About Me
About toast
Hi! I’m Caroline, the baker behind TOAST đ I moved to Helsinki from London 16 years ago, TOAST is my newly opened microbakery based in Marjaniemi, East Helsinki
All food is handmade in my home kitchen, specializing in sourdough baking. I use fresh, local (where possible) ingredients, with no additives or preservatives.
Please visit the Products section here or my FB Page for my weekly menu
I deliver by electric cargo bike in my local area, free delivery is available if you live within this delivery area Marjaniemi, Tammisalo, Roihuvuori and parts of Laajasalo (Minimum âŹ10 order for free delivery, otherwise add âŹ2.90 – âŹ4.90 costs per delivery depending on area). By delivering by bike I aim to create an environmentally and Co2 friendly alternative delivery solution. I can deliver direct to your home so you can enjoy freshly baked bread, bagels (filled bagels also available), breakfast buns and other bakes without needing to leave home on weekend mornings, plus one delivery midweek đ Home Deliveries are available on Wednesdays between 5-8 pm and Saturdays between 9-13 pm. Place Wednesday’s delivery by Wednesdays 10pm and Saturday’s delivery by Thursday 10pm.
If you live outside of my delivery area you are welcome to place an order and pick up yourself from Marjaniemi
I will offer weekly and monthly specials with seasonal ingredients, including berries and mushrooms from the Finnish forests (depending on availability) so keep your eye out for these on my Facebook Page and Instagram!
Orders can be made by email caroline@toastartisanbakery.fi or through FB messenger. Once I have seen your order, I will contact you to confirm details of products and delivery options. You can pay by MobilePay 71096 or direct to Toast Artisan Bakery account FI 6815443000297643. I also sell at ItĂ€-Helsingin REKO IĂ€hiruokarengas (East Helsinki farmer’s market) every second Wednesday of the month, there you can pre-order products on the site for self pick-up there. You are also always welcome to contact me directly for custom orders for parties and events.
About me
My food journey started, like for many people, in the kitchen at home watching my Mum. Both my Mum and my maternal Grandmother were great cooks and bakers. My Mum always made fantastic homemade jams & marmalade, afternoon teas -scones with jam and clotted cream, cheese scones with thick pats of butter, sausage rolls, jam tarts, shortbread biscuits and classic British cakes like Victoria Sandwich, a vanilla sponge filled with jam and buttercream, or in the summer months filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream . When we visited my Grandmother in the Scottish Borders we looked forward to her legendary pies with light and buttery pastry, like a lot of people of her generation she never even used a scale to weigh her ingredients, everything was just done by touch and with a keen eye, amazing! One of the things Iâd like to do with Toast is to share some of these foods with you, treats for those times when only a cake will do, with a nice cup of tea, or for most Finns, a cup of kahvi đ
I have always been an avid baker, and in 2018 I discovered sourdough baking after reading Chad Robertson’s Tartine Bread book, I quickly came to love the whole sourdough process and a real appreciation of eating this type of bread, with it’s blistered crust and depth of flavour. It takes 3 days from feeding your starter to taking the bread out of the oven using just 3 ingredients, flour, water and salt + time. The magic of sourdough!
My sourdough starter
The bread products and some buns for TOAST will be made using my sourdough starter âBread Sheeranâ A sourdough starter is a unique colony of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria. Naming your starter is a thing in the sourdough community, after all itâs alive and needs regular feeding, just like a pet! It also helps differentiate one starter from another, a rye starter that you may use just for bread or a white flour starter you use for sweet bakes like cinnamon buns
WHAT IS SOURDOUGH? ITâS ALL ABOUT the FERMENTATION!
Sourdough is made with a few simple ingredients flour, water, salt and fermented using lactic acid bacteria and wild yeast. The long fermentation process used in making sourdough is what makes it very different from industrially produced bread, which is made from start to finish within a few hours and skips the whole fermentation process and often also contains many preservatives and additives. The slow fermentation that happens with sourdough makes the bread easier to digest, cutting out this important part of the process through the use of only fast action yeast can contribute to the current high rate of gluten intolerance, without a long enough fermentation period grain proteins such as gluten, are left fully intact and hard to digest, and why some people who are gluten sensitive have said that they are more able to eat sourdough without problems.
Iâm looking forward to baking for you. Please support your local baker đ
