BAKERY REVIEW
P R O F I L E
A Versatile Baker & Entrepreneur! Aditi Handa, Chief Baker and Founder-Owner , The Baker’s Dozen Mumbai
A master of many trades, Chief Baker, Four grain Fanatic and FounderOwner of The Baker’s Dozen - Aditi Handa has been trained as a Psychologist, HR expert and a Baker! In short, an impressive concoction of skill sets drives The Baker’s Dozen, an establishment of artisanal bread without preservatives in Mumbai, India. After honing her skills at The French Culinary Institute (now International Culinary Center) in New York City, she decided to bring authentic artisan bread to India in the way it should be: genuine, healthy and affordable. A stickler for systems, Aditi has everything planned out in Excel, from baking times to email reminders. With the help of ICC’s chef-instructors, she developed hundreds of bread recipes for The Baker’s Dozen; and has opened its outlet in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Ahemdabad. In an exclusive interview with Sharmila Chand, Aditi Handa talks about her work, brand, mantra for success and more … What are the current hot trends in Indian Bakery industry? The hottest trend right now is ‘EAT LOCAL’ i.e. using local ingredients and flavours. This can range from Indian grains such as ragi, jowar, pulses or using fresh fruits and vegetables such as banana, apple, carrots etc. for cakes.
How did you become a Pastry Chef? I first fell in love with baking when I was training to bake bread, at this point pastry did not interest me as much. In June 2015, 3 years after baking bread, I felt I wanted to train to be a Patissier. In Dec 2015, Chef Pascal from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris truly taught me the meaning of being a patissier and set me on my course. The magic of taking something as plain as flour and converting to beautiful cakes inspired me.
Who are your idols who inspired you?
The Baker’s Dozen brand has been e s t a b l i s h e d b y m a n y o rg a n i c BT L marketing efforts. Customer sampling, society activation events, local newspaper pamphlets, participation in food festivals etc. have to be done on a continuous basis to ensure top-of-mind recall of the brand in the mind of the consumer. We have also utilized social media to create a dialogue directly with prospective customers.
What is the USP of your brand/ products? ‘No Preservatives’ is the brand ethos of ‘The Baker’s Dozen’. All our products are made from scratch recipes, no premixes and are true to the technical origin of the product. As the name of the brand suggests, we believe in giving more to the customer whether it is in the quality or the ingredients, the significant effort required in baking or the passion coming through by the handmade nature of the product.
Growing up I idealized many famous people, most of them extremely successful. Now at this point in life, I find it very inspiring to see an ordinary individual come up with an idea and slowly and gradually work on it and bring it to a level which gives her life a purpose and meaning. Real inspiration comes from the simplest things around you.
What are your hot selling bakery items?
How did you establish your brand/ outlet?
All my products are my children but no doubt one stole my heart. My first love is
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Our top selling items are coconut oats cookies, dark chocolate cookies, banana walnut cake, banana bread, four grain (sourdough) and our multigrain loaf.
Which is your personal favourite product from your collection?
the four grain. You have one slice and there is a no other slice of bread you will ever ask for. My 2nd love is the coconut oats cookie, they are irresistible.
What is the demand these days in Bakery? Tasty, healthy and something very conveniently available in small trial-size packs.
What about the health quotient? How do you take care of that aspect? We don’t use any preservatives, premixes or artificial flavours. Most of our cakes and breads are also 100% whole wheat. Use of fresh ingredients ensures optimum nutritional value of the product.
Your favourite tool and why? This may sound simple but my absolute favourite tool in the kitchen is a bench knife. It’s like an alternate hand. I can cut, shape, clean, pour… do everything with it!
What are the challenges a bakery chef has to face in his job? A baker’s life means very heavy physical work which especially requires strong upper body strength. It also means a lot of night shifts, which is extremely taxing on one’s life style. A baker, on reaching Commis 1 or higher position, needs to learn how to plan production and especially learn to think 2-3
Dec-Jan ’20
