Sourdough dreams: Baker returns to first love after 10 years

Sourdough bread can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

By Wilfred Pilo

KUCHING, Nov 3: Benjamin Lim loves bread—specifically, sourdough bread.

The 34-year-old baker was introduced to it by his European employer 13 years ago.

His first taste and the many pieces of sourdough bread which followed changed his palate for bread entirely. He still remembers feeling gobsmacked after he learned he would be learning how to make it as an apprentice by his employer.

He told the DayakDaily that being accepted as an apprentice in a bakery to make sourdough bread was one of the greatest moments in his life.

“Learning something new in the culinary trade of making sourdough bread from scratch also allowed me to know more about unique, healthy bread. It was fun in the bakery profession. I loved the job and having fresh bread daily.”

However, after three years of making sourdough bread for his employer, the bakery closed.

“My boss returned to Europe in good faith and wished me the best. He encouraged me to get a job with the comprehensive training and knowledge that I picked up about the bakery trade while with him. It (bakery closing) was sad but I accepted it.”

Lim showing a freshly made loaf of sourdough bread.

Lim said after leaving the bakery, he joined his father’s garage in Sri Aman and was involved in heavy machinery repair business.

However, this came to an end after his father passed away and he moved back to Kuching with his family.

While in Kuching he got involved in the electrical wiring trade with friends.

“Despite being good in these fields, I felt my calling was in bakery work and the culinary trade.

“About three months ago, I started making sourdough bread again and the skills are still there.

“Now my business plan is to open my own bakery and I want to start from scratch. To do so, I have test-marketed my sourdough bread and did pre-orders as a business. I also baked for charity and delivered to old folks’ homes.

“All this is preparing me for when I open up the bakery, which is in the pipeline. I have to get my baking rhythm first,” he added.

Lim said the reason he wanted to go back into the bakery business is that he finds it less stressful compared to repairing machines or doing electrical works.

“Serving people with healthier food suits me better, and a bakery is a better work environment. I am not made to be a mechanic or electrician,” he opined.

Lim explained that to make sourdough bread, yeast and sugar is not required. Instead, three simple ingredients comprising water, flour and salt is used to make a starter for the dough.

“It is slightly more work than making normal bread,” he added.

Sourdough bread rolls.

Lim believed that people are getting more health conscious, and thus, sourdough bread is getting more widely accepted by consumers in Kuching.

“We can make pastry with it as well as assorted kinds of sourdough bread, and use them for sandwiches, etc.”

He added his friends in the heavy machinery and electrical trade as well as his family supports his baking ambitions.

“I have always had an amazing relationship with my family, parents, particularly my late father. But I am not into ‘greasy’ labour and machines,” he joked.

Lim, the eldest of three siblings, said he had an unconditional love for his father and would listen to his advice.

“If 13 years ago, I had pursued my tertiary education, I am not certain that I would have ended up in a garage or a bakery in the city. But it could be faith that has made me go into what I want to do.

“Maybe for the love of bread, I decided again to make it a profession instead of continuing my father’s business legacy.”

Basic sourdough bread.

Lim said he has no qualms about his seriousness in going into the baking business as he is confident in the skills he learned since his apprentice days making sourdough bread.

“In life, we will not always go with what we had planned and when I met this European baker who took me in as an apprentice, I took it with a positive note to try something different than what my father had wanted me to do.

“My late father did tell me that when you want to do something, do it well and be good at it. So, this also helped to motivate me to go into the baking business now and I hope to be good in the trade.”

To pre-order and get a taste of Lim’s sourdough bread, call 014-704 1051. — DayakDaily