turkish delight.

Vienna finished on a high.

A friend at the bakery offered to take me out for the last quintessential Viennese cafe experience. I had more than enough of the uppity First District chose to go to the Turkish district for a Turkish coffee instead. 

On our way to the cafe, we passed by a traditional Turkish bakery. In all the artisan and hand-powered bakeries I have been, this was by far the oldest, most pared down in terms of decor and had the least of equipment. And they used a wood-fire oven. The natural thing to do was to ask if I could have a try. Come back tomorrow. We ask the chief. So I went back the next evening after finishing off for the very last time at Gragger.

When I got there, they said ok to me having a look but shortly after, the chief was showing me every ingredient he was putting in for the next dough. The chief, in his 50s, has been a baker all his life. When he is putting in the ingredients, he doesn't use a weighing machine. I don't even think there is a weighing machine in the bakery. He goes by the containers he uses and judgment. Water is added straight from the tap. How much is needed? Until the consistency is right. When they have to weigh out each individual lump of dough, they have a weighing scale that uses weights. This is how old the bakery is. 

The shop.

Some of the traditional breads they made :

Lavas.

Simit.

Pide.

Rounding the dough. The work area is just 2 times the size of what is seen here.

Preparing to send the loaves into the wood-fire oven.

The last few minutes of waiting for the oven to get to the right temperature.

Loading the loaves onto the peel.
Brushing it with a thin mixture of flour and water.
Adding the last strip of dough on top.

Systematically placing the loaves in the oven.

After 50 minutes, this was what emerged.
Big, brown, crusty loaves.

Straight from the oven and onto the shelves.
The handling and tossing of the loaves were as fun to watch as the making.

In the end, I did more than just observing. They let me try to knead and shape the dough until I had enough. Too bad I only got to them on the last day. But they said I could come back if I was ever in Vienna again.

I am sure I will.  There are Turks and dough waiting.