BREAKING BREAD
August 2022
´Wait and see`, said Raphael, ´by two o’clock on Friday, the car park by the church will be packed`.
He was right, I am travelling against the flow of traffic on Friday around one, when I leave the small town of Loshult and its 90 inhabitants after spending 24 hours in what seems like heaven on earth.
Loshult is a town in Sweden’s Scania region, half a kilometre from the regional border to Småland and about five kilometres from the town of Älmhult. The town has 90 inhabitants.
Älmhult is home to IKEA’s headquarters and the IKEA Museum.
Loshult Handelsbod (Loshult Trading Station) is both bakery and café.
The bakery and the café as well as a side building housing the B&B Casa Bartke, is owned and operated by the couple Salli Partanen and Raphael Bartke.
Danish Clemmen Gregersen is employed at Loshult Handelsbod.
It is Thursday morning, I am on my way to Loshult, my daughter Thea is with me in the car. This autumn she opened the micro-bakery Bageriet Baghaven (Backyard Bakery) in Copenhagen, and she knows Loshult Handelsbod through her sourdough network. We are having a great time driving through the Scanian landscape, we have a vacuum jug full of coffee and lots of time to talk.
We arrive shortly before 11 in the morning and are met by Clemmen, who works in the bakery. He is on his way home for his lunch break and shows us into the bakery, where Salli is making dough for Finnish rye bread.
Soon, Clemmen joins us again.
He and Salli have a regular work schedule that follows more or less the same rhythm every week. Monday through Thursday, they prepare. That includes making jam for the cakes, baking cookies and crisp bread and preparing the dough for Danish pastries, Swedish ‘snurre’ pastries, bread and buns.
Early Friday morning, they fire up the ovens. By noon Friday, the shelves are full of baked goods, and throughout the afternoon, until six in the evening, the shelves are gradually emptied by guests who settle down for a cup of coffee or just stop by to pick up pre-ordered bread baked from organic flour from the local mill Limabacka Kvarn.
Sometimes, Loshult Handelsbod and, in particular, the café, stay open on Sundays too, and some weekends they add a farmer’s market that sells food, flowers and craft products from other local makers and producers.
Raphael stops by to say hello. He is working from home and has a short break in between two meetings. He invites me to lunch at Casa Bartke. He has a Skype meeting coming up, but a visiting German couple will look after us. They are in Loshult to take photographs for Handelsboden, he explains.
We have a lovely lunch and walk back to the bakery. I am going to take photographs, and Thea cannot resist offering to help to make bread. As they work, I hear them exchanging experiences and tips about useful tools. Late afternoon I take her to the train in Älmhult, she needs to get home to work in her own bakery, which is open from Saturday morning.
When I return, I settle in at the guest house.
At six o’clock that evening, I meet Raphael and Salli to hear more about their business and their life in Loshult. Afterwards, Raphael tells me dinner is about to be ready. It, too, is prepared by the German couple.
Pleasantly full and tired, I leave the party in the middle of the evening to turn in for the night in the guest house.
After a great night’s sleep, I wake up to the tempting smell of fresh-baked bread, and a after a cup of coffee and a shower, I sneak into the bakery. The atmosphere is almost like a theatre on opening night. Salli, Clemmen and Raphael are present.
Another employee comes in, and Salli explains what the day’s selection of baked goods is and what she chose to make in large quantities.
Now, it is time to present the result of the week’s preparations. At noon, the doors open, and people are welcomed in a wide range of languages – a symphony of Swedish, English, German and Finnish.
The larger coffee maker sends its reassuring noises into the room, all is well, and soon it is time to break bread at the tables.
Read Salli and Raphael’s entire story in HÅNDVÆRK bookazine, you can buy bookazine here
in kiosks, bookshops, design-and museum shops and from Loshult Handelsbod
“Vent og se”, sagde Raphael, “inden kl. 14 fredag er parkeringspladsen ved kirken fyldt op”.
Han havde helt ret, jeg kører mod strømmen, da jeg fredag ved 13-tiden kører fra den lille by Loshult og dens 90 indbyggere efter et døgn i noget, som ligner paradis på jord.
