Sandwiches can be a challenge when you're gluten-free because gluten-free bread is often heavy and needs to be toasted to taste any good, says Hastings-based baker Scott Wynands.
After ten years of experimentation at home, Wynands finally nailed the recipe for a groundbreaking gluten-free loaf and launched OM Goodness Specialty Breads.
Wynands tells Kathryn Ryan he knew the bread would be popular - even with kids - because he'd developed it to suit the tastes of his own kids, one of whom is gluten-intolerant.
Wynands and his wife Ruth Strong have to get "quite clever and creative and be quite gutsy in what we do and the decisions" when running a small gluten-free baking facility, he says.
The latest of these gutsy decisions was opening a new bakery in Auckland's Britomart shopping precinct.
Wynands - who grew up on a biodynamic farm and previously worked in landscaping and building - says opening the Auckland store pushed him to the limits of his own courage and his faith and trust in the product and the team.
The Britomart store was opened to give OM Goodness a strong city presence and enable direct access to people who wouldn't otherwise encounter their products, Wynands says.
"We really want to create a platform where we can get the bread across to people who wouldn't normally look for it or even realise that they would enjoy that kind of thing or have it in their lives."
The new Britomart store has also given OM Goodness more visibility, Wynands says.
"Britomart, while that's been hard-going in terms of a massive commitment and scary and that, if it wasn't for us going out on a limb like that I wouldn't be talking to [RNZ] and able to get some information out about how wonderful [our bread] premix is."
OM Goodness bread is made with organic whole buckwheat, kelp powder, activated chia and linseeds. You can buy their bread and bread premix online here.
