Baker Brigade - Sunandithaa G.R. and Supreetha R.

Sunandithaa G.R.



 

One of the city’s youngest home-bakers, Sunandithaa G.R.’s bakery business is called The Pastry Boutique. This young lady is a singer by talent, a law student since her parents are in the legal profession, and now a baker by choice. She opted out of law school to concentrate on her first love - music. Sunandithaa has sung for films as well as performed in live shows with musician Benny Dayal and his band.

It was in the midst of studying Visual Communication at WCC, Chennai, that Sunandithaa discovered the joys of baking. What began as just a hobby has now expanded into a full-fledged business venture. The Pastry Boutique was conceptualized in December 2011. Less than a year later, the compliments and testimonials from happy customers are pouring in for her cakes. 

Vanilla Vibrance (eggless) - A peacock themed cake with 150 cupcakes

As a member of the Home Baker’s Guild, she participated in the recent Bake for Sandy’s competition. Her entry was custard-filled cupcakes, which got all present at the event high on sugary glory. She was declared one of the winners and the custard-filled cupcakes took centre stage for a whole month at Ox & Tomato, a cosy and popular café in Chennai.

Sunandithaa runs The Pastry Boutique with her partner and childhood friend Supreetha. R., a food processing engineer who enjoys working on fondant figurines. Most of their orders are for customized cupcakes and fondant-based cakes. 

Caramel pannacotta is one of the newest items on their menu. According to Sunandithaa, 'Anything ordinary done with passion and love can be made extraordinary.' This belief coupled with a major sweet tooth is what she attributes as the driving force of her venture. She's thrilled that it keeps her busy doing what she loves the most—baking!

The Pastry Boutique FB page

Baker Brigade - JoAnne Saldanha

JoAnne Saldanha

Jo Jo with the MOJO is how I’d like to refer to this home-baker! A typical Bandra babe, she has all the spunk and sass that comes from being a Bombayite. Confident, chatty and charming, JoAnne Saldanha a.k.a. Jo is a Montessori school teacher in Chennai, for students of Class II-VI. Her primary ‘audience’ mostly consists of a group of 6-12 year olds who hang on to her every word. JoAnne is basically a professional storyteller. She links stories from world mythology and folklore and weaves it into the curriculum.

Contrary to what almost every baker says these days, for JoAnne, storytelling is her passion -- work that gives her immense joy and satisfaction. She says, “Working with elementary age children, I thrive on their enthusiasm, eagerness, receptiveness and imagination. I share this passion in teacher and parent workshops as well.”

Back in Bombay, and growing up in a family that thrives on food, JoAnne was constantly surrounded by food-related discussions. The knowledge she gained inadvertently, and as she interestingly puts it – “absorbed by osmosis”, automatically steered her into studying Hotel Management. Food and stories get her ‘mojo’ going and she has blended the two interests on her blog.

After moving to Chennai post marriage, JoAnne took a break from food and baking. Despite having been a professional wedding cake maker, she did not find herself as enthused to taking orders as before, having spent so much time in the food and catering business.

After her two little kids came along, JoAnne realized her days in the kitchen were now filled with ideas on cooking and baking healthy and nutritional tuck. She began experimenting with organic ingredients and altered her tried and tested recipes. She incorporated the use of whole grain flours, unbleached or natural sugars, organic cocoa, organic butter and organic fruits, veggies, nuts and dried fruits into most of the kids’ meals. The results were nutritious and healthy. The kids loved them, as did their friends, and Mom JoAnne was graded a 100/100 on the mommy report card!

Wholewheat Citrussy Date & Walnut Muffins

Her friends loved the goodies as much as well, and soon she found herself generously giving them away. Next thing she knew her neighbours and their friends chimed in with baking requests and orders. With over 22 years of serious baking experience behind her, JoAnne finally decided to set up a baking biz and aptly christened it MOJO - Mostly Organic by Jo. She worked out a menu that focused on delicious healthy and indulgent baked items and desserts. The former is called 'Naturally MOJO' and the latter half of the menu is termed 'Indulgently MOJO'.

