Meeting with Karthik
Falling in love with dough
My grandmother, Padmha, brought me here when I was 5 and I studied in Auroville schools. In my younger teens, I was really interested in art: However, as I had difficulties with my studies, my teachers helped me find more practical things to learn and I got interested in cooking but I never would have guessed that it would lead me to this passion for bread.
I started to practice the job with different cooks and chefs in Auroville. I dived straight into the pots; there are so many places to learn from here! It’s easier and faster to learn on the ground, directly from people that have the knowledge, I’m very grateful for this opportunity that Auroville provided me.
Becoming an artisanal baker
As I got more interested, I started exploring and doing research on various breads. I decided to build my own oven made out of mud and bricks and started creating my own bread recipes. I love baking, I want to keep doing it and discovering new ways to improve my bread with my own hands on. Artisanal is the way to go: even if I expand my production, I’ll stick to firewood. It’s old style but you learn so much: timings – of the oven, of the bread – are crucial. Baking in a gas oven is easy but it doesn’t provide the same opportunity for growth and learning.
Childhood reflections
Before I came to Auroville, I remember white flour bread. Having done a lot of research on cereals, I now know that it probably came from the British. They brought it with them and it was then adopted here too. It looks like a bun, costs 20 Rupees a pack, and people dip it in their tea.
Over the years many recipes were brought to Auroville, including recipes using local millets. One can’t bake bread with just any flour; high gluten content is needed. This is something that needs to be learned, and this was possible for me through Auroville and our bakers here.
Today, in Auroville, there are so many great bakers who bake artisanal bread, Super quality cakes, exquisite croissants, and nutritious biscuits and crackers from all kinds. The diversity is incredible and the local bread scene is evolving by the day.
Silent craft
I mix and knead 5kg of flour every day, I use organic flour. 5kg corresponds to 30 baguettes or 15 loafs of bread.
At night before going to bed, I fire up the oven and close its entrance with a few bricks, making sure to leave small holes for oxygen to keep feeding the fire. Then, by 4-5 am, the fire is ready. I spread the heat out evenly and at around 6-7 am I put the bread inside.
That early in the morning, it is very peaceful, calm and silent, with nobody around.
Inside the oven the bread releases oxygen and these “eruptions” cause tearing or breaking of the bread crust. Sometimes even the whole bread breaks into two, which doesn’t always look good. By scoring the bread, one creates an escape route for the oxygen, and one can choose its shape for visual satisfaction.
Around 80% of the baking happens outside the oven, with the reaction between the different ingredients where the preparation can double in size; the oven only constitutes the remaining 20%. One also needs to feel if the preparation is ready to be put in the oven; it’s not a set thing. That changes daily, especially here in the South where it’s always hot, which makes it challenging for fermentation processes.
After loading the bread into the oven, I spray water into the oven to create steam which affects the colour of the bread.
Early bird distributer
The bread is ready By 8.00. After a good cup of coffee and a fresh hot puffy crusty slice of bread with loads of Butter and Grany’s papaya jam, Karthik is on his bike with fresh delivery of bread arriving straight to the Ptdc collaborative distribution centre where the limited edition of mindful bread will be feeding the community.