POLISH Rye Crust Bakery owner Andrew Lipiszko was studying electrical engineering at Monash University when he discovered his love for baking.
“Electricity kills and bread doesn’t,” he joked.
He started baking as a night job he could fit around his studies.
“I fell in love with the trade,” he said.
“I still graduated with honours.”
Mr Lipiszko and wife Hanna opened their own business on Foster Street, between two Polish butchers, in September 2009, when Dandenong’s revitalisation was just getting underway.
They initially concentrated on bread but soon added coffee, sandwiches, wholesale orders, sweets, deli products and a catering service.
The menu is a collusion of the Polish couple’s regional influences – Mr Lipiszko from near the Russian border, Mrs Lipiszko from a former Germanic district.
It includes more than 50 European-style breads, cakes, pretzels, borscht, sauerkraut, goulash soups and Russian and German-style meats.
Mr Lipiszko cares for and uses a live 100-year-old sourdough starter, monitoring PH levels to avoid a strong aftertaste.
“It takes a lot of care to keep it alive so it doesn’t get mouldy,” he said.
“It’s alive. You use it, then you feed it. It regenerates.”
It was put to sleep in a since-closed bakery in the Polish city of Bialystok.
Mr Lipiszko woke it up and uses it in Polish, Russian and German-influenced breads.
“It took one and a half months to make it alive again,” he said.
Polish Rye Crust Bakery’s bread is created from organic flour and filled with fresh produce from Dandenong Market.
“The business is well-known for its large servings and its desire never to send home hungry customers,” awards chairman James Sturgess said.
The business was finalist in the Dandenong Retail Traders Association (DRTA) awards in 2012 and was its Dandenong Retailer of the Year in 2013.
It’s also featured in several print and television publications.
Polish Rye Crust Bakery was nominated for the CSR and Employment, Retail and Commercial, Small Business and Premier Regional Business awards.
It was a finalist in the Retail and Commercial and Small Business categories.
