Bread41 on Pearse St. Photo by Paul Carton
By Paul Carton
Opening this Friday at number 41 Pearse St is a bakery-eatery selling fresh long-fermented sourdough, pizzas, pickles and the latest food trend; fermentables kimchi and kombucha.
Before I was able to ask Bread41 co-owner Eoin Cluskey on the ins-and-outs of his new venture we were interrupted with a very impatient man demanding bread from Eoin. The man had travelled from Ranelagh to specifically purchase some bread from Bread41 but somehow he got his month wrong, thinking we were in October. Unfortunately Eoin couldn’t sell him any bread before their opening this Friday and so the man stormed off but not before shouting a few insults at Eoin and declaring never to change from his usual bread dealer in Ranelagh, The Natural Bakery. Eoin, although in shock, laughed it off saying “Well I have to agree with him on one thing there, that bakery in Ranelagh is very good”.
It’s safe to say word has spread about Bread41 but you might miss it while travelling through busy Pearse St. Located in the shadow of the dart rail bridge, it would be reasonable to assume the location was picked to prevent sunlight reaching the fermentables, as this can cause off flavours. But Eoin says it wasn’t intentional. Eoin, who hails from Dun Laoghaire, says he is very much aware of his surroundings on Pearse St, “We are so close to so many offices and I think that the main thing on it is that we are on Pearse St, and everybody that walks by the door, every walk of life should be able to buy a proper loaf of bread, we are very price conscious. Driving that through our whole ethos where I suppose you can go in and buy coffee and pastry and it won’t cost you ten quid” said Eoin.
Eoin says he has been baking for about 8 years spending a lot of time working in The Firehouse in Delgany, Co. Wicklow. “My five-year plan was to get into town and open this up and so that five-year plan has come true”, said Eoin.
Eoin, who says he eats a kilo and a half of bread each day, is an advocate of the ‘real bread’ movement and wants to put just three ingredients into his loaves instead of the “thirty-seven” he says goes into industrial produce. With gluten being a concern among many at the moment, Eoin believes that people should be eating more of long fermented breads, “it builds up the gluten relaxes the gluten, long fermented breads are more digestible than your average industrial loaf and I believe that for far too long people have been eating rubbish bread, high processed bread” said Eoin.
Bread41 opens tomorrow and will be open from 7am-3pm weekdays but closed weekends.
