By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A CENTURY-old sourdough starter has been put to sleep, woken up and transplanted into a Dandenong bakery’s range of Polish, Russian and German-influenced breads.
The starter comes from a since-closed bakery in the Polish city of Bialystok, which was closed down five years ago because its flue didn’t comply with European Union emissions standards.
One of the bakers, Andrew Lipiszko, and wife Hanna were given the starter to take with them to Australia – it is the staple of their Polish Rye Crust Bakery in Dandenong.
Like the keepers of an eternal flame, the artisan bakers have tended the sourdough – the last surviving remnant of the old Polish bakery.
“Before we could use it here, it had to be frozen and put to sleep to go into quarantine,” Mrs Lipiszko said.
“It took one and a half months to make it alive again.”
Mr Lipiszko’s wife Hanna describes the aged sourdough as being like a vintage wine – the older the bacteria, the more potent the taste.
The menu is a collusion of the couple’s regional influences – Andrew from near the Russian border, Hanna from a former Germanic district.
It includes more than 50 European style breads, cakes, pretzels, borscht as well as sauerkraut and goulash soups as well as Russian and German-style meats.
Polish Rye Crust Bakery is at 101-103 Foster Street, Dandenong. Phone 9706 9194