Loshult er en by i Skåne, den ligger en halv kilometer fra grænsen til Småland og omkring fem kilometer fra Älmhult. Byen har 90 indbyggere.
Älmhult er byen, hvor Ikeas hovedsæde ligger, og hvor Ikea-museet ligger.
Loshult Handelsbod er bageri og café.
Bageriet og cafeen, foruden en sidebygning med B&B og Casa Bartke, er ejet og drevet af parret Salli Partanen og Raphael Bartke.
Danske Clemmen Gregersen er ansat i Loshult Handelsbod.
Det er torsdag morgen, jeg er på vej til Loshult og har min datter Thea med i bilen; hun åbnede i efteråret mikrobageriet Bageriet Baghaven i København og kender til Loshult Handelsbod gennem sit surdejsnetværk. Vi har en dejlig tur gennem det skånske landskab, der er kaffe på termokanden og god tid til at tale om løst og fast.
Vi ankommer straks inden 11 og bliver mødt af Clemmen, han er ansat i bageriet. Han er på vej hjem for at holde frokostpause og viser os ind i bageriet, hvor Salli er i gang, hun laver dej til finsk rugbrød.
Inden længe støder han til igen.
Han og Salli arbejder indforstået og efter en fastlagt plan, som følger nogenlunde den samme rytme hver uge. Mandag-torsdag forbereder de sig. Det indebærer at sylte marmelader til kagerne, at bage småkager og knækbrød, og at lægge dej til wienerbrød, snurrer, brød og boller.
Fredag morgen tidligt begynder de at bage. Klokken 12 fredag er hylderne fyldt op, og mellem 12 og 18 tømmes de igen, mens huset summer af gæster, som slår sig ned og drikker kaffe eller bare slår et slag forbi for at hente brød, som de har forudbestilt. Brød bagt af økologisk mel fra den lokale mølle Limabacka Kvarn.
Nogle gange holder Loshult Handelsbod og i særdeleshed cafeen ekstraordinært åbent om søndagen, nogle weekender udvider de med marked. På markedet kan man købe både fødevarer, blomster og kunsthåndværk fra andre lokale producenter.
Raphael stikker hovedet ind for at hilse på, han arbejder hjemmefra og har et øjebliks pause mellem to møder. Han inviterer på frokost i Casa Bartke, selv skal han i et skypemøde, men der er besøg af et tysk par, som vil sørge for os. De er i Loshult for at tage billeder for Handelsboden, forklarer han.
Vi spiser en dejlig frokost og går tilbage til bageriet. Jeg for at fotografere, Thea kan ikke dy sig for at tilbyde sin hjælp med at slå brød op. Undervejs hører jeg, at der bliver udvekslet erfaringer og tips om godt grej. Sidst på eftermiddagen kører jeg hende til toget i Älmhult, hun skal hjem og forberede i sit eget bageri, som holder åbent lørdag morgen.
Da jeg er tilbage, installerer jeg mig i gæstehuset.
Klokken 18 skal jeg møde Raphael og Salli for at høre mere om deres virksomhed og deres liv i Loshult, derefter er der middag, har Raphael bekendtgjort, middagen tilberedes af det føromtalte tyske par.
Mæt og træt forlader jeg ud på aftenen selskabet for at gå til ro i gæstehuset.
Jeg sover som en drøm og står op til en liflig duft af nybagt brød. Efter en kop kaffe og et bad lister jeg over i bageriet. Der er næsten premiere-stemning. Salli og Clemmen er der, og Raphael er der.
Yderligere en medarbejder kommer til, og Sally giver instruktion om, hvordan dagens sortiment er sat sammen, og forklarer, hvad hun har prioriteret at lave meget af.
Ugens forarbejde skal nu foldes ud. Klokken 12 slås døren op, og folk bydes velkommen på alverdens tungemål – der tales svensk, engelsk, tysk og finsk i en skønsom blanding.
Den store kaffemaskine sender trygge lyde ud i lokalet, alt er godt, snart brydes brød ved bordene.
Læs hele Salli and Raphaels historie i HÅNDVÆRK bookazine, du han købe bookazinet her
eller i en kiosk, en boghandel, en museumsbutik eller en designbutik på din vej og i Loshult Handelsbod
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