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Journalism of Courage
8220;Your change, ma8217;am,8221; she trilled across the pastry counter of a hotel that shall remain unnamed. 8220;That8217;s it?8221; I squawked as I scooped up a shiny two rupee coin. You have to understand my angst: I had just handed over a Rs 100 note to pay for a loaf of bread. Had I really paid Rs 98 for bread that was 90 per cent indigestible fibre?
Oh, the things we do in the name of health and regularity. Don8217;t get me wrong. It was a great loaf of bread. It8217;s the price tag that gave me heartburn.
Many loaves and a near-divorce over my 8220;extravagance8221; made me determined to find good bread that wouldn8217;t bankrupt me. Of course, that was back in 1997. Mission Un-Accomplished. Seven years on, I believe I8217;m a little closer to finding perfection.
Okay, let8217;s not get carried away. If you8217;re looking for a perfect melt-in-the-mouth croissant, take the first flight to Paris, but what8217;s on offer ain8217;t half bad.
Mercifully, one is no longer subjected to chewing on mass-produced, fleecy white bread that tastes of, well, nothing. The capital has finally graduated from Britannia to baguettes. As a result, there are a clutch of bakeries and patisseries that do the trick. Suddenly, even auntyjis can roll words such as ciabatta and focaccia off their tongues with a degree of confidence, never mind the pronunciation.
After all, 8220;bacche like kartein hain8221;.
Truth is, the going has never been better, especially for someone like me who can8217;t eat white. Bring on the rye, the olive and sun-dried tomato bread. It8217;s suddenly all available.
The forerunner was the chain Breads 8217;n More, which went to the extent of importing ingredients such as rye and pumpernickel flour for their Norllander Bread.
I8217;ve never quite got the name straight because each time I visit, the attendant pronounces it differently. Having said that, the bread has been uniformly good.
If you know Delhi as I do, then you know exactly where to find Chocolate Wheel, a tiny, family-run bakery8212;in a quiet lane in Central Delhi8217;s Jor Bagh. Their signature Dalia Bread has fans who live up to 50 km away.
Excessive, you might think, but then it freezes like a dream. The bread combines the mainstay of the north8212;dalia used to make porridge8212;with an American staple, sliced bread.
The Oberoi Hotel has, thankfully, acknowledged patrons with evolved gastronomic tastes but less than deep pockets. No, that was not the hotel I was talking about earlier.
Their Charcuterie stocks deli-style bread as well as great go-along-with8212;cold cuts8212;at very affordable prices.
Taking note of this trend, Sugar 038; Spice has a Breads of the World Festival, which started as a Christmas and New Year8217;s promotion, but is still continuing.
On offer, apart from the usual browns and whole wheats, are imported German Volkorn which translates as 8216;whole corn8217; and a decent Stollen over Christmas.
Fancy breads are catching on elsewhere as well. Gaylord bakery in Churchgate, Mumbai, has shelves spilling over with seven-grain bread wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn, linseed and sesame, multi-cereal wheat, soya bean, rye, barley, malt flour and semolina, and milk and rye options.
The Bakehouse at Kemp8217;s Corner in the city offers three- and seven-grain bread as well.
I admit there are times when I yearn for good old 8220;angrezi dubble roti8221;. The kind that tastes of yeast, not sawdust. New Delhi8217;s Gymkhana Club still does a wonderful home-baked loaf for their divine chicken and roast mutton sandwiches. I8217;ve grown up on this bread, so for me it will always be special.
I8217;m really quite an easy person to please as far as food is concerned8212;a warm crusty loaf of bread, some good Gorgonzola or Brie and a bottle of wine. Bon Appetit.
With inputs from
