Ciabatta Bakery, Rotorua

Good bread takes time, the best ingredients, a method that favours quality over speed of production, and a great oven.

The finest of breads also requires an artisan baker who understands long fermentation methods – the process that turns flour, water, yeast, and salt into the greatest, most complete food on earth. It’s hardly   surprising that bread has been a staple food for civilisations for thousands of years.

Stone ground whole meal and rye flour is represented in all our breads providing B group vitamins like Thiamine, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine, Niacin etc.

Good bread provides the body with an efficient source of energy through the complex carbohydrates and proteins contained in it. It also offers the body essential nutrients and is a great source of fibre.

It has been said that in recent times the move towards white flour, white rice, white sugar and industrialised bread-making has contributed to some of our unhealthy eating habits and life styles, and this is a trend we would like to see reversed.

Time is perhaps the most under-rated element in good bread making, and is often avoided by bakers living in a ‘time-poor’ society, in favour of production efficiencies and profit margins. Sometimes it’s simply due to the lack of artisan skill.

By choosing a short fermentation process, additives such as emulsifiers and specially formulated fats and sugars are required as otherwise the bread would be displeasing.

Ciabatta Bakery however, produces authentic Artisan Breads using long fermentation processes, with NO EMULSIFIERS and a natural rye sour starter that gives a unique aroma, texture and appeal not possible with short-fermentation methods. 

There are health benefits too. Some people with gluten intolerance find they can consume long fermentation breads with no negative side-effects and this is due to the natural breakdown of starches over an extended fermentation process. Eating fresh Ciabatta is actually a great no-fat option too, as it has no added fats or sugars - It’s 100% fat-free and low gluten as well!