History - Trentham's Scotch oven bakery

On the site of RedBeard, Trentham’s original bakery used our Scotch oven continuously from at least 1892 (and probably earlier) to 1987, through four generations of bakers. The first baker, John Wolff, supplied local townsfolk and farm workers in the post gold-rush days with classic white high-top loaves, most likely delivered uncut and unwrapped to the customer’s door. He mixed and shaped all his doughs by hand and fired the oven with local timber.

Except for the introduction of a mechanical mixer and modern baker’s yeast, little changed in the next 100 years as John was followed by bakers Charlie Rook, his son Jack Rook, and finally Jack Groves.  Jack Groves died from a heart attack on the job in 1986. His family (who still call Trentham home), struggled to keep the bakery going but could not compete with the industrial bread that now dominates supermarket shelves.

The bakery lay dormant for almost 20 years until Daylesford musician and owner-builder Adrian Kosky breathed new life into the neglected property with an extensive renovation. The Scotch oven was in surprisingly good nick – only the floor needed replacing and the original cast iron doors had to be found and refitted.

John and Alan Reid stumbled across the renovated bakery early in 2005. They could instantly see its potential for producing large volumes of high quality sourdough bread and other baked goodies. John and Al decided on the name RedBeard for the bakery as their surname Reid comes from a Scottish clan known for their red hair and beards, and they bake in a Scotch oven. Beard is also an anagram of bread, and well…it’s memorable!

Thanks to Alan Grey of Earth Garden magazine for this information.