Organic bakery Brotocnik

Fritz Potocnik not only bakes organic bread like he used to, he is also the inventor of Joseph bread. In his bakery in the Waldviertel region, the artisan baker is completely in tune with what the fields provide him with for his bread.

"We bake bread like we did a hundred years ago, very simply." Fritz Potocnik briefly and succinctly defines his philosophy before he explains with shining eyes why - in addition to the quality of the raw materials - this has a lot to do with a lot of (maturing) time: Its sourdoughs and starter doughs ferment for twelve to 48 hours before they are processed into bread. The long dough fermentation creates flavour, makes the bread more digestible and keeps for a long time. Finally, he bakes each loaf twice, which makes the crumb moist and the crust particularly crispy.

While aids, additives and baking mixes found their way into Austrian bakeries from the 1970s onwards, Fritz retained the valuable knowledge from his apprenticeship: "I learnt at a time when baking aids were not an issue." The fact that this sometimes earned him a reputation as a weirdo doesn't bother him any more. Because over the years, his craftsmanship has become increasingly sought-after. In 2010, he created the famous Joseph bread for Josef Weghaupt. But for him, being a baker is much more than just organic ingredients and craftsmanship: "What you need is heart. You have to love what you do!"

Fritz loves working with flour as a living product: "As a baker, you have such a variety of options! What we do is a new game every day because we only work with natural flours." He has the necessary flair. As is the case with one of his favourite flours, woodland rye, which is a Slow Food Presidio flour and is not easy to process. Fritz is proud that he has managed to bake a bread from 100% Waldstaude: "It is tough to bake, but the flavour and aroma of the woodland perennial is unique: warm, soothing, nutty. You don't even need to flavour it."