By Courtney O’Brien
A HIDDEN gem has quietly remained at the heart of a building in the middle of Toora, an old red shed, built in the 1890’s that has stood empty and unused for the last four decades.
Within the building, a massive four metre scotch oven has proudly stood the test of time.
It’s arched ceiling and thick walls of layered brick and sand above and below store heat from the wood fire, which is then extinguished, and bread placed in the oven to bake in the even heat gradually released by the oven walls.
“It’s always been about bringing that back to life, which wasn’t a very big job, it was in pretty good shape, and getting it back to being what it always was, a woodfired oven producing really good bread,” explains owner Anne Roussac-Hoyne.
What began as a dream five years ago, has slowly transformed into a reality, a restoration project that has brought this gem back to life, and that within weeks will be revealed.
For most of her life, Anne has been a French language teacher, come artist and entrepreneur, among other things. When she got wind of the impending sale of the old site, she had a look, thought it was fabulous and bought it.
“It came along at a time, the only time in my life when I had both the time, because I was retired; and the money, because I sold my house that I lived in, in Melbourne,” explained Anne, who then got married and moved to the area.
“My primary concern has been to make that building look as much like it did when it was built in the 1890s, as I could. And it didn’t turn out to be very hard to do that.”
Newly installed and brilliantly high windows bathe the bakery and café in natural light and a large viewing window from the café allows diners to see the old part of the original 1890s building.
Anne has been procuring objects that once belonged to the bakery, from previous owners, from the excavation of the site itself and from other locals.
A concerned local had years ago, taken home the bakers peels – used to move bread into and out of oven – worried they would get stolen. This caretaker gave them back to Anne when he discovered she was renovating the place.
“I’ve got a really fabulous collection. A lot of the things are broken, bottles are broken, but there’s some absolutely beautiful things there,” said Anne, who plans to use the items to bring the history of the place to life.
“I think part of the curation inside of the cafe will be displaying this material in some artistic kind of way.”
Three weeks after Anne purchased the property, which she describes as serendipitous, there was another opportune occurrence.
Anne had a chance encounter with a young French woman living in Foster, Capucine Germain, whose lifelong dream had been to become an artisan baker.
During COVID Capucine and her family went back to France where she undertook an extensive French bread and pastry course in a number of different woodfired oven bakeries.
Capucine subsequently returned to Foster and can’t wait to get started at the Red Pig Historic Bakery.
“We’re just so blessed to have someone who’s so passionate and whose done all the training,” commented Anne.
While the bakery will produce all the usual baked goods there will be a strong focus on sourdough.
The sourdough loaves and other goods cooked in the scotch oven, according to many, and Anne herself, have a unique taste that you just don’t get with mass produced bread or those cooked in less traditional ovens.
Rather, they possess that bit of, shall we say, je ne sais quoi!
The café will serve breakfast and lunch, and it will transform into a warm, atmospheric wine bar at night, with local wine, beer and cider and simple food served.
Next to the bakery, a large shop with 12-foot windows and ceilings, and an attached house exists.
The bakery shop was always separate to the bakery itself as it could become a scorching place to work because of the heat from the oven.
Traditionally the house would have been the baker’s residence, as bakers lived on site to stoke the oven and prepare dough in the middle of the night.
The shopfront now houses Anne’s Rare Earth Studio Gallery, after having transferred it from Foster, and has been operating there for the past five years. Some of her art will grace the walls of the bakery.
“We paint with only natural earth pigments, so it’s a nice synergy between the two,” Anne said, referring to the use of natural elements gathered from the earth to create something new and beautiful.
It has been five years of hurdles, delays and setbacks, and a substantial amount of time, money and energy has gone into the restoration project, which will be a major drawcard to the town for locals and tourists alike.
A generous grant of $325,000 from the Victorian Government’s Regional Tourism Infrastructure Fund has helped Anne with a portion of the costs and has given her additional drive and determination to keep going.
“To know that you were chosen; to know they’ve entrusted me with taxpayers money, it’s been a real confidence booster. To know that they think we can do it, that’s made us really doubly certain, to make sure that we do make it happen.”
