Switzerland
Specialty: Organic Sourdough Breads and Crackers
His story: Originally from Switzerland but grew up in Nigeria, Matthias has what he would describe as “a life of hobbies.” After receiving a copy of the Tartine Baking Book by Chad Robinson as a gift about two years ago, Matthias began pursuing baking on a more serious level, and he’s been a Nibble entrepreneur for the past two years, selling out of bread—and crackers—at Farmers Markets. Also a professor at Salem State University, Matthias always manages to squeeze time in his busy schedule to pursue his love of baking!
Culinary business dream: Matthias describes Nibble as being invaluable in giving him a “sense of how to market a product and how to turn it into a business.” With a dream of growing his baking business, he currently runs his own CSA with clients that he delivers his artisanal bread and crackers to weekly. In the future, he would like to combine his writing background and his baking to produce a book about the material history of bread.
Favorite cooking utensil: Out of all his utensils, he describes his favorite and most useful tool as the bench knife. “It’s like an extension of my hand. Without this there is no bread. I can shape, cut, clean with it. There’s also the dough scraper too, but that’s less romantic.”
In their words: “Someone once told me, ‘Matthias, stop following the recipe. The dough is alive. It’s a living being. Just toss in all the sourdough, and feel it’. Baking is definitely an outlet for me. It’s one of those things that I try to do and I try to do it well. I started doing this and it’s definitely opened a lot of opportunities for me.”
Website: https://www.fermentbakery.com/