Meet the 25-year-old behind SheOak Baker

SHE found her passion in wheat, now this young baker has launched her own bread and patisserie delivery service. Meet the SheOak Baker, Gabi Flohr.

FROM SCRATCH: Gabi Flohr, who has branched out with her own baking brand Sheoak Baker. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Growing up on her family’s farm in Lameroo, Gabi Flohr always had a connection to the land and its produce.

“We always had cows, pigs, chooks,” says Gabi, 25, now of Belair. “I’ve always been into cooking and baking at home. Mum’s a really good cook.”

Following a semester of studying nutrition and food science at university, the young talent opted for a more “hands-on” course at TAFE, where she honed in on her love of baking and patisserie. She completed an apprenticeship at Hyde Park’s Mulots Patisserie and eventually started baking on her own. She has now come full-circle with the launch of SheOak Baker, named after the main strip of Belair and the native trees that populate it, using wheat from her parents’ farm.

“I bring it back to Adelaide and I mill it in my kitchen,” Gabi says. “I mix it into a dough by hand, minutes after milling it.”

Her sourdough loaves include a 100 per cent whole wheat, a mix with white Laucke flour, and, a seasonal fruit loaf featuring Riverland almonds and apricots, but “I think the next one is going to be a pear, honey and oat”.

Hand mixing her dough makes for a better product, Gabi says. “It slows down the process, which is perfect for sourdough. Slower fermentation is better for someone who is sensitive to gluten.”

Gabi’s creative flair extends to her catering-style desserts, from tarts to macarons, as well as buttery croissants, and sweet and savoury pastries. She also creates personalised occasion cakes, for which she uses all-natural flavourings and native ingredients, such as wattleseed sourced from fellow local business, Warndu.

“I love to use native flavours,” Gabi says, adding that a native cake might be a “wheat sponge with wattleseed and Davidson’s plum or strawberry gum buttercream”.

“It’s just a link to Australia.”

Gabi delivers products to selected suburbs.

sheoakbaker.com.au

– Jessica Galletly