Sourcing organic produce once a week, JoAnne generally bakes two items once a week. She informs those listed with her of the available baked items she plans on making that week. Her customers can choose to order as much or as little of the items as they wish. The only request and requirement is that they pick it up from her directly.

There are a couple of things unique to JoAnne vis-à-vis the home-bakers and other participants of the Baker Showcases. She has a wealth of baking and cooking knowledge, practice, and experience to her credit -- 22 years to be precise, and as she puts it "plenty amateurishly even before that!". Her strength lies in the fact that she makes most of her own ingredients and painstakingly sources and uses only the best organic produce in her recipes. She bottles her own plum preserve using fresh plums. She also makes dulce de leche from scratch, with fresh milk and flavoured with real vanilla bean, and simmered for over 3 hours! She prefers doing this to using condensed milk. She also does not use frosting (the current trend amongst most bakers & bakeries today) for any of her baked goodies. All of the above place her in a ‘school’ apart from most other bakers for having the patience and the passion towards her creations.

Home-made Organic Plum Preserve

Whole wheat flour, brown sugar, organic maida/butter, organic oil, lots of fruits and veggies, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, organic cocoa powder, and dried fruits and nuts occupy pride of place in JoAnne’s kitchen. She uses them in all her cookies, biscottis, and muffins. I’m curious about her pumpkin muffins that I’ve been hearing about…she says the seeds create a texture that enhance their flavour. Looks like our taste buds are in for a treat!

Some of the items we can look forward to from JoAnne’s table are pinacolada muffins, home-made plum preserve-based flapjacks, mixed dry fruit and nut oatmeal cookies, brownies, apple and caramel bars, and pear and chocolate yoghurt mini loaves. Phew!! Quite a list, isn’t it?

Passionfruit Cake

Currently, JoAnne does not take orders as she is busy juggling schoolwork and workshops, but she is open to it if time permits. My prediction is that all this is gonna change, and how, post the 2^nd Baker Showcase this Saturday, October 13^th!! J

JoAnne's Blog

Baker Brigade - Rose Anne George

Here goes another first for me. Given my foodie fixation, meeting the people behind the scenes, getting to know more about them and what drives them to do what they do, is sometimes as much fun as digging into their delightful desserts. 

Launching the 'Baker Brigade Series', with one of the city's home-bakers, just in time for the 2nd Baker Showcase.

"Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose", goes the famous poem of yore by Gertrude Stein. Call it by any name and yet it stays sweet in its fragrance. Chennai's very own Macaron Queen - Rose Anne George - knows only too well about the sight, sound, taste and smell of baking. Not only is she charming, pretty and delicate as a flower, her kitchen is as aromatic as they come.

Rose Anne George

Primarily a self-taught baker with basic baking inputs from her mother, Rose enjoys and revels in the aromas that emanate from her kitchen and engulf her lovely, warm and inviting home. Needless to add, cooking is her passion, and Rose loves trying out dishes from around the world. A mother of two, Rose is currently glowing and basking in the role of a mother and a home-baker after a successful career in the corporate world.

Caramel Cake

She is a decade old in the IT industry and ageless when it comes to child-like enthusiasm towards her hobbies. Happiest when churning out the yummiest of homemade goodies for her family and friends, Rose entered the professional home-baking scene practically overnight. Along with her husband’s help, she came up with a name, logo and printed material for her home-based business just a couple of days before the 1^st Baker Showcase, held on June 30^th in Chennai. Her baking venture is called Oven 180 Degrees.

Fondant Birthday Cake

Her goodies, especially the colourful, scrumptious and delicious French macarons – made even more unique since she was the only home-baker selling the delicacy – were an instant superhit. The flavours available were pista, chocolate, vanilla, red velvet and lemon curd with assorted ganache fillings. 

