A bread-machine that was planned as a gift for his wife, turned out as a life-changing gadget for
Sujit. A mere mention by his wife about the lovely bread that a bread machine
churns out led Sujit to almost immediately order it online to give her as a
gift, but when the machine actually came in, it was Sujit who could not hold
his excitement and curiosity and started baking 3-4 loafs a week.
Initially, it all seemed great, but
somehow his creativity wasn’t satiated. This made Sujit join online baking
communities from across the world, put across 1000 questions about bread baking
and eventually learn his way up with a lot of trials and errors, to bake
perfect sourdough bread.
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A leadership coach and change catalyst who
spent most years of his life in Bangalore, Chennai, and Mumbai working for big
corporates, Sujit Sumitran found his ultimate calling in Goa and in pursuing
his passion for baking loaves of bread. He found urban existence empty and
soul-less and longed for something simple yet rich. So in 2015, with his
parents and his wife, he dropped anchor in a 104-year-old house on the banks of
a river in Britona, Goa.
Sujit started baking bread some 4 years
ago and his focus on sourdough bread came into existence almost around the same
time when he shifted to Goa
In a world that’s obsessed with
convenience and quick fixes, Sujit, know as ‘The Bread Whisperer from Goa’
evangelizes slow-fermented Sourdough bread. 100% Natural, handmade, healthy
& crusty bread made with time as an ingredient – the way bread was made
thousands of years ago. Bread, in which flavor rules and speed isn’t
prioritized over nutrition.
What started with curiosity and passion, led to almost a
full-time profession. Sujit’s bread found fans in his friends who savored them
quite frequently at his house. With a lot of coaxing from one of his friends,
ultimately Sujit decided on sharing his craft and passion with others and he
started his baking workshops in Goa. He taught sourdough bread baking at a time
when no one was doing it, and today 2 years later, though there are many others
who are following his footsteps, and some of them have learned it from him
only, Sujit has expanded his wings beyond Goa. Today this breadsmith is one of
India’s most talked about and written about sourdough baker! He travels across
the length and breadth of the country to conduct his workshops and has been a
part of many events where he talks about the bread he bakes, their ingredients,
their combinations with drinks and accompaniments and makes people taste a
slice of his heavenly creation. He often has people from across India writing
to him and sometimes even landing up at his door, for bread. He doesn’t sell
bread cause he believes that it is only when we produce what we eat that we
know what truly goes into our food. He uses every platform he gets to talk
about the perils of industrialized and processed food. He works with grains and
flour sourced locally and these include indigenous ancient varieties of wheat
with modern wheat as well along with millets, buckwheat, and amaranth. To keep
the nutritional aspect intact, he loves milling the grain freshly at home,
minutes before baking.
Through bread, Sujit has forged deep bonds globally with farmers
and bakers alike and he often uses these connections to kick start
collaborations like seed sharing of ancient grains across different
geographies. India’s oldest variety of wheat is now being grown in California
and several ancient grains from the west like Einkorn, Ethiopian Blue Farro,
Spelt and Khorosan will soon be grown in India, thanks to an informal seed
exchange program that he is championing. His bread was recently featured in an
art gallery that hosted “Breadism”, an event that focused purely on Sujit and
his bread. He hosted an event at the Museum of Goa a few days ago where he got
enthusiastic participants to sample 4 of his slow fermented bread.
What separates Sujit’s bread from sourdough bakers across the
world is his approach of using indigenous ingredients and processes in bread.
An example is tempering – many Indian curries have a tempering of some sort in
the curries. Imagine, adding these tempered spices or seeds in the dough for
bread making? Another example is the kind of ingredients he uses. He uses
ubiquitous ingredients like Kashundi (a piquant mustard sauce), Nolen Gur
(liquid Date Jaggery), Chorizo (Goan Pork Sausages) to create flavors and textures
that must explode on the palate. Sounds delish?
Here are 8 Lessons for Life from Bread Making that Sujit fondly
names ‘Breadism’
.We must make time for things that matter cause nothing else
matters.
.We must learn to let go as easily as we embrace – or we’ll find
our hands are full but our hearts are empty!
.Bread and Life – the journey is the destination!
.It is never just about the inputs. It is always about
optimizing the interconnections.
.There is no place for regret. Learn and move on.
.What you see isn’t always what you get.
.Don’t fret over things you cannot control.
.Listen.
You’ll be happier.
