Mr Sourdough thrives on boutique, small-batch baking

“In the end, what it’s all about is eating healthy and nutritious, real bread,”  says Nambour’s Tremain Permewan, AKA Mr Sourdough.

BUSINESS WRITEUP: Mr Sourdough

There’s nothing quite like the smell, taste and texture of freshly baked bread. Local lovers of sourdough bread will be excited to know that homemade sourdough loaves are available now, thanks to Nambour’s Tremain Permewan, AKA Mr Sourdough.

“I grew up working between food service and healthcare and was always into good food, but it was not until I was in my 40s that I became obsessed with baking bread”, Tremain said. “Once I started really getting into it, I found it was addictive.” 

According to Tremain, the science behind baking sourdough bread is immense.

“There are a lot of chefs who don’t bake bread, for just that reason. There have been thousands of hours and many sleepless nights of trial and error involved in the development of the higher hydration and naturally leavened sourdough bread that I am baking now,” Tremain explained.

“It is incredibly labour intensive. But I have also been fortunate enough to have been given some invaluable tips from local French patissier, Eric Pernoud. This has helped me to refine my baking skills.

“I was also gifted 10kg of beautiful organic flour from the owners of Wholegrain Milling Co. when they were kind enough to visit me whilst on a working holiday here on the Sunshine Coast. This really sparked my motivation to bake better bread, the seeds were sown.” 

Tremain uses up to nine different types of high quality organically grown Australian flour, including Whole Spelt, Emmer, Khorasan, Wholewheat, Rye, a roller milled white, a stone ground unbleached bakers flour - which is high in protein - and a pre 1960’s stone ground organic Heritage flour which is higher in nutrients, and denser than regular flour. Most loaves usually contain roughly three types of flour purposefully blended together to obtain a delectable loaf of sourdough.

“I enjoy the process of mixing the different types of flour, and ingredient wise, that is the only variable”, said Tremain. “My bread contains only three ingredients: flour, water and salt which are naturally leavened, and are risen with a starter or ‘mother’ yeast,” he said.

 “I don’t do different types of loaves, nor do I add anything to the bread besides flour. I focus solely on showing off the best characteristics of the flours each bread contains.

“As I have focussed on refining my technique I have found that the demand for my bread has grown organically,” he said.

In 2020 and 2022, Tremain entered his bread in the Heritage Bank Toowoomba Royal Show which hosted the ‘King of the Bakers’ competition, the largest bread & baking competition in Australia. 

He was recognised with an award for the Best Specialty Bread in show for both years and won the Gold Trophy in bread class 7023 Traditional Sourdough on both occasions.

“Baking the way I do is a labour of love,” Tremain said. “I have no desire to expand and ‘conquer the world’. Boutique baking in smaller batches is extremely satisfying and I feel like I am really winning when I know that people are sharing my bread with their family and friends. In the end, what it’s all about is eating healthy and nutritious, real bread.” 

To order Tremain’s bread, just send him a text on 0488 550 120.