By Yvonne Pflieger
Have you heard of Staple Sourdough Bread? James Partington’s bread has just been awarded the ‘Best Sourdough Nationally’ by the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW who are the organizers of the Royal Easter Show. He was judged best out of 362 entries from more than 80 bakeries. Amazing! Congratulations, James!
And you can now get his beautiful bread at the Co-Op! As of Friday, April 27 2018 we will stock 3 varieties of his sourdough bread freshly delivered each Friday, Saturday and Sunday!
His customers have known for a while that this is Sydney’s best sourdough for miles, and a well-kept secret although the queue in front of his little shop in Seaforth on weekends is often crazily long and some go home empty-handed without pre-ordering.
It all started because James was not allowed to work for a while after major heart surgery in 2012 and so he 
started baking. He loved it so much that he took several courses (one with legendary US baker Jeffrey Hamelman, author of Bread) and bought himself a wood-fired oven. He became an artisan baker.
“I spent hours, hours and hours making bread. It started getting out of control. I was baking from nine to three every Saturday. People were ordering breads via my Facebook page,” he says.
It is all about using the best ingredients: the flours come from NSW’s Wholegrain Milling, a certified stone-ground milling company that is reviving heritage grains. “It’s like what I think wheat should taste like, very earthy and nutty.” All breads use ‘Wild’ natural sourdough fermentation with no commercial yeast and the flours are all sustainable organic and wholegrain flours.
We are proud to be James’ first and only outlet in Manly and will offer the following 3 varieties:
Classic: White sourdough using sustainable and whole-wheat stoneground bakers flours, salt and water
Country: Whole-wheat sourdough with heritage organic stoneground flour and whole-wheat flours, salt and water
3 seed: Light rye sourdough with sunflower, sesame, flax seed, stoneground rye and whole-wheat flours, salt and water
So come on in and get your sourdough fix! For everyone who has not tasted it before, it is divine and you will be able to taste some before you buy. James, we are looking forward to a great partnership and are sure that our members and the wider Manly community will just love your sourdough bread! 🙂
The Co-Op is all about supporting the local community, and getting our bread now locally also means less food miles. Double win. 🙂
Follow James on Facebook: facebook.com/pg/staplebreadandnecessities