Most people compare baking to science: everything must be weighed to the gram, steps should be precisely followed. But Richard Hart, one of the world’s top bakers, reckons that’s where most home cooks go wrong. The maverick baker loves nothing more than ripping up the rule book.

“You give me a rule, I’m going to try and break that rule, just for the mischievousness of it,” he says, smiling.

It’s worked for him. Hart, who’s in town for Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, is one of the most famous bakers of his generation.

He was tapped by Rene Redzepi, founder of Copenhagen’s game-changing fine-diner Noma, to open a bakery there in 2018. Hart Bageri quickly became a delicious pin on the map of dough diehards, and has grown to 10 Copenhagen outlets.

“He thinks outside the box,” says local baking legend Michael James, who founded Tivoli Road Bakery and hosted Hart last time he was in Melbourne in 2016. “He really pushes everything to the max to make each day a better bake.”

To run a week-long pop-up bakery in Melbourne, which opens on March 24, the UK-born Hart touched down a week in advance. He has spent his days at Baker Bleu’s headquarters in Caulfield North, getting familiar with the local flour, the water, the climate.

“I get here a few days early so I can make a batch of bad bread, and then the next day, hopefully a batch of better bread!”

“It’s stunning bread.”

Melbourne baker Michael James

The pop-up has taken him away from final preparations for his brand-new bakery in Mexico City, Green Rhino, which opens as soon as he returns. It’s happening nine months later than planned, which has created a slight logjam in Hart’s schedule. He also signed on to create a new bakery for Claridge’s, the luxury hotel in London, later this year.

When Hart told his good friend (and legendary baker) Michel Suas about travelling to a new city to do a pop-up, he said, “‘You are a lunatic. It’s going to be hell.’”

But Richard Hart doesn’t run the way others do. Standing in the dough-mixing room at Baker Bleu, his demeanour is not that of a man with three projects on the go in three different timezones.

He excitedly explains the concha, a sweet bun as common in Mexico as croissants in France, which his team will serve this week in Melbourne. The buns will be filled with whipped mascarpone to contrast with the sweet crackly topping – a highly unorthodox move.

Vegemite caramel will be swirled onto buttery French biscuits in a nod to local tastes. Hart Bageri signatures will also appear, including deeply caramelised cardamom buns made with croissant dough, a spandauer custard tart (a Danish classic that Hart says is one of his favourites), and his renowned sourdough.

James can still remember eating Hart Bageri’s city loaf. “The crust is amazing, with really deep caramelisation. The crumb [interior] is super well-hydrated, kind of like mochi or sticky rice. It’s stunning bread.”

Hart’s career began as a chef, then he discovered bread, going on to become head baker at San Francisco’s Tartine, one of the forerunners to the world’s current obsession with sourdough. More recently, he was honoured in The Bear as the hero of the television show’s pastry chef, Marcus. Nancy Silverton, the renowned Los Angeles chef and baker, called him “one of the world’s best bakers”.

Yet, he remains unpretentious, happily sharing his failures. Panettone was a major stumbling block, taking two years of trial and error. He’s included his recipe in his new book, Richard Hart Bread, to save others the heartache.

“I haven’t held any secrets back. I haven’t been like, ‘I don’t want to tell them that, in case they’re better than me’. I want [people] to be better than me, actually.”

His advice to home bakers who might pick up his book wanting to master sourdough bread? “You get nothing for free in this world. You have to work at it, man.”

While he agrees that better bakeries are becoming more common in cities, he’d like more local flavour in their breads and pastries.

“It would be nice if we could see a little more variation, country to country, [reflecting] their cuisine or their history,” he says.

While developing items for Green Rhino, he and his team have explored Mexico’s cacao farms, its many varieties of corn, and whether it’s possible to bake with coconut oil, which is more readily available than quality dairy.

“I want to know what my staff ate when they were kids,” he says.

But for now, he must focus on baking for Melburnians, who are spoiled for choice when it comes to excellent bakeries.

“I want to give you guys good stuff. I don’t want to make something that I’m embarrassed about,” he says.

Hart Bageri pop-up runs 9am-1pm (or until sold out), March 24-28

Melbourne Quarter, 699 Collins Street, Docklands, melbournefoodandwine.com.au