Our story.
Andrew Ritchie has been baking bread for 25 years.
He learned his trade at Melbourne’s William Anglis Institute and began his career in both small country bakeries and large-scale production bakeries in Victoria before moving to Perth in 2000.
His interest in authentic breadmaking started in the New Norcia Monastery where for decades, the monks had baked breads using age-old traditional methods. Here, he was taught the craft of artisan bread making and he became hooked on the idea of starting his own woodfired bakery.
After a period working in northern WA bakeries and plenty of home baking, Andrew moved back to Perth and began his search for a suitable oven.
In December 2010, he discovered a disused and somewhat dilapidated wood-fired oven in the back of an art gallery in Maylands. It hadn’t baked a loaf since 1967.
Recreating a slice of history.
The oven, built by Australian-company Metters Ltd, had been installed circa 1920 for German-born baker, Georg Rossbach. And until the advent of the second world war, Georg used the oven to bake bread for the residents of Maylands, and his wife and daughter delivered the loaves door-to-door. Fuel for the fire came from Marvel’s Wood Yard on the opposite side of the street.
The bakery changed hands several times until in 1967, its last tenant, baker Ted Aldridge, hung up his apron and locked the doors. The building was no longer a bakery, and in the following decades saw use as an antique shop, a real estate agency and a clothing store.
In 2006, a new café opened and its was by chance that Andrew Ritchie peered into the back of the building and spotted the old baker’s oven.
All fired up.
Although the old oven had remained closed and cold for 45 years, it had potential. Andrew set about carefully restoring it to its former working glory. After three months of bricklaying, metalwork and repointing, the firebox was stacked with timber offcuts and the oven lit. It performed perfectly.
In November 2011, The Woodfired Baker delivered its first trays of authentic, artisan sourdough bread to local restaurants, cafes and farmer’s markets.
The century-old oven now makes over 1,500 loaves a week. And it might even last another one hundred years.
Learn more about our breads.
Follow our journey @thewoodfiredbaker