French Macarons

This time around, Rose will be bringing a lot more to the table, quite literally. These will include a potpourri of macarons, cakes, speciality cookies, brownies, tarts, mousses and cheesecakes. She will be catering (pun intended again) to popular flavours such as vanilla, chocolate, lemon, peanut butter, caramel, banana, pista, and dulce de leche.

Rose is now a ‘senior member’ of the 2^nd Baker Showcase, coming up on the 13^th of October in Chennai, having now gained experience in participation. She has been keeping busy devising newer recipes and exotic creations. Event attendees are following her teaser trailors of the new macaron flavours on the FB event page, and can’t wait to get their hands on these wonderful gulp-able goodies. 

Dulce de leche Swirl Cheesecake Bars

Pictures below showcase some of Rose's favourite creations. Her inexhaustive list would contain favour cupcakes, milk chocolate mendiants, lemon mini bundts, dulce de leche swirl cheesecake bars, a fondant birthday cake, her popular signature dish -- and my personal favourite -- the simple-looking but ultra delicious caramel cake, fudge brownies, and eggless chocolate, vanilla, and caramel cupcakes with assorted frosting.

Fudge Brownies

Milk Chocolate Mendiants

Oven 180 Degrees FB Page

The Joy of Giving

"The shape of the world to come would indeed be transformed if all of us lived in a spirit of love and amity with one another" - M. K. Gandhi

The week started off with the hugely successful TEDx Chennai conference on the 30th September, 2012. Soon after, 2nd October, on Gandhiji's birthday, the Joy of Giving Week was officially kicked off. This is a great week to share and celebrate ideas worth spreading indeed.

Have always been an avid supporter of the Joy of Giving Week (JGW) in India since it began a few years ago. Have been "too busy" this time and was feeling a tad guilty. Then reminded self that all that I have been "busy" with does indeed revolve around giving. Of my resources, my abilities, my time and energy. Which are some of the better things one can actually give of, if truth be told. Not material "possessions" nor writing a cheque in the mail. The best things to give of course, are love, peace and happiness -- something no price tag can ever attempt to do justice to.

My earlier blogposts on the JGW came about from an experiment from the 1st JGW wherein we were all invited to write about ideas to share and inspire one another. It was one of the best weeks of giving and writing in my life. 

Ironically, this JGW involved some of us being the recipient of someone else's grand gesture of giving! Mr. Mahadevan, owner of the Oriental Cuisine group of restaurants in Chennai, generously offered over 40 kg of a gigantic photo printed cake to CFG members. The event celebrated musician maestro, Ilaiyaraja, with depictions from all the movies he has made music for, in the form of a 1000 kg cake over a 100 metres long.

The humbled and grateful CFG members had a great time catching up at the event. In turn, most gave away their cakes to shelter homes for kids. One guy, an amazing photographer Bharani, even refused to collect his share, leaving it for someone to purchase and/or give away. Was very touched by the way he declined the offer as well as for his dedication to the cause. Thank you for the lovely lesson you taught me that day, Bharani. 

Jana Stanfield is a fabulous country singer from the USA, and was one of the most popular personalities at the recently concluded TEDx Chennai conference. She sang, joked, and danced her way into the hearts of the young and the old alike. Her catchy tune is on the lips of everyone who was present at the venue, as well as the millions who watched the live feed of the event from around the world. 

Her message was profound yet simple, as all the heartfelt messages usually are. The song's catchphrase/stanza was "We cannot do all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good we can do!" Powerful, and drives home the point in our currently preoccupied selfish existence. 

If I could bring even something as little as a smile on someone's face each day, I would consider myself a worthy occupant of this planet. 

The Mahatma showed us the way and did more than his fair share. What can each one of us do? More to the point, can each of us afford NOT to do whatever we can?

Ideas, News & Events of the JGW