beverages. Surfacing in unexpected ways on the palate, find everything from cumin to tamarind, cloves to cardamom enriching these drinks.
Building Blocks From The Archipelago
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