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Yeast puts iconic bakery on map

Local flavour: Pastry chef Wooshin "Daniel" Choi. Picture: Bill Hatto/The West Australian

Rottnest Island now has its own bread.

Using the slow-food philosophy, new bakery manager Kim Gamble has created a natural yeast that is the basis of sourdough baguettes that are popular with island holidaymakers.

"Wherever you make a natural yeast, it will be different - in France, Rottnest, Fremantle, New Norcia - it will be different," Mr Gamble said.

"We use an organic white flour from Geraldton. It creates a lovely chewiness and good crust.

"It's not a new technique. It's done all over the world but allowing the yeast to develop naturally - sometimes over several weeks - allows us to create a really natural bread that lasts for days and toasts beautifully. It's perfect for Rottnest."

Mr Gamble, the former owner of Cottesloe's The Blue Duck restaurant, has links with Rottnest's bakery spanning four decades.

"I worked here as a 17-year-old kid with the baker Frank Dawson," he said. "He was my grandmother's gardener so I came on the island during the school holidays to help him out.

"I have all these memories of Rottnest and its bakery, so we have brought back all the old products - the vanilla slices, the cream buns.

"We are looking to get a stone-floor oven that we can bring back into the shop and produce all those great baking smells."

Mr Gamble and his Korean-born pastry chef Wooshin "Daniel" Choi are also keen to start using salt from Rottnest's lakes in the bread and to bake a fruit loaf with island figs.