Talented artisan baker, family man - and Lake Hawea local - Adam Pullin is the force behind the Saturday morning queue at our in-store bread stand. Some of us can even blame Adam on our expanding waist lines ... Alas, it's all in the name of a top notch daily staple our customers simply can't get enough of. and Adam has some very exciting news ...
Tell us a little about your journey to becoming an artisan baker.
I started baking about 22 years ago in Auckland and was lucky enough to get to learn from some talented passionate bakers. While learning I discovered my passion for bread and the science behind it. We first moved to Queenstown to help with the start up of a bakery and then decided to make the move to Wanaka.
What does a typical work day look like for you?
I start around midday and generally work 7 days a week. We have 3 young boys so it’s up early no matter what time I finish which is generally early in the morning.
What makes your product different?
(The) natural fermentation process and yeasts used allows gluten to break down properly so gluten intolerant people can eat (our bread) with no trouble. We only use flour water and salt in our breads.
How have you're offerings evolved as you've grown the business, and what are your most popular varieties?
We started the shop just over 4 years ago now and have built a large wholesale bread customer base from scratch and enjoy supplying them with all natural and fresh loaves. Our sourdoughs and ciabatta are our most popular breads and are baked fresh every day.
What is the most time consuming variety to bake?
The sourdough, as take a few days to produce but well worth the wait.
And how is the Pullin family enjoying their bread at home right now?
At home vinefruit sourdough is the favourite with everyone, especially turned into French toast on Sundays. The kids generally love to eat anything sweet from the bakery and love cupcakes and the cookies. Though we do all eat a lot of pies.
Anything exciting in the pipeline?
We are currently working on our Xmas products and enjoyed finally getting to make traditional German Stollen again for the first time in years. We are also looking forward to opening our second shop in 3 Parks, which will be a fully dedicated Artisan Bakery serving top end bakery products without the additives but with all the love.
And finally, how do you spend a perfect day in Lake Hawea?
We all love living in Lake Hawea and our perfect day is just all being together at home getting to relax, which doesn’t happen very often.