To say that Abby Hart loves bread is an understatement. Her kitchen in a sunny Mellieħa abode wafts with the aroma of fresh loaves. Neat shelves are stacked to the top with grains in all sizes, flour hand-ground from mills in the Italian countryside lined in their pre-portioned packages forming a gradual, gentle droop to the side.
Bread in Abby Hart’s kitchen is an institution.
The founder of Instagram bakery The Good Stuff, Ms Hart’s artful relationship with bread is clearly documented in the gorgeous loaves scored with delicate geometric designs.
From her account, Ms Hart has cultivated a growing and dedicated following that has taken her crusty sensations from pretty pictures to being served in some of Malta’s most popular artisanal eateries.
“Bread is one of those things that at any stage if you do anything wrong it will show up in the final product,” Ms Hart says.
“It’s super difficult but there’s something so satisfying about it.”
Ms Hart takes the utmost care in producing her much-coveted sourdough. From sourcing authentic and organic ingredients locally to milling carefully selected grains into flour herself, the process of birthing a crunchy and tangy sourdough takes more care than haphazardly slapping ingredients together.
But the incredible thing that Ms Hart found in taking the time to look for the best version of the things she wanted is that she found several people eager to help her along the way in rediscovering food as an experience, not just a necessity.
“Things have gotten very convenient for us very fast,” she says.
“I think one of the problems with food nowadays is that we no longer have that satisfaction of meeting the people who are making it and understanding where it comes from.”
Ms Hart, who is English, studied politics at university but found herself gravitating to more hands-on work. She learned to cook in Berlin and founded a catering company that serviced many a large-staffed company, among them SoundCloud and Kayak.
“It felt like the right thing to do. I loved meeting new people and feeding them but I kind of burnt out.”
I think one of the problems with food nowadays is that we no longer have that satisfaction of understanding where it comes from
When Ms Hart’s partner, who is Maltese, felt the comforts of home calling her back, she faced the terrifying prospect of shuttering her successful business and starting fresh in a foreign country.
“I wanted to do something that meant more and I didn’t feel like catering was taking me in the direction that I wanted,” Ms Hart says.
While finishing up culinary school, she took to baking sourdough loaves and bringing them along to introduce herself. While unconventional, the move saw her move through a network of like-minded people with an equally ardent passion for food. She now provides bread to several eateries, including CRU and Emma’s Kitchen, with the help of friends who graciously open their professional kitchens for the grunt work.
“Food is one of those things that really brings people together and especially nowadays, people from different countries, different communities. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or the colour of your skin or however you live your life, people can always bake bread and break bread together,” Ms Hart says.
More than anything, Ms Hart takes joy in the eager community she has found in Malta’s food culture and has not stood back from making her own contributions. She teaches sourdough workshops and in October will be doing an educational course on bread at the Mediterranean Culinary Academy.
“Sourdough has a lot of flavour and is quite difficult to make, so it gives you a challenge. But more than skill, the process of making it is just one of those things that’s deeply personal,” Ms Hart says. “You make it, you create it, you watch it develop and when you see the finished product it’s just you and the bread.”
The Good Stuff can be followed on Instagram at @eat.thegoodstuff.