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Tantalising European breads

FRESH: The breads are all hand-made on the premises.

Breadcrafters, the pioneer in European breads offers a variety of mouthwatering delights. ZANNA ES ventures in for a bite.

BREAD GALORE: Ciabatta, baguettes, sourdough and more.

CERTIFIED: All the breads made by Breadcrafters are halal.

If you've never fancied European breads, try the ones at Breadcrafters!

Their yeasted breads (the classic ciabata, French baguette, bagels,French loaves), the sourdough and leaven breads (the walnut rye breads, sun dried tomato and thyme breads) will change your perception of European breads altogether. The bread’s fine texture, naturally sweet taste with a pleasant aroma really tantalises your appetite. For the Muslim community, they can be rest assured that the breads are halal.

Located in Section 13, the four-year-old shop and bakery which was initially set up in Subang Jaya, not only supplies the breads wholesale to cafes, bistros and kopitiams throughout the Klang Valley but also pastries and cakes.

Its list of famous clients include the San Francisco Café and Steak house (where it supplies European breads) while the hotels, restaurants and catering institutions demand its delectable Danish pastries, croissants as well as hard to resist muffins.

Shahrul Niza Ahmadin, Breadcrafters co-proprietor and Master Chef assures that their breads are of a better quality as they go through the proper process required in breadmaking.

“Here, the bread-making process takes a full six hours from start till it ends up in the oven,” adds the UiTM Business Administration graduate who also has a diploma in Chef Training.

“This means that they have sufficient pre-fermentation time which is crucial in good bread baking techniques,” adds Shahrul Niza who had always dreamed of being a successful entrepreneur. These breads are baked to perfection in hearth ovens (which are special deep-bread ovens with ceramic bases) which retain heat longer.

“Longer heat retention ensures that the bread yields better texture, colour, aroma with a longer shelf-life,” explains the 35-year-old who idolises innovative French baker Eric Tayser.

Six hundred of the scrumptious cibata, bagets and French loaves are baked daily while the oven’s maximum daily baking capacity is 180 loaves of bread per hour. Other assortment of breads such as the Pain Au levain, fougasse, foccacia, the panini and sunflower seed bread are only available on request with a minimum order.

Locals, observes Shahrul Niza, have yet to learn to appreciate European breads which makes lovely sandwiches besides being served as the usual soup accompaniments. Europeans savour the bread crusts unlike the locals which prefer the soft bread within the crust.

The quality of their European bread is evident as one chews it. Breadcrafters French loaf has a spongy texture with air holes and the crust is a reddish golden colour instead of yellow.

“Ours are not gummy, do not stick to the teeth but rather light and slightly sweet,” says the 35 year old. “The crust is crispy and not leathery.” After earning his degree, Shahrul Niza had no qualms venturing into the bread business with a partner, in Subang Jaya. With a modest capital of RM30,000, they rented a kitchen for a year and a half before moving out to Shah Alam.

Being the ambitious man, Shahrul Niza had big plans. With the experience, he succeeded in taking a RM250,000 loan from the SME Bank under the Graduates entrepreneur scheme (which is open to all) to purchase sophisticated bread ovens as well as other major machinery. He had to take the bold step, otherwise he reminisces, there is no way for him to expand his business operations.

Today the bakery boasts a three-deck Spanish-made hearth ovens (costing RM120,000) and a leaven processor which speeds up the pre fermentation process in bread baking without compromising on quality. He believes he is the only one in South East Asia using the processor.

Shahrul Niza who has five other staff to assist him to supply European breads as there were not many local players in this niche market.

“As it is, the market is saturated with the sweet buns and pastries producers,” elaborates Shahrul Niza, the eldest in a family of five. When he took up the Chef training 14 years ago, he recalls, there was hardly any interest in culinary. Even he too had a vague idea of the business that he wanted to venture into.

“I just wanted to acquire some kind of skills,” says Shahrul Niza who also lectures on a part-time basis. Although business means a lot of hard work, he’s confident he has made the right move because ’it has opened up business opportunities’ for him.

Breadcrafters variety of tasty croissants (almond or chocolate butter), muffins, as well as an assortment of Danish pastries (blueberry with custard filling, cherry, chocolate chips and pastry cream), brioches (plain or sultana) as well as breadsticks (carrot mix seeds, oregano and black pepper) is popular with catering institutions as well as hotels.

Although one can walk in and purchase the three popular European breads, the pastries has to be made to order, with a minimum of 30 pieces. He used to sell them at the bakery but the location is not convenient for walk-ins, which explains why made-to-order is a more viable business option. “We need the volume to be sustainable,” he remarks wryly.

Mouth-watering cheese cakes, chocolate cakes, sponge cakes as well as cup cakes are also available with the Royal Pistachio being their signature cake. Humbly acknowledging that they are still the new kid on the block, Shahrul Niza wears many hats. As the more experienced chef he does a lot of the bread making himself and at the same time, manages the business operations.

“I do the marketing and distribution of the breads to the clients myself,” says Shahrul Niza who feels the need for a more aggressive marketing strategy, even though the demand is there.

However, he is not in a hurry to set up more outlets yet, well at least not until he has enough trained chefs to cope with the demand.

As the food business is quality oriented, he is more concerned about maintaining the high quality. “And this definitely requires time,” adds the enterprising young man.

Will the rising cost of flour affect his business? Three months ago it cost him RM45 for 25 kilos of flour and today the cost has shot to RM65.

“We have no choice but to pass on the rising cost to consumer,” laments Shahrul Niza but is confident that being in the niche market, the clients aren’t that price sensitive and will continue to buy what they like.

What are his future plans then? To set up a frozen food factory. Right now, he is happy providing halal products to his Muslim clients. He wants to train young entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the bakery business.

The bakery opens from Monday to Saturday, 9am to 6pm. For details call 019-3651873/012-3691627.

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