Todays stallholder profile is The Grain Free Bakery in Cairns.
Your name: Teresita Nastasi
Your Business name and facebook name :
The Grain Free Bakery
The suburb/town you live in now:
Mareeba
What is it that you make and what skills do you use?
We make grain and gluten-free breads, cakes, cookies and pastries. Our artisanal baked goods are handmade in small batches using mostly organic ingredients, freshly milled flours and contain nothing artificial.
What inspired you to start your business?
It all began when I learnt that grains were at the root of all my autoimmune problems. Not only did I have to stop cooking/eating grains, but shopping for groceries and eating out with others became more difficult too. In the past few years there has been an increase in gluten awareness and more products have become readily available, but eating out still proves to be a problem for those with intolerances/allergies. Due to consumer demands there are a lot of cafes and bakeries that offer gluten-free foods, however, these products are intended only for those who choose to eat gluten-free. They may only use gluten-free ingredients to prepare your food, but in a kitchen where they mainly produce gluten containing products or make fresh breads, the risk of cross contamination is too high and is near impossible to guarantee they aren’t contaminated during the process. That is where our inspiration came from, so we built ourselves a dedicated gluten-free kitchen where we could safely cater to those with autoimmune disease, intolerances or allergies and anybody looking for gluten-free foods that are not only better for you, but taste better too.
How long have you been creating?
I’ve been baking gluten-free for about 6 years. It was just a hobby up until the last few months.
Is it a full time/ part time/hobby or business?
Business
Where do you sell your creations?
We take orders by phone/email/facebook which can be collected from our studio kitchen and we also sell products at our local The Handmade Expo market and other local markets.
What makes what you so special or different?
Every product we make is free from grains, gluten, wheat, oats and corn. Unlike most cafes/businesses, we bake our products in our dedicated gluten-free kitchen. By having this kitchen and sourcing our ingredients from gluten-free companies we eliminate the chance of cross contamination and can safely cater to the demographic of people with intolerances and allergies by providing 100% gluten-free foods that taste better than the real thing.
What is the most rewarding part of what you do?
The feedback. As somebody who can’t eat grains/gluten, I know how hard it is to find products suitable for me, so when we receive feedback telling us how grateful people are for our products we truly appreciate it and are glad we are making it easier for people with intolerances/allergies to eat out.
What is your favourite product that you make?
Our chocolate filled croissants! Not only are our croissants gluten-free but they are grain-free too! A lot of time and dedication has gone into developing our recipes to ensure our products rival traditional wheat-based goods in both taste and texture. It is quite a big feat to successfully make a grain-free croissant and we are really proud of them.
Do you teach classes or workshops?
Unfortunately no. Our business is fairly new and we don’t have the space in our kitchen to do so. We would love to in the future though!
