bakeries at any chance,
including a baker’s
stagiaire at acclaimed
Bread Ahead at London’s
Borough Market.
The woodfired oven
isn’t an easy beast; a labour
to get the right wood
(hardwood from her parents’
property), and the optimum
temperature; it’s a gradual process
of getting to know it. Brown is humble
about her skills but proof is in the
cinnamon scroll, the resting tray too much
to bear. Tearing one off, the sticky icing
clings to my fingers. What’s the etiquette
on finger licking, having met an hour
before, I wonder? They’re extraordinarily
good and Brown may have spoiled all
other cinnamon scrolls for me.
Bob & Jim’s is the small town store you
imagine, but don’t often find. Owner Anna
Stewart says she did “the whole get out of
a small country town at 18”, eventually
returning from life in Perth and overseas.
Now she’s a key figure in changing the
town’s culinary fortunes.
Stewart’s grandfather was the
eponymous Jim, and while the business
left family hands for a time, Stewart saw
the opportunity to focus on WA produce.
“We have a northern and southern
growing season for many things in WA,
so why would I stock Mexican asparagus?”
she says. Increasing lines from startup local
producers of Asian mushrooms, honey,
eggs, garlic and pears, there’s also coffee
from Upward Spiral Roasting, opened by
local electrician, Glen Rollond.
Brown isn’t the only baker of note
stocked at Bob & Jim’s. Lara Jeffries’
late father, a Belgian migrant, would
cook Liege waffles each Christmas. It’s
a tradition that she continued with no
plans beyond sating the sweet tooth
of family and friends, but with time
Papa Waffles became a fixture at the
local farmers’ market.
After five minutes with Jeffries I confess,
even having a contingent of Belgian