Address: Shop G5, 614 George Street, Sydney NSW
Tel: (02) 9264 6608
Website: http://www.doughcollective.com.au
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Reviewed by: Wicko
The Dough Collective is a new bakery located in the heart of the city at 614 George Street between the Metro Theatre and McDonald’s.
They have been open for one week, offering a twist to the usual bread experience.
The Dough Collective believes in providing higher quality breads compared to other bakeries through their unique production process.
I was invited with a group of food bloggers, to go behind the scenes into the kitchen and see how the professionals make their bread.
Upon arrival, I saw some cool bread displays on show, including a giant lobster!
When we went into the backroom I was amazed at how many bakers were in there, creating magic with their hands.
After learning more about the business I came to understand what it was the caused this bakery to stand above the rest. The business creates a much fresher product through many interesting techniques.
First and foremost, almost everything is handmade; the only step of the process where a machine is used would be the baking (obviously) and the kneading for some types of bread.
This kneading is kept to a minimum to ensure that the bread is not completely worked, as this causes the loss of air in the bread.
This in conjunction with the use of warm water when mixing the flour, ensures that the bread does not dry out, and cooks quickly, gives the bread its wonderful fluffiness.
The yeast used by the bakers is produced freshly on site from dried raisins which have been fermented with water for 9 days at 25.2 degrees.
This provides a flavour advantage, as the liquid is used (as opposed to dried yeast where much of the flavour in the yeast is lost from the liquid). It also results in a fresher product.
In the process of baking, no sugars or oils are used, except for in the sweet products such as the “chocolate surprise”.
Instead, they rely on quality products sourced from around the world, for example Belgian chocolate, and Italian parmesan.
The business runs on 2 hour time slots. This is to make their wide range of products (58-60) possible.
The bakers in the back would cook only a few kinds of bread in a two hour slot, as cooking all types, all day would be near impossible. Thus the breads that are out are fresher, and a wide variety available.
These shifts will soon be up on a sign out the front. They correspond to the time of the day, for example: sweeter breads during breakfast time or heavier and cheesier breads during lunch.
So we rolled our own bread for a minute or two. It looked like the easiest thing I could imagine while I watched the chef do it, however when it was my turn to rise to the challenge, I do not think I could’ve done worse!
When the tour was over we were shown around the front and introduced to their hot beverages.
The Dough Collective is aiming to providing a holistic experience through their provision of both food and drink.
The coffee is from Single Origin Roasters which is ethically sourced and environmentally sustainable. The quality of the coffee is such that to use it in your shop, you must go through a tough interview, which many businesses do not pass; this really elucidates the quality of the product.
I had a large long black with no sugar. It was one of the best coffees I have had in a while, strong and flavoursome just as I like it.
As we left we were given bags to take home some bread (win!).
There was a wide variety to choose from, including sweet and savoury options and individual or family sized loaves.
Being a sweet tooth I decided to take home the “Chocolate surprise” which was a beautifully soft chocolate dough with a soft centre of liquid chocolate.
I also got my hands on the “Ham Pizza Toast”. This one would be a personal favourite out of the savouries. It seemed just like a loaf of bread with cheese on it from above, however I found out how wrong I was the first time I cut it. The centre was partly hollow, filled with a soft runny cheese and strips of ham. This perfectly complimented the crusty top.
The “Gourmet Hot Dog” (below, bottom left) was great, it contained Australian pork and mustard in a soft pastry.
Finally I tried the “sweet and savoury ring”. When I ate this I was so surprised. The combination of Belgian chocolate in a large, soft, ring, with cream cheese, and black kidney beans was amazing. I found it a great delight, due to its differentiation from the norm… and also because of the chocolate.
Overall, The Dough Collective was a great place to explore the different kinds of breads, learn how they are made and try some delicious coffee.
I enjoyed the experience and especially the variety and quality of breads available.
The Casual Food Blogger